Jixie Guides Them Down With the Box

The next descent began with the survivor on the bridge. Jixie was alive, wounded, and very aware that the chained box mattered more to his boss than his comfort did. He explained the situation plainly enough: the box had to return to the Dimoggio side of the city, or he would likely die for losing it. He asked for a potion. Jonah gave him Cure Wounds instead. Hugo tried to turn the moment into leverage, bargaining around the potion and the box, but Jixie did not hand either trust or cargo over easily. He remained the party's reluctant guide because everyone still needed something. Jixie needed to survive his employer. The party needed a way into New Goblin City without being swallowed by every faction at once. That made the walk tense from the start. The party had saved Jixie in one sense, threatened him in another, and killed the people who had been traveling with him. Whatever word he put in later, if he put one in at all, would depend on how the box situation ended and whether the party remembered he was not only a clue. He was also a person trying not to die.