Kaldalis stepped out into the street into clear view of the guards.

Somewhere behind him, Balrim cursed. But Kaldalis didn’t have time to offer reassurance to his friends before the guards spotted him.

“Halt!” one of the guards barked. Four of the guards broke away from the group and started to move to intercept.

Kaldalis stopped and raised his hands. Despite his apparent surrender, his friends stepped out of the alley behind him, and the guards pulled up short with sudden dismay and fear. The group of them didn’t outnumber all of the guards present, but combined with the adventurers they already had in custody, the odds were tipping in the PCs’ favor if it came to a fight.

“Easy,” Kaldalis said, gesturing to his friends to calm down. “We don’t have to make a fight out of this.”

“So you’re surrendering?” one of the guards asked warily.

“Absolutely not,” Kaldalis said firmly. He pointed at the manacled adventurers. “But I need them. I hope we can reach a peaceful solution to this.”

“Do you know what you're asking?” the lead guard demanded. “You want us to shirk our duties? Ignore the law?”

“Frankly, yes,” Kaldalis said with a shrug. “The law is unjust. I’m sure you all know that. But you’re citizens of Cotanaku with your own opinions, and you can choose your own path. You don’t have to do what is lawful. Instead, you can do what is right.”

A few of the guards seemed rattled by that. A few of them physically shifted their stance to stand down. The leader, though, was not so easily convinced.

“Whether or not I agree with you isn’t important,” the lead guard said, “it’s my job. I’m not here to question the laws. What would happen to this city if we could just decide that our leaders are fools? We could just choose to devolve into anarchy? Is that what you want?”

“Well…” Myrin began. Kaldalis could hear the big stupid grin on her face.

“This is different,” Kaldalis said, shooting Myrin a glare to quiet her. “This law comes from the very anarchy you’re afraid of. The Contender seized control of the town because he wanted to twist the law to his ends. This isn’t the work of the leadership that rules fairly. This is - to put it bluntly - fucking bullshit. Are you really about to throw your lot in with anybody who tortures the current leader until they hand over control?”

“It’s Kaldalis,” one of the other guards said quietly to their leader. “If there’s anybody you should listen to, it’s him.”

“My kids aren’t orphans,” another said, “and I owe that to him.”

The leader grimaced. He wasn’t convinced. But he was starting to recognize that the more Kaldalis talked, the more members of his own squad were going to turn their coats if it escalated to a fight.

After a long moment, he made an agitated gesture. The guards who had stayed by his side - guarding the prisoners they had - quickly moved to unfasten their manacles.

“I’m turning my back,” the guard leader said in a tone full of anger and frustration. “When I turn back around, any adventurers I see are getting shoved into a cell.”

“Thanks,” Kaldalis said, even though he knew the man didn’t want to hear it. As the leader turned, the other guards parted to let Kaldalis approach the group of newly-freed adventurers. “Come on. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

“What did you want?” Martok snapped.

“I said it before,” Kaldalis answered. “I need your help. I have a trail to follow out into the jungle. There’s no one I trust more to keep me on the right path than you. You can take your freedom and fuck right off if you want.” Kaldalis leaned in towards him with a smirk. “But considering I got you that freedom, I’m sure an honorable warrior like yourself won’t want that debt hanging over your head for longer than necessary.”

“Y’nt yalagochukof, Ha’DlbaH,” Martok said with a grimace. Kaldalis couldn’t understand the words, but the intent was pretty clear.

“I’m gonna guess that wasn’t a compliment,” Kaldalis said. “But I’m going to assume that I can count on you just the same.”

“Yeah,” Martok grumbled. “But then we’re even. The less I see of you after this, the better.”

“Agreed,” Kaldalis said with a grin. He turned to the others, “the rest of you can make your own choices. The Contender has Garyung prisoner and tortured leadership out of him. I’d like all the help I can get to free him, but it’s not gonna be easy or fun. You’re free to go home - or wherever you want to go to avoid getting arrested again - but I’m walking this way. And there’s no force on these islands that can stop my foot from going up the Contender’s ass.”

