All the usual suspects show up: Chris (Pawnbroker), Tim (Laerynthe), and Nick (Mungo). April (Patrisha Veka) also appears. In addition, Art has joined the group, playing Shadow, a magician from Hegger.
The game opens on the 304th day of Abbatine Year 856, in the Low Hot Season. The characters go to the abandoned Dillir Family plantation to meet with Liggin, representative of the (suspected) Spyral Devotee Juboss to perform their agreed-upon exchange of directions to a Bridge out of Abbatine for the Mask of Pwir and information on Yaggo the Boatman's next landing in Abbatine. The characters tell Liggin how to get to the Bridge to Dost, and provide some information on the hazards of Dost and the Second Plateau. In return, Liggin provides a map annotated with directions in both Tharrish and Qellowan describing when and where Yaggo the Boatman will arrive: fourth day of Low Cold Season, Year 857, near the edge of the Second Plateau near Tazik. He also gives the characters the Mask of Pwir, which had apparently been hidden in a cloth in the dirt outside the plantation house. The characters let him leave alive, then depart by a roundabout route to minimize the chances that Juboss or any of his (supposed) minions might manage to follow them.
When the characters return to Ago and the other Living Weapons who had escorted them to the exchange site, they find him with Shadow in tow. Ago reports that he had walked up to one of the patrolling Living Weapons and claimed to be a courier from Paiden. The characters, noting that he was dressed in the style of Hegger and looked nothing like one of Lecutor Amon's agents, tentatively believe him and hear his message.
He tells them that he was dispatched by Anpago Bosst, who is now the Commander of the Walls. The characters immediately distrust him, though they continue to listen. He gives them a letter from Anpago that bluntly admits that while Anpago has great reluctance to ask such things of the characters, he need them to go up towards the ruins of Xod Hive, there to speak to the deyrey drone Greineh. He authorizes them to make whatever deal they need to persuade Greineh to bring his people to fight for Paiden in an assault against the Mardakan armies. He also writes that they have a budget of up to 400 pascullo to arrange this. He concludes by pointing out that speed is of the essence, as the assault is planned to happen on the 6th day of Abbatine Year 857, only 20 days from now.
As a side note, Shadow was paid 250 challock to deliver the message.
Pawnbroker and Laerynthe estimate that it will take them about one to two days to reach Xod Hive if they follow the riverbank, or three to four days to reach it if they travel through the wilderness (which should offer less of a chance to meet Mardakan patrols).
The characters head back to their camp after paying Shadow 20 challock to allow himself to be blindfolded. Shadow attempts to earn the characters "trust" by making himself look like Mungo, and endears himself to Patrisha Veka by coming on to her. Pawnbroker holds a crossbow on him through the trip. By the time the characters reach the ruins of Anab Hive and their camp, tensions between Pawnbroker and Shadow have reached a dismal low, with threats of violence and bared weapons.
Pawnbroker argues that the characters should gain some compensation from Paiden. His demands include: some share of the loot from the battlefield, a share of the 400 pascullo being given to Greineh, and good plantation land (enough to support the Holy City Folk currently with the group, probably three abandoned plantations of typical size with intact buildings). Laerynthe also asks for status as a House (including a seat on the Patriarch's Council) and citizenship for the characters, the Living Weapons, and the Food-Makers. Patrisha Veka agrees to take this message to the Veka Family and get it relayed to Anpago. She also agrees to check with Mibas Veka as to whether or not this whole deal is valid.
Patrisha flies to Paiden to talk to Mibas Veka, taking a day for the round trip. She returns exhausted, having talked at length to Mibas and briefly to Anpago. The results of her trip (which included a long conversation with Mibas Veka, and a brief meeting with a very hurried Anpago Bosst) include:
The characters spend some time disparaging the willingness of the Patriarch's Council to dispense large amounts of wealth, then talk about their options. Pawnbroker recommends that the characters accept the terms ("a lot of maybes, only one definite"), then send Laerynthe and Shadow in to talk to the populace to spread stories about how this deal has already been made. They will be disguised, and will also talk about the victories the characters and their troops have won. The intent is to make it politically impossible for either Anpago Bosst or the Patriarch's Council to back down after the fighting is done with. As escorts and possible liaison to the Holy City Folk within the city walls, Laerynthe and Shadow bring along three Living Weapons (neither of whom knows the Invisibility spell) . They also bring Lecutor Chen's sword to provide evidence of their claims if it proves necessary.
