Rumors on the Road Hide the First Impostors

The road to Gravenhurst was crowded enough that fear had room to multiply. QUEST moved with merchants, court-watchers, anxious citizens, and everyone else trying to get close to MAINE's trial before the city sealed itself around the spectacle. The crowd carried rumors like sparks in dry grass: Malevolus Krane, Nora in town, Albert returning, Castro infiltration, and the possibility that every familiar face had become suspect. That last rumor was already true. Rill Waters and Redwave Varn appeared among the road crowd, familiar enough to matter and wrong enough that the danger had not fully shown its teeth yet. They were not the real Rill and Redwave. They were Castro impostors wearing recognizable trust as bait. Valara was not there yet to expose them. So the party approached Gravenhurst under misinformation, crowd pressure, and the shape of a trap designed to isolate Ash before anyone could name it. The road did not look like an ambush. It looked like a city trying to attend a trial.