Cold Shoulders and Hot Pursuits

## **Synopsis:**

In Chapter 13: Cold Shoulders and Hot Pursuits – we set a brisk pace moving north to make up the time from our setback at the Broken Crown checkpoint.  The first thing that caught our eye along the main road was a bounty hunter dragging a prisoner along that he claimed was Booraj Il-Kravo, although we had our doubts given the man's appearance.  With Erland meditating and Graven unconscious, we opted not to press the issue fearing that a conflict might delay us further.

Not long after that, a half-orc hitchhiker requested a ride after sustaining a mild ankle injury – which we were happy to oblige after seeing he was unarmed and appeared forthright about his intentions.  His tales of traveling through Anti-Suyu provided some helpful details about a few subjects we had come across on our journey thus far: Finlock Forest, the Shade Assembly and the name of the panther-like creature Graven had heard about while seeking out hunting contracts: a Displacer Beast, apparently native to another continent entirely.

When we reached the fork in the road that Robert Bastille's man had described, we found a thriving trading post – but at the late hour of our arrival, there was little to do but set up camp for the evening before making the final, uninterrupted push to the East Pucara Crossing.  Finding a moment to pull Orba aside, Beezaura disclosed her tacit agreement with the Gentle Void to relay information about her intentions in Anti-Suyu – but a lack of clarity and Orba's refusal to go into the details of her past made for a contentious exchange before the Tiefling stormed off and Erland butted in.

With the dark of night upon us, we took turns keeping watch – and as Beezaura surveyed the stillness of the market she detected a pair of young thieves lifting trinkets from a neighboring tent.  Taking stock of their destitute state, Beezaura chose not to reprimand them – and as she called them closer they recognized her face from a drawing back at the Irama-Pura Agricultural Communes that they had escaped from.  After imparting a little bit of worldly wisdom, Beezaura sent them on their way and waited for the morning to come.

With the rising of the sun came the return of commerce at the trading post, and following a quick resupply it was time to depart.  The road to the east brought us rougher terrain and a wooded area marked by treehouse lookouts that kept an eye on merchant vessels passing through.  A couple of uneventful hours were interrupted by the discovery of an empty surveillance nest that Erland poked his head into, and peering through a left-behind spyglass he detected a pillar of smoke in the distance.

The origin of the fumes turned out to be a pair of Black Lion barbarians, ransacking and setting fire to the sentries.  Fearing that this signaled a potential conflict at the crossing, we quietly pursued the men until we had the opportunity to ambush one on its own.  Orba took the initiative to disguise herself and follow the second barbarian until it raised a weapon to harm an innocent person, whereupon a Chill Touch spell was cast to disrupt his aim.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: two natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 each by Anthony and Leah.