Returning to Acondia city, we collect our bounty for a job done medium rare. Sprigg gathers some druid friends to go control the forest fires somebody started, while the rest of the slightly singed adventuring teens haggle with the kʰuntmaster for our next reward.
We get to go on an escort mission! Coldmarch again says hell no, but we give such little shits about his warnings that he sets a bounty on us. Should've robbed him while we had the chance.
The prospect of leaving Acondia for a while is beyond exciting, and we buy giant badgers with our reward money. A considerable amount of thought is put into naming our new steeds Emergency Snack, Basil, Brocktree, Banny (Tanny's ride), Baron liver and Badger. It is established, after serious debate, that the badgers are friends, and don't count as rations. We purchase rations proper, and definitely don't question what they are made of or how long they keep. Realism. Gritty titties.
The job is to take Mr. shady trader Fists of Scale - promptly nicknamed Fiddy, as Fisty was a no-go - to Uhnakama city, a few weeks ride to the west. He carries furs, wood samples, miscellaneous goods, or so he says. Some extra thugs are hired, and the challenging route requires a geomancer to pass through certain areas. Neither the Geomancer Earth meets Dawn, nor the cook Passive Buffalo, know anything about where we're from, based on the description, but it could be near a place called Nusfara Daora. A description of the dark figures who thrashed our village spooks the shit out of the thugs, but they offer no explanation as to their reaction.
Keep your secrets then.
On our second day of travel, we come upon a semi-improvised toll point, where apparently a rival of Fiddy's demands protection money. An altercation ensues, and Fiddy is taken hostage by their leader Hills over Yule Valley. We take our new career as mercs seriously and resist the robbery, defeating the highwaymen in a surprise badger stampede. The cost is high, however, and we bury the extra thugs Fiddy hired, as well as our badger called badger. Sprigg can turn into a badger, however, so the badger-equilibrium is maintained.
While Hills have eyes or whatever escaped, we learned that he was hired by Fiddy's competitor Arrows falling on Soft Snow. As the job is seriously riskier than expected, and there's less hands to share the coin, we negotiate an impromptu raise from Fiddy. Most importantly, its time to gather the loot: armour and weapons and, of course, the ever-important rations, and head to our next waypoint of Mratic village.
As we depart, we realise Gigi has been magically whisked away in a puff of black eyeliner, leaving behind a note that she'll meet us on the way to Uhnakama.
Keep your secrets then, but seriously, blink twice if you need out of this deal with your patrón.
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