With three carts, two of them being hitched together, we go where the road takes us. We've not much choice if we don't want to abandon our wagons.

Gene isn't so much escaping as buying time for GEFF to come to his senses and Olive to work out where she needs to go.

Maybe "come to his senses" isn't what I mean. It's more that he should be fully conscious.

GEFF is too shaken to protest much and will follow whoever tells him where to go at that point. 

Olive struggles with the concept of a destination. Her only goal is to put as much space between herself and the templars as possible. Or to be more accurate, the orb and the templars. She isn't sure exactly how or when it happened, but her sense of self has gotten kind of tangled up with the orb. To protect it is to protect herself, and maybe everyone else... 

The Cracked Hall is the only warm hearth in the distance. You journey in silence, and are greeted by a familiar face in the waystation. Nilam Khan, the gnomish operator and agent of the Prophetess, is unhitching a pony outside. He looks startled to see you, passing the reins to the stablehand. 

Gene is uncomfortable with the amount of serendipity required for them to meet by chance at a remote way-station. He is even more uncomfortable with the feeling of being entirely unsurprised by the meeting and the sensation that this was exactly why he had left Bovi in such a rush and kept such a hard pace.

He takes GEFF inside to get warm and to have a very stiff drink, leaving Olive the chance to meet with Nilam in private, but not before letting her know that he'll be just inside if she needs any help.

GEFF will stay huddled in the corner until someone familiar comes to get him and drag him some place else.

Gene is extremely worried about the sorry state of GEFF and feels guilty for leaving him to suffer in the inn back in Bovi. He finds himself encouraging GEFF to play a gig at the way-station and commenting on the fuckability of the few patrons and staff in hopes of stirring some familiar reaction from him.

Olive approaches Nilam without hesitation. She is certain that he is the person she needs to speak to, possibly the only person she can trust. Finding herself once again face to face with him, she feels her words stick in her throat. She pulls her cloak tightly around her body, feeling the familiar, comforting weight of the orb in her pocket. Several quiet moments pass before Olive is able to speak.

"They're looking for us... for it. We... we helped you escape once. Now we need you to help us." She tries to sound commanding, even forceful, but the tremor in her voice betrays her. She sees a flash of what might be pity in Nilam's eyes. "Please?"

GEFF barely seems to register the sounds around him. His eyes alternate between an empty look into the void and an apathetic observation of his arm where the purple stuff was injected. Getting him to interact with the outside world seems like a pointless affair. 

Outside, Nilam swears and glances around at the frozen forest that surrounds the inn. "I will do what I can. I owe you that, though it won't leave much time for explanations. The hidden paths will close soon.  Do you have everyone with you?"

Indoors, Edmund, the Guardian who keeps the inn, seems happy for the clientele. Most everyone on the road has already passed, headed to winter in Endamos, spending the harvest season's coin in the taverns there. He serves up some quick tankards, along with stewed sausage and buckwheat bread, sparing a glance for GEFF. "Is your friend alright? He seems a mite unsteady."

GEFF - it's eating your feelings from the inside.