Several packs full of unspeakably rare alchemical materials and one freed cow dragon later, Bruce and Seoraj - alive and relatively intact - arrive back at the edge of Flag Hill. For all his bruises, Bruce feels rather accomplished, and he feels at once relieved to be 'back' and regretful to leave the clean rawness of the wilds.

At the sight of them, one of the gateway rangers asks what the fuck kind of camping they were doing ("Enthusiastic"), and also jovially recommends a lodge with hot running water.

Which is a really, tremendously good sell over crawling all the way back to Stoneshell. (Or Stoneshell and Bonetown, or... well, whatever, they're crashing for a night up here, still.)

And it's certainly one tactic to avoid ... avoidance.