"So... did you find out why he was sent away whenever a group went out?" I ask after a moment, belatedly adding, "Pepper," in the same tone I'd say 'ma'am'.

"He is an obvious security risk," I repeat, slowing down just enough so that the girl might understand this time.

"No prejudicial measures required," I add, directing this towards Leatherleaf.

"What the fuck does that even mean?" I exclaim, frustrated.  "Can't you talk like a normal person?"

"What the fuck does that even mean?" I exclaim, frustrated.  "Can't you talk like a normal person?"

"It means," I respond in a carefully measured tone, "he talked rather than die."

"What are you talking about?" I say. "Who said anything about anyone dying?"

"I don't...."  I glance carefully over at the major before saying, "Look, rough 'em up a little if you gotta, sure, but I didn't sign up for killing our own people.  Not when they aint done nothing wrong."  Guess I didn't actually sign up at all, but still, there's limits.

"Nobody roughed anybody up," I reply. "We talked to him, that's all. Hurting innocent people isn't my way either, kid."

Bad future ahead for you, then, ghost, I think, but keep my mouth shut.

"He's not dead," I respond dryly.

"We are Karrnathian soldiers.  We are sworn to our duty to protect our fatherland.  To serve even unto death and beyond.  Innocence and allegiance are irrelevant.  He failed in his duty."

"But he did protect your country," I point out. "By giving us the information we wanted. Would you be happier if he'd kept quiet?"

Wait, what was that she said? "Oh! We're in Karrnath? I know Karrnath! That's the one everybody hates, right? No, wait, that's Thrane..."

I'll not debate philosophy with property of the state or lower ranks.

Focus.

"We were sent to gather information and report.  We have succeeded.  It is now for Leatherleaf to decide what to do with that information.  Discussion outside of that is not pertinent to the success of our mission."

*stoic*

"He's not dead," I respond dryly.

"We are Karrnathian soldiers.  We are sworn to our duty to protect our fatherland.  To serve even unto death and beyond.  Innocence and allegiance are irrelevant.  He failed in his duty."

"He failed by talking? But if he didn't talk, you were prepared to kill him? Do you have magic missile shock? Did the way addle your head?"

Some of us are soldiers. 

I clear my throat expressively. "Well done, comrades. It's as I'd guessed, the soldier was simply not permitted into the loop. And in that case, I doubt there's more can be done by loitering here.  Let us set out and travel in the direction that indicates a direct route through wilderness to Lakeside, and when we are sufficiently distant to know we are not watched from the Fort and Outpost, we will camp for the night. In the morning, we will set out for our true destination, more travelled ways and Irontown. Agreed?" I eye Pepper suspiciously. She seems uncomfortable and even more frustrated with the world than usual. "Do you need rest before we set out? If not, mount your steeds."

I turn and walk towards Chickadee.

I whistle to recall Creon, who after a moment comes happily bounding over to me.  I reward him with a treat and thorough scratch behind the ears.

"Ready."

Easily, clucking softly to the clawfoot, I retighten the girth band and mount, then sit waiting for the others to join me. I tell myself it was a necessary delay; we could not afford to ignore the possibility of further intel.

[Okay, you guys want to give me a few general traveling checks, and I'll start narrating your journey north?  Please let me know if there's anything in particular you want to keep an eye out for, and work out your default marching order.]

[ok]

[Perception checks from Pepper for watching for threats: 14,16,14 + 13 = 27,29,27]
[Nature checks to command Creon to watch for threats: 2,20,8 + 13 = 15,33,21]
[Stealth checks to cover my tracks: 4,14,10 + 14 = 18,28,22]
[Creon's Perception checks: 11,15,6 + 7 = 18,22,13]

If the general only didn't want that soldier knowing about all the people passing through his outpost, why not just reassign the guy? I wonder, and yet again keep my mouth shut on the grounds that the major don't want to hear it.

[Astra will keep an eye out for any GHOSTS!]

A half-elf soldier, with his two weeks annual leave stretching out before him, sits in a roadside inn southeast of Irontown.  It is not a fine establishment, here in the south of Karrnath, a region that was not wealthy even before nearby Cyre first invaded then imploded into a malevolent wasteland, but the inn is clean and the beer and cheese are strong and the roof doesn't leak.  The inn is called the Granite Pillow, which is a reference to a nearby rock formation, and also a warning about the quality of the beds.

[Raven, over to you!]

Leatherleaf, Pepper, Oleg, Mari, Valenae and Astra ride north.  The country is bleak but ruggedly beautiful, and as they get some distance on the fort, the rocky barren ground turns to rocky barren ground covered in spindly conifers, which gives Pepper any amount of heartburn as she tries to spot potential threats among the thickening scrubby foliage and the evening mists.



Other than the occasional hare, ground squirrel or bird, the land seems to have few inhabitants, and the party passes the remnants of numerous burnt-out or collapsed farmsteads in various states of decay, reminders of the Last War. 

Then, a sign of sentient life - a farmstead that is undergoing construction, not decomposition. You hear it before you see it, the sound of trees being felled and nails hammered.  When you crest a hill, you spot a clearing ahead that is too geometric to be natural, with a small but sound cabin of yellowish barely-weathered wood planks in the middle of it, and a few barely-distinguishable-at-this-distance figures moving around.  You could easily ride on past unnoticed, if you wanted.

[How close are we to sundown?]

[How close are we to sundown?]

It's nearing winter, so despite the fact that it's not THAT late, it's definitely getting dark out.