The party continued east on their way out of Bridgeville. When asked what he meant about "being back", Kestyn noted that he was born in Barston, orphaned, and taken to the Ikhil Monastery by a monk traveling through Barston.
Realizing that the east gate guards are checking the papers of everyone leaving through the gate, the party stops while Morro pretends to check the oxens' hooves. The group then makes a quick (and somewhat conspicuous) detour down a side street, seeking to avoid being asked for non-existent papers, which might also cause inconvenient questions about their invisible party members.
The group stopped at a different tavern, with Kestyn leading the way in procuring 2 rooms for the day and night. Plan A is for Morro to somehow find someone who can forge papers or sneak them out of the city. Plan B is for the non-human members to sneak out over an unguarded section of the wall, while Kestyn and Gulden take the cart through the gate without papers, hoping their military disguises will carry the day.
Getting Kiiv and Orla into the tavern secretly again proves to be difficult, as this time it is Kiiv who invisibly stumbles and alerts the inn's employee who is showing them to their rooms. Deciding that painting Kiiv as a lover would not go over well with anyone, Kestyn quickly states that they are escorting a dangerous prisoner that people in Barston might want to get revenge upon, which is why he is invisible. Again offering 2 gold now and 2 gold when they leave, Kestyn convinces him to look the other way.
Morro does indeed find a shady tavern called the Broken Sabre, occupied almost entirely by halflings. Here, he asks the barkeep about someone who might be able to help and is eventually met by a halfling named Cush, who claims to be able to help with the "papers problem." He invites Morro up to room 23, saying to knock 7 times. Cush is attended by two similarly shady (and beefy) guards, and he demands 40 gold, all up front, for 4 sets of papers matching the descriptions of Morro, Kestyn, Whipp, and Gulden (being the human members and those most able to disguise themselves as human). After attempting to pay half now and half later, Morro realizes he has few options and pays the 40 gold.
The group takes a short rest that night while waiting for their papers.
Kestyn accompanies Morro to the Broken Sabre to get their papers. Kestyn remains downstairs while Morro is escorted up to room 23 by the barkeep. Morro gets the papers, which he deems satisfactory (having never seen real versions of them) and the two reconvene with the rest of the party.
Kiiv uses a Find Steed spell to conjure a camel, and sends it speeding through the gate just as the guards are looking at the group's forged papers. The camel spits on one of the guards, who could not be troubled to chase it, and some combination of the papers and the camel sees the group being let through.
The group travels east for multiple days, realizing that there are few growing crops here and mostly livestock instead. The roads are well-made and well-maintained, and traffic is heavy. For that reason, Orla and Kiiv spend most of the daytime journey hiding in the cart.
The group notices that about 80% of houses have a mysterious purple bow on their front door, and Whipp angrily kicks a sign reading, "Barston for Barstonians." Deciding not to deal with the tavern problem again, the group continues past an inn and sleeps off the side of the road.
Another boring day of travel is followed by the group again staying off road at night in what they think is some sort of public park. Eschewing the tiny hut, the group has an uneventful night but are approached by a park ranger in the morning, telling them they can't stay there and to get lost before the supervisor arrives.
Another boring day of travel. The group this time finds a dry riverbed area to sleep in at night, certain that it isn't any kind of public park. The party gains a level of exhaustion because of pushing past multiple inns and traveling late into the evening.
In the middle of the night, Whipp hears the sound of creatures crashing toward them through the undergrowth. Waking everyone up, Whipp soon realizes it is a herd of pigs or hogs. Kiiv manages to grab one and begins stabbing it maniacally, while Whipp quickly dispatches one with their glaive. Realizing the pigs have collars and that people are coming, looking for them, Kestyn tries to get the group to go along with a story of self-defense. Kestyn covers himself in pigs' blood and lies down, moaning as if in pain.
Whipp and Kiiv refuse to listen to reason and begin trying to hide the pig corpses, first in the cart, then under the cart, failing both times. A farmer arrives as they try to nonchalantly stand in front of the pigs. Seeing the seemingly injured Kestyn, the farmer asks what happened. Not knowing the difference between "trampled" and "stomped," Kestyn gives the game away and the party is forced to offer to buy the dead pigs. The farmer first demands the exorbitant price of 100 gold. The party bargains him down to 50 and quickly leaves the area with the pigs in tow. Having again failed to sleep on time, the group now has two levels of exhaustion.
After finding a suitable place to take a long rest, the party works on butchering and cooking the pigs, preserving some for the road. After a few hours, the group hears and sees six park rangers approaching with angry looks.
Respectfully submitted,
Kestyn
Party Experience Before Session: 213,845XP
Experience Earned:
Party Experience After Session: 220,345XP
Needed For Level 8: 7 * 34,000XP = 238,000XP