Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Baked Goods

At the end of Maudit's watch(16:45), the rest of the night passes without incident, and the group has breakfast and heads out. Rey talks a bit about what life was like in Zandaria, and about travelling around Senmarria - such as to Rai'shar and Grassgrave. Leona shares with him about her faith in Sarenrae. She tells him that she has to get back to Ilverness to the Kentigurns, specifically to Roman. He tells her that his fianceé disappeared about a year and half ago, and is presumed dead from a bandit attack.

Meanwhile(41:02), Deirdre goes to chat with Maudit, telling him that she noticed him having nightmares. He tells her that he's had nightmares since he was a child, and that last night he dreamed about seeing a fallen aasimar woman. He asks her how aasimar become fallen, and she says that, from what she's heard from her mother, they have to do something unspeakably evil for that to happen. She tells him what the Brownie said about Eachthighern, and that she's worried about him.

Up ahead(51:05), they spot a massive unit of Crownsguard. Rey is talking to one of them, and is not happy. Kesra recognizes them as a specialized team that is charged with dealing with particularly big problems. The party quickly heads around them and on down the road. Rey tells them that this unit will likely be holding the bridge and preventing anyone from coming out or in. He also tells Leona that he's very unhappy about the prospect of many innocent people dying in this war. They discuss the nature of war and what it's like.

They come to the town of Willow Bend(1:12:51), and head to a tavern. The owner is a halfling woman named Gertrude. Kesra goes and sits by a drunk, who Gertrude says is Wendell. Leona tells Gertrude that they ran into Alok, and Gertrude says that he's been dead for nearly 10 years. Leona describes the person they ran into, and Gertrude says that it matches Alok's description, but she watched him get buried. She tells the group where Alok's grave is, and Leona insists that they go investigate.

Before they leave(1:48:39), Leona asks Gertrude about how Alok died, and she says he was killed by Crag cats and orcs. They stop at a bakery on the way to the gravesite. After getting their pastries, they chat with the very pregnant owner, who is due soon - she introduces herself as Georgia. They then make their way to the graveyard, finding Alok's grave. Nothing seems to be amiss there, After some discussion, they decide to leave it alone and return to the tavern.

They also stop at the General Store(2:09:36) and pick up some rations. While they are shopping, Rey notices the necklace of Pegasus feathers that Deirdre wears, noting how lovely it is. They return to the tavern for the evening.

Rey and Maudit chat(2:20:38) about their respective interests in Leona and Deirdre. Maudit says that he and Deirdre are just friends, and Rey says that Leona is clearly emotionally unavailable. Rey reveals that Roman Kentigurn was emotionally abusive to Rey's sister after courting her, and has a reputation for going after all the girls in the court. Eventually, they both turn in.

After an hour or so (2:34:03), Maudit sneakily takes Rey's bag of holding and looks for the coin from the thieves' guild, but it's not there. Meanwhile, Leona and Deirdre discuss what she will do when they get to her hometown. They also talk about the war and how they wish they could fix it. Deirdre thinks they should stay out of it, because getting involved would be dangerous. Eventually, they turn in, with Deirdre sleeping lightly with the pregnant woman on her mind.

Kesra dreams (2:51:12) of a great fire. She sees the old man get engulfed in the flames. Maudit is badly burned, Deirdre is thin and sallow, and Leona is collapsed on the ground near her. Kesra shouts to the heavens, demanding to know what they want. She gets a vision of herself, going to Leona and healing her. Kesra then wants to know why her, and a voice tells her that she wasn't chosen. It addresses her as Kestrel, and tells her that she can't run. Kesra demands to know what's so special about Leona. She sees another vision, of Roman whispering in Leona's ear, and stabs Deirdre with her dagger, killing her. The voice tells Kesra that she owes a debt, and that she must repay it before he will remove her curse. She wakes up to find a blackening mark where she was stabbed, growing toward her neck and abdomen.

They all wake in the morning(3:10:03) and briefly debate doing some more investigation into Alok, but decide to just head out of town. They stop by the bakery on their way for some pastries, and learn that Georgia is currently in labor. Deirdre quickly goes to help, finding the baby in a breech position. Deirdre helps deliver the baby, healing Georgia and stabilizes her. The group heads off down the road toward Adare.