“I’m going to turn back around in a second,” the guard leader snapped. “Because if you’re talking about committing assassination against the current leader of this town, I will be forced to act!”

“And we’re moving on,” Kaldalis said, stepping around the group of adventurers and heading towards the gate. “Make your own choices, but make them right now!”

Kaldalis wasn’t surprised when the whole group fell in behind him. Obviously, the two from Dalgaard’s group moved to flank the healer protectively, and Martok stomped angrily up beside Kaldalis, but the others joined them as well. Kaldalis didn’t know all of them well enough to put names to their faces on sight, but it was obvious that the best chance they had to avoid the inside of a prison cell was with Kaldalis’s group.

The next guards they saw were the ones at the jungle-side gate. Carington was still stationed there, and Kaldalis didn’t even have to explain. She locked eyes with the guard on the other side and shook her head before he could move to intercept.

With that, Kaldalis and his retinue was out of the town, and the only thing they had to be wary of for now was the Contender’s forces. And, to a lesser extent, the low-level wildlife that might be nearby.

Martok was still visibly agitated when they reached the small smear of red in the dirt that marked Garyung’s last known location. But as soon as the cartographer set eyes on the dragmarks - now slightly obscured by other bootprints - his expression went from a frustrated grimace to a mask of professional intent. He took the lead right away, following the trail without further hesitation.

Kaldalis moved to keep pace with him as they trail passed into the treeline.

Martok’s agitation returned immediately when they were in the jungle proper.

“This is what you needed me for?” Martok hissed at Kaldalis, keeping his voice low so that the conversation was just between the two of them as the others had fallen behind.

“I’ll admit,” Kaldalis said, “I just counted myself lucky to find you on my way out of town. I didn’t have a… complete evaluation of what I needed.”

“This trail was left by a bunch of idiots,” Martok snapped. “You could follow this with your eyes closed.”

Kaldalis had to admit that Martok was right. The Contender and his people were basically raw city-folk. He’d noticed it from watching their patrols through the jungle when he’d had to sneak past them. They had no idea how to navigate the jungle at all, let alone doing it stealthily. He could easily find the trails of two guards and a priest who had been patrolling an area for long enough to become familiar with it, and hear them crashing through the wilderness on a well-worn trail. And now there were a number of them dragging an unconscious body through the undergrowth in a big mob.

The result was a highway of broken tree limbs, stomped bushes, flattened foliage, and other signs. It was not difficult to follow. Kaldalis didn’t need help tracking the Contender’s people. He suspected that even Balrim and Myrin could have followed this trail in the dark without trouble. He had to admit that he didn’t actually need Martok here.

“Alright, let me rephrase my request,” Kaldalis ventured. “Would you rather be back in Cotanaku, in chains at the order of a fanatical tyrant? Or would you rather be out here with me helping to overthrow that same religious fanatic?”

Martok screwed his face up in a grimace for a lot longer than Kaldalis expected him to need to think about this.

“Regardless,” Martok said, gesturing at the trail. “I’m here now. Garyung’s in danger, right? Let’s get it taken care of so I can get back to staying away from your business.”

As they continued into the jungle, following the trail, Kaldalis quietly added Martok to the list of people he had to square himself with before the end of this. He didn’t understand or agree with his animosity, but he was the most useful person on the island for a lot of things. If Kaldalis ended up needing his help in the future, they had to clear the air. Even if it involved them getting some grossly impractical bladed weapons and having a dramatic fight to the death to salve Martok’s ego.

In the meantime, they had larger and more pressing issues to deal with. The trail cut northeast into the jungle, along the coast rather than directly away from it. It wavered slightly - as someone unpracticed in trailcraft would - but people in this world had the benefit of the minimap in their UI. Their path was more or less unerringly in a single direction.

They were going somewhere specific. And as the surroundings started to look familiar, Kaldalis feared he knew where this would end.