The Cold and Bleak

> It got worse! HOW DID IT GET WORSE?!
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## Summary

The party heads into the mine and a bit of a ways down the tracks the group finds a small campsite. There's nothing odd here so the party relaxes. Hoshimi eventually reveals that she's a kitsune to Boulder and asks him not to tell a soul. Boulder promises so Hoshimi decides to tell him a story. As she tells the story of how she came to the eastern dominion and met Yasmin, Adrian Tanlaial checks up on Seven who made a nest out of tent stuffs and asks to sleep with her that night. Xaillen also talks with Flint about his plan to throw Hollyhock off his game while Olwen Edgeworth relaxes with Sybl.

Xaillen goes over to Adrian to ask about his plan. Adrian suggests splitting up in either Optimarr or the Galgari Jungle and Xaillen clarifies that he's not intending to split up the group too far. He also suggests the teams of himself, Adrian and Olwen while Seven, Hoshimi, Flint and Sybl make up the other team. Olwen suggests that Seven goes with Adrian to be seen as a rare discovery. Seven is unsure of this as she wants to be like the rest of them.

Meanwhile Boulder goes to Sybl for his story. Sybl mentions that he doesn't have some memories but Boulder compares it to missing pages in a book. Xaillen asks Sybl for his input but Sybl reveals that he wasn't listening. As Xaillen explains himself, Hoshimi and Adrian check up on Seven. Sybl notices how important it is for Xaillen to get one up on Hollyhock but wonders what might happen when things go ary. Olwen says Xaillen's plan is going to go ary because she's involved with them and he'll know everything about her. Olwen explains that he's looking for a challenge and being in a group may bring him out. She also explains that costumes for Sybl's group are a good idea since she's dealt with hate groups before. Hoshimi adds that she can be disguised as Adrian's familiar.

As she goes to get some air, she smells something horrible. The others aside from Adrian and Seven hurry to her location. They find a bunch of crammed dead bodies that were attacked by an animal and Hoshimi hurries to get Seven and Adrian. As they return, Olwen opens a sole crate to find a bunch of strange sticks known as sun rods to give solar light to dark places. Boulder notes that mountain lions bit these corpses but didn't kill them. He thinks that these aren't simple animals that killed them but thinks it's people who can polymorph into animals. Hoshimi finds Flint outside with a spend sunrod and gets him to go back inside.

Olwen hears Hoshimi gasp and run. Everyone hurries outside to see Hoshimi running into the woods. They follow her to find her cradling a small fox. She's horrified by the fox and when Flint tries to help Hoshimi demands that he stay away with a fire in her eye. Flint backs up and Xaillen tries to talk to her but he gets glares too. Seven then tries to convince Hoshimi to let them help the fox. Xaillen even lays down his swords and Hoshimi then asks for their help. Boulder notices a lack of tracks other than the fox as Flint begins healing the fox. He notices it's malnourished so Xaillen offers one of his rations to help. Boulder asks Olwen for help in investigating the lack of tracks but Hoshimi says they should stick together. Boulder and Olwen understand that she's scared but believe it's worth investigating anyways. Flint suggests a trial run of the split up strategy and Xaillen offers to go with Boulder and Olwen. Adrian is unsure of where to go but Flint suggests that he goes with Boulder's team.

## Notable events

* Hoshimi shares her story with Boulder
* Xaillen discusses his plan with the group
* The group finds a bunch of dead bodies
* Hoshimi finds a dying fox and tries to help it