<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">If you want to get any additional gear/etc before you leave, please do so now and let me know in an OOC spoiler like this</div></div><br/>At Rosalie's suggestion, as well as the bar getting a bit rough for the moment, you make for a few hours that night to the north before setting camp after running across a caravan that seemed to be doing the same.  The offer to share their dinner - some stew and a spitted deer that someone had felled an hour or so before - as the halflings would not be able to eat the whole thing if they took two days.  The night is a nice once and the watches go by, as do the nights for the next day or so.  In the terrain so close to Starfall and so well traveled, the only concern is bandits and, even then, a small caravan and odd travelers with it are likely to not attract too much attention.<br/><br/>You make Bvalko the afternoon of the third day, the last bit of civilization before you head off to the old road to the east.  There you see a few others that you might take for competition judging by their swagger and confidence - a high-elf looking wizard fellow, a rather drunken halfling and a surly dwarf in classic heavy armor.  At their table sits a fourth, a road-worn looking human taking swigs of his wine skin far too quickly for his own good, his exhaustion clear on his face.  They make you out as you approach the town, sitting at one of the outdoor tables just outside the inn on the approach into town.  "Ah, it looks like we have some competitors.  Aren't you a pretty one?" the dwarf says, although it isn't clear to who it is.  "Turn back now and save yourself the trouble, you'll not beat us to Ironmote."  The others turn their head when the dwarf speaks, snickering at the lot of you.<br/><br/>Looking at the emblem on each of their clothing, you realize that they're part of a mercenary band based out of Bvalko - Boarhead Band - and, putting two and two together, realize that the fourth was probably a rider who rode hard from Starfall to give them notice... and still only kept time with you.  They don't seem especially friendly but the halfling, for a moment, is not as drunk as he appears as he walks toward you, a curiosity in his eyes.  "You wouldn happen to have..." he pauses as his hiccups, "Nevermind.  We got this.  See Ollie over there?" he points to the dwarf, "He's from Ironmote and knows everyone there.  One letter from us and you're..." he pauses, hiccuping again, eyes ranging over the party.  "I don't remember what I was saying."