He-Said She-Wolf

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 66: He-Said She-Wolf, a knock interrupted our anxious fidgeting and Erland cautiously approached the door to find Donald waiting in the hall.  He told us that our "friend" had finally arrived, but that he looked like he may have been injured – so we hurried downstairs to a mentally shaken but mostly physically intact Leto.

After shuffling off to a spot where we could speak privately, Leto recounted his efforts to locate the Mycrawl den – which he had done after hours of searching.  He scouted from a distance for some time and only approached after he was convinced the coast was clear – but it was only moments after entering the abandoned house that he was ambushed by the mutant creature.

Leto believed in this moment he was going to die – but the creature was briefly distracted by something on his belt and it was enough of an opening to grab and blow the whistle we'd gifted him earlier that day.  The mutant recoiled and Leto fled – but not before spotting the beast sprinting north away from the house.

That caught us up to now – where Leto was imploring us to assist in returning to the scene, as it seemed this was a golden opportunity to investigate while the creature had abandoned its post.  We acknowledged the reality that we'd be foregoing a night's rest to look into the matter – but it seemed important enough to do so, and we believed Leto's connections in Navika-Pura could prove to be extremely helpful given the wealth of people and places we were hoping to look into.

As the crew from room 14 headed out on horseback, Graven and Safira prepared for their foray into Gentle Void territory – stripping down to just the essentials and psyching themselves up for the fight.  They linked up with their contact, Roa, who escorted them to the Garrison – though the price of bringing Graven along turned out to be quite expensive as we were forced to bribe the guards not only with Gentle Void favors, but a cut of our potential winnings as well.

We headed down into the arena where the boxing matches had already begun, allowing us to get a sneak peek at their brutal nature and the kinds of combatants that were involved.  After watching the "Dream Eater" outlast the "Son of Serpents" – they called Safira to the ring under her new pseudonym, "She-Wolf", followed shortly by a mighty chorus of chants and stomps as "The Chimera" walked in from the prison ward.

Hours to the south, Leto was able to retrace his steps and we arrived at the abandoned house that reeked of death but was otherwise unoccupied.  Erland and Beezaura led the way from room to room and we examined each battered corpse for signs of Roy.  Beside the remains of the dead, there wasn't much to find – in fact, it almost seemed as if it had already been picked over before we got here.

In the last room we pulled down a man who looked like he had attempted an escape, and a mortified Leto identified him as his husband.  He had already come to terms with the possibility of Roy's death, but it was still difficult to stomach – and he vowed to transport the body to be buried with dignity elsewhere.

Beezaura moved to assist Leto, but something worrying caught her eye on the horizon – a bobbing light source followed by the distant sound of hooves.  Without an idea of who might be approaching, we made a snap decision to hide amongst the corpses – hoping that they'd come and go without noting our presence.

Back at the garrison, a Goliath stepped forth that Graven recognized immediately as the illusive Booraj il-Kravo – and as he bowed to the audience the two of them exchanged a knowing glance before the match began.  Early on, the Chimera frequently opted for close strikes and clinches that allowed him to say a few words to Safira without drawing suspicion.  He confirmed that Safira was traveling with Graven and gave us a lead to follow in Navika-Pura – but in the interest of keeping up appearances, after that the fight was on for real.

Safira followed up her impressive reads from earlier in the night with a comeback performance that shook the arena into a state of disbelief – mixing up her punches before landing a pair of heavy blows that knocked Booraj to the floor.  As the Graven looked nervously around for Roa (who had disappeared after sensing something amiss).

## Trivia

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