What Goes Up Must Throw Down

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 64: What Goes Up Must Throw Down, Beezaura's watch was interrupted when she spotted a young man approaching in the dark.  With a visible injury near his neck and a disoriented demeanor, there was reason for Beezaura to think that his story about his father's carriage overturning might not be entirely true.  After waking Graven, the two of them probed the boy further but it yielded no results – so they played it safe and sent him away, intending to investigate the area in the morning for any additional clues.

When it was light enough to get our bearings, we followed a muddy set of footprints – and were careful to avoid walking into an ambush or trap.  It wasn't long before the trail abruptly stopped, leading some us to believe the boy had jumped up high or taken flight – and we came to an unnerving conclusion that there might be a vampire active in the area, who had found an easy target to feed upon.

It was certainly something to have in the back of our minds, but the daytime hours are safe from such creatures – so we returned to the road and began the final push to Leopold's Garrison.  Traffic along this path increased steadily as we got further north; it wasn't uncommon to see wagons, carriages and caravans moving in both directions – but what did seem unusual was a Goliath who had set up a spot to sell the remains of creatures he had slain.

Stuffed into jars like a pudding or ooze, these Gibbering Mouthers had been hunted by the stoic Cabral il-Zurdu, who sought revenge and closure after a friend of his was killed by one in the region known as Scrutiny.  He wasn't itching to have a prolonged conversation, but we learned that the primary use for these Mouther Dregs was as a makeshift magical component – and that a certain wizard from up north had been (on occasion) sending an assistant to purchase them.

Without tipping his hand, Graven took the opportunity to ask about the il-Vigo tribe – and while Cabral admitted they were never close, he confirmed that there were certainly some still living and dispersed throughout the Wixa mountains.

Our next interruption came when Erland sensed a worrying scent while passing by a man traveling alone on horseback.  The man was clearly in distress, and after excusing the others to have a private conversation Erland was able to get him to open up about his predicament.  Leto's husband, who he shamefully revealed was a frequent user of recreational Myconid products, had gone missing in the area – his only clue to his whereabouts scrawled ambiguously on a map of the Acqly Grove Road.

He'd received this information from a supposed friend of the husband, who told a tale of a disfigured creature that barged into their den and attacked without warning.  He provided a massive, severed finger as evidence of the altercation – and since this seemed to be the source of the familiar smell, Erland was convinced we were dealing with another Type-B Mutant.

There were multiple reasons we thought it worth helping Leto (beyond feeling it was the right thing to do) – but he didn't know where to begin his search, so we came up with an alternative plan.  Leto promised that if he found the abandoned house, he would notify us at Leopold's Garrison – and in exchange we trusted him with one of the whistles we'd taken from the Harvesting Yard in the Chaki Mountains, to use in case of emergency.

After that it was a smooth ride into the evening – and for once we found ourselves right on schedule as we entered into Gentle Void territory.  Heading straight for the civilian portion of the complex, we weren't stopped for questioning or inspections – and it was a lively atmosphere packed with merchants and travelers who frequented this route.

While Erland and Beezaura took care of room and board, Graven and Safira made sure Orba didn't lose too much coin gambling on dice games – and it was during this bit of fun that we were able to pinpoint the woman mentioned in the letter from the Halfling of Hacketton.  Feeling at home in this environment, Joella was largely unfazed by our threats – but as promised she had a weakness for a good bet, and she was willing to make one here to settle the argument.

She proposed a best-of-five boxing match – her friends versus us – and after agreeing we set about strategizing how we would choose our opponents.  With rules in place about how the fight would go down, we considered everyone's strengths and weaknesses.

## Trivia

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