A Match Fixed, A Man Kicked

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 77: A Match Fixed, A Man Kicked, we looked to Mohan Fowler for an explanation regarding the nighttime attempt on Beezaura's life – and while he seemed immensely frustrated, he didn't seem entirely surprised.

The would-be assassins were all Gentle Void who'd been reprimanded after Beezaura's escape from Leopold's Garrison, and in the grudge-bearing, eye-for-an-eye world of the modern GV that was an insult that could not stand.  Mohan didn't think we'd see further retaliation, but we set up watches just in case and he promised to try and sniff out any additional dissent among his employees at the docks.

A late night was coming to a close in Na-Upa as well, with the party returning from assisting the Rudhiran Elves – and we lingered just a moment longer to place a note beneath the west-end bridge to finally set a definitive meeting with whoever had been communicating through Grahmari's Giant Grimoire.

It wasn't the best night of sleep we'd ever had, but we were happy to start a new day in Navika-Pura – and it didn't hurt that Sotiria had arranged a special breakfast for us at the Upa Alehouse.  The items of greater importance on our agenda seemed to be reserved for later in the day, but our morning plans consisted of a pair of rigged activities.

After discussing some new leads with the always-prodding Villepont Willoughby, Beezaura and Graven reported to the Tall Ports – where a rematch with Wilson Cleaver would restore his honor and simultaneously give us a window of opportunity to further utilize our P.I.  Beezaura was loathe to paint herself as a poor pugilist, but she swallowed her pride and put on a good show that was as convincing as it was embarrassing.  Graven followed suit – and we left the docks sore, wondering where we'd head next while Villepont did his thing listening to his birdies.

Another stacked deck was over at Boffin Estates, where Erland and Safira had arrived to race through a maze they were already familiar with.  The prize was nothing spectacular, but a little extra spending money never hurt – and our monk was making good time dashing from flag to flag until he discovered the final banner was not in the same spot from the night before.

While Erland searched, a scrawny man with a club emerged and demanded we give him all our gold – but he had grossly underestimated his mark, and Erland sent him tumbling to the ground with one ferocious kick to the head.  Not missing a beat, Erland channeled his Ki to make a hasty exit – and we argued with Mr. Boffin and his assistant Ned over whether this pathetic ambush had been planned from the start.

We left not knowing whether we'd get the prize we were promised and there was a pang of guilt as it dawned on Erland that he may have killed the thief – but without seeing the body it was impossible to know for sure, so it was on to other business for the day.

As all this was going on, Orba made a trip back to Na-Qhusi – learning along the way that the underground Steederway was nearing completion and also that Llewelyn Hoggs had been asking around about us after we left.  It was something to consider for when we all met up back in Na-Garwas, but for now Orba's interest was in commissioning a tattoo from the artist Butez who we'd met yesterday on the road.

While she was there, she recognized one design in his sketchbook as the same that was seen between Roy's toes – Leto's husband that had become mixed up in the world of Mycrawl.  Despite picking up some clues that Butez wasn't being entirely honest about the tornado's meaning, Orba didn't want to press the issue too hard just yet – and she described in detail a beautiful flower tattoo that she planned to get on the back of her hand.

Having taken care of some unusual bits of business across the townships, we gave some thought to where we'd be heading next.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: no natural ones were rolled in this Chapter.