Suspicion

Alexis had a bad feeling about this. They had been sneaking far beyond the front to the northeast of Torja. What kind of job in Vastad’s name did Seoras get them into now?

Man was even more obscure about their task as usual, just talking about some kind of ‘strategical target’ they were to strike at. ‘Disrupting supply lines.’ There was something going on and she already knew she wasn’t going to like it.
She had been speaking with Marsili and Iain about this, and it seemed they shared her unease.

“Yeah. Guy’s even more shifty as usual.”
Marsili agreed taking a sip from her tankard.

“… if he’s being that obscure, then I’ll bet my axe we would not agree if we knew the whole story.”
Iain rubbed his grey beard pensively.

“We’re almost at the border to the Forsaken Lands, and we are still going north. I think we’re almost by those woods. Everwood, was it? Can’t imagine what could be of strategical interest for Garrah here.”

“Not for Garrah, no…”
Iain darkly ventured, making both women look at him.

“Wait Iain. What are you saying?”
Marsili lowered her voice, looking about for unwelcome listeners.

“I’m saying we have been targeting mainly Torja troops for a while. And I’m saying a lot of the newly recruits have at least some Salos ties.”

They looked at each other in silence for a moment. So it was likely Seoras was collecting contracts from Salos. That… wasn’t great, each of them would prefer to work for their homelands, but they were mercenaries after all. The Purple Legion for example didn’t limit itself to Garrah. His secrecy was what made this all too suspicious.

“So, Salos likely. But he doesn’t want us to know. So what’s up with that?”
Alexis spoke aloud what they all were thinking.
“… I think we need to find out. Fast.”

Her friends nodded gravely.

“Let’s keep an eye open. Things he tries to keep us out of. Maybe things that go bump in the night.”
Iain offered, and so it was decided.

A few days later, in the dying light of the evening, they could indeed look upon the vast expanses of the Everwood.

As ordered Alexis had scouted out a suitable location for camp where they wouldn’t be easily discovered, a necessity this deep in Torjan terrain.
With their heightened alertness, it didn’t get by the attention of the three friends that Seoras seemed to be rather … busy that night. Something was about to go down. And they were determined to find out what that something was.