Ruined Relationships

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 58: Ruined Relationships, the party stepped over the bodies of slain Lizardfolk to find a safer spot to rest.  Daud assured us that the presence of these creatures was unusual but not overly worrisome – as they were something between beast and man, they were similarly drawn to the Tempests during the changing of the Squall Seasons.

While our guide took a moment to forage for lunch, Erland recapped what he had learned from Marvyn Bishop through the pages of Grahmari's Giant Grimoire – and while there didn’t seem to be anything we could do for him at the moment, we vowed to keep a careful eye out for further messages and perhaps send word to Jillian when we could find a reliable courier service.

As our discussion on this topic was nearing an end, we heard someone approaching on horseback – an unlikely pair that included another veteran of the grove escorting a young intellectual who had run away from home.  Coming from the direction we were headed, the ranger Tumelo confirmed that Lizardfolk sightings seemed to be on the rise – giving us some pause about our chosen route but not ultimately swaying us from taking the fastest path through the ruins.

After bandaging up some minor injuries, we steered the horses east once more – though we didn't get far before Daud requested one more brief stop at a spot sacred to the Acqly Elves.  Here there was a particular tree that could be used to send a brief message to a person who had passed on – but there was another unique way to utilize this unusual bit of magic.  If you wrote to someone who was still living, the message would disappear as you carved it into the trunk – providing a convenient method of determining whether someone was alive or dead.

While Daud and Beezaura paid their respects, the rest of us seized the opportunity to check in on some old friends: Wachi Ferraud, Rujeni Grahmari and Lady Sengri'la.  It was hardly a fount of knowledge, but it gave us a little peace of mind – and we set off knowing that these key figures in our lives were still out there somewhere to contact and confide in.

We knew we were approaching Joiruk when the mist began to gather on the forest floor, and soon the walls of the once-great city were upon us.  Daud led us to the southern entrance, where he unveiled the next part of his plan – climbing into the gatehouse with a partner to operate the mechanisms that would allow us to pass into the ruin.  It was Erland who volunteered, and the two of them dexterously hopped between the few remaining stable portions of the building – their task further complicated by the overwhelming fog that clouded their vision.

After getting the rest of the group through, Daud called out with a note of distress in his voice – and Erland rushed to find that he was waiting patiently to make a painful confession.  Knowing that Erland would eventually find out the truth – he admitted that he had never received "remission" from Atonement's End, that instead he had fled and the monastery was offering great rewards to have him returned.  Erland tried his best to convince Daud that he had no desire to turn him over to the monks, but he would not see reason – and wracked with guilt he lit a blackpowder bomb, setting off an explosion that cut off our means of escape.

With a singed robe, Erland leapt from the window of the gatehouse down to the street below – where the rest of the party had only moments to digest what had happened before we heard sounds of the ruin coming to life.  The explosion (and perhaps some of our shouting) had alerted Joiruk's inhabitants to our presence, despite the dense fog – and not long after choosing a direction to travel, we were greeted with a powerful, concentrated burst of ice that knocked Erland to the ground.

Another posse of Lizardfolk slithered out from the dilapidated houses around us, using strategic positioning and levitation to try and put us in range of a sharpshooter they had stationed on one of the rooftops.  By targeting their shamans, we managed to keep ourselves mostly out of the line of fire – but Beezaura could only resist an onslaught of weighted nets for so long before she was dragged into a nearby dwelling by their forces on the ground.

Running low on magical energy and lacking Daud's added firepower – we braced ourselves to grit out a dangerous fight.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: one natural one was rolled in this Chapter, by Riley.