Elliya belatedly realized she had made a huge mistake not staying at the cottage. Unexpectedly, the sky had opened up, pelting her with sheets of ice-cold rain. Running off the road to find shelter, Elliya camped out in a small, forested area under the cover of some trees. Cursing her luck, she took a moment to ensure that her reagents had not been spoiled, thankfully noting that the wax she used to seal her vials seemed to have held.

It was clearly much too blustery and wet to try and read the wind- dandelions and pinches of dirt certainly weren’t going to cut it. She needed some other way to reorient herself and figure out where to head next. Maybe she could try scattering leaves on the surface of some water? Eyes darting around, Elliya saw a potentially sheltered puddle under the canopy of large oak. Wrapping her pack in her cloak in a vain attempt to keep it from getting too soggy, she darted towards the oak, hoping to get some directions from above.

Upon looking at the rather pathetic puddle, Elliya quickly realized that this was a fool’s errand.

Ugh! Why did I think this would be still enough to read in a damn storm?

Dejected, Elliya turned around just in time to spot a lightly armored bandit picking up her things and starting to sprint away.

“Hey, uh excuse me? Wait, stop! That’s my stuff!” she called out as she took off after him, running as fast as she could. The cold had sapped much of her muscles of much of their strength, and she could see that the thief was slowly gaining distance on her.

Shit shit shit shit.

Elliya tried one last trick- conjuring the faint trickles of moonlight to cast a bolt at the rapidly retreating figure. For a moment, it seemed it might work, as light coalesced at her fingertips and shot towards the thief. Then the moon winked behind the clouds, and the light she had gathered harmlessly dissipated into a shimmering mist.

Knowing she had no hope of catching her target now, Elliya plopped down on the muddy ground to catch her breath.

Well. I suppose I should have been more careful. How was I supposed to hear someone following me over all this rain? Just my luck. . .

Meandering back to her original shelter, Elliya noticed that the thief was at least nice (or hurried) enough to leave her cloak behind. After wringing it out, she hunched under it against a tree and prepared for a very uncomfortable night.


The next morning was mercifully dry, although the news had apparently not reached the inner layers of her armor yet. Groaning, Elliya stood up slowly and tried to rub the aches out of what felt like every muscle in her body.

I guess I should head to Stonevale and check the local pawn shops? Small time bandits have got to fence things somewhere after all.

Elliya instinctively reached down to try to pick up her pack, sighed heavily, and began the long trek into town.