The Northern and Destined Paths

It was so close to a quiet day for once.
 
We spent most of the morning finishing up business in Aldrefield, the party trying to muscle some coin out of a local logging baron and myself taking some time to listen to the people about town. I got my update sent off so now I'll wait for a response at the least opportune time possible, as usual. We picked up a set of carts and horses to speed our travel time as we estimate there's about 5-6 days’ worth of road to cross before reaching our destination.
 
The journey was entirely, and refreshingly, boring for the entire morning and most of the afternoon. Just a bit of idle conversation helped us pass the time though it put our situation into stark contrast once again. I'm now very aware that I barely know anyone other than Hetzoatl and even then he's nearly impossible to get a straight answer out of. I don't think anyone here to be a significant threat, though Lazulia (or Grognar, Andricous, whatever) seems like she could wake up one day to be real trouble.
 
Everything was just fine until we run head first into a panicked man sprinting down the road towards us. Not more than half a minute later, a giant insect... thing bursts out of the ground and cuts the man's horse clean in half. It's awfully hard to kill a creature when it doesn't stay above ground for more than a few seconds at a time but the troupe once again showed that they can handle themselves in a fight. Almost stayed tactical about it too. Almost. We can work on that a bit in the future.
 
The man, whom was very thankful for the rescue (if a bit too happy in disposition), introduced himself as a postman making his routine trip with letters from the capital. Out of professional courtesy, we allowed him to remain with us for the evening as he certainly wasn't going to be able to make it to the nearest outpost on foot.
 
Oh gods, I just remembered that Mal dropped the little fun fact that he ran into the bandit captain's sister at the temple in Aldrefield and told her about us! It's not going to take that man very long to put two and two together once he figures out his treasure is gone. As if I needed more things to worry about with giant insects and screams in the forest.
 
I don't have the focus to work tonight. It feels like my mind is on fire trying to keep track of everything that's happened. There's something materializing in my cloud of thoughts but I can't grab it yet. Maybe after a night's rest and a few hours of time alone by the fire. There's another camp off in the distance and I can’t help but wonder what events led them here tonight. Surely something more mundane.