Everyone spends half a day forging Anpago's signature to provide Laerynthe and Shadow with two good copies of Anpago's message (edited to omit his discussion of the battle plans). Mungo and Pawnbroker finally succeed, each producing one passable copy with a reasonable rendition of Anpago's mark at the bottom.
The group that finally ventures into Paiden includes Laerynthe, Shadow, Uto (one of Fesh's lieutenants), and two other Living Weapons. They pass through the sieging forces by floating downriver on a log camouflaged with greenery. Though most of the journey is uneventful, one Living Weapon makes the rather shocking discovery that there is a nest of large, poisonous insects inside the treetrunk. One of the creatures stings the Living Weapon before Laerynthe kills it and covers over the entrance to the nest with his cloak.
The characters abandon Laerynthe's cloak with the treetrunk when they reach the Paiden docks, shuddering slightly at the thuds and sounds coming from within the trunk. By this time, the stricken Living Weapon is barely able to stand, and his arm is swollen to nearly twice its normal size. They take him to the Translators' Guild for treatment, speaking briefly to Pawag Akowa once there.
Led by Laerynthe, the characters head home to meet Curras the Esoteric. The house is still intact, though it is only about one and a half blocks from a devastated section of the city. Laerynthe is horrified to find that Curras hasn't been feeding Laerynthe's eyesnakes, so they're all dead of starvation. Laerynthe carps at Curras for a while about not taking care of them.
The characters prepare themselves to mingle among the people of Paiden by disguising themselves. Unfortunately, Laerynthe's disguise attempt is not particularly convincing, while Shadow has an unfortunate accident with his Illusion Disguise, giving himself the seeming of a deranged street-dweller.
Walking through the streets of Paiden, Laerynthe and Shadow recognize that the tone of the city has changed during the siege. Dispossessed vagabonds and refugees from the destroyed neighborhoods scamper among the stinking piles of refuse, fighting with ear-runners and other scavengers for choice bits of food. Holy City Folk lounge about in alleyways, made conspicuous by the unusual absence of Living Weapons among their ranks.
Both Laerynthe and Shadow spend a fair amount of time speaking to the commoners of Paiden, telling them of the great deeds and victories of Mungo's Company in the war against the Mardakan army. They swiftly discover that while the people are eager to hear of any successes against the Mardakans, they are disgusted by the characters' claims that the Patriarch's Council has agreed to richly reward Mungo and his cohorts. They finally determine that this reaction is mostly due to the fact that very few of those fighting within the city are being paid, and that many of them have lost family, friends and property in the conflict.
Laerynthe spends some time talking to Bosst Family officers, trying to determine where the Living Weapons have all gone, and what Anpago's battle plans are. Unfortunately, his approach is unsubtle enough that most of those he talks to simply assume that he is one of Lecutor Amon's spies, albeit a particularly inept one. He finally manages to learn that the Living Weapons are all quartered in the ruins of the Dashugam Barracks. Proceeding there, he speaks to Atusash, a man of Qellowan demeanor wearing scale armor and a headdress-like helmet not of Paiden or Hegger design. He quickly concludes that Atusash is a Spyral Devotee from Qellowa who has the loyalty of a number of Living Weapons and who has agreed to fight upon Paiden's behalf.
After spreading pro-Mungo's Company propaganda for nine days, Laerynthe and Shadow arrange a meeting with Anpago Bosst. This is made difficult by the fact that Anpago really is the commander of the Walls, and is extremely busy. However, they manage to bluster their way into his office. When they break in, they note that he is seated at a desk covered with closely-annotated maps of the city and is arguing with a number of officers from Paiden and several others who resemble Atusash more than anything else.
After clearing his aides from the room and carefully concealing his maps, Anpago speaks to the characters. Despite Laerynthe's efforts to disguise himself (this time rather better than before), Anpago swiftly realizes exactly whom he is speaking to. He allows that he still retains a fair amount of personal hatred for Laerynthe and his companions, but that his love for Paiden is such that he is willing to put aside his own disagreements for the good of the city. He audibly hopes that Laerynthe and his cohorts are willing to do the same. As a side note, he mentions that they could find their way back into his good graces by bringing him the severed head of one of their erstwhile compatriots, the rogue Yorden. Laerynthe sadly reports that the characters will be unable to provide Anpago's wish, as they had already dropped Yorden off the side of the Padachee Bridge.
Before Anpago bids the characters depart, he affirms that his original letter to them was legitimate. He also confirms their suspicions that he has persuaded the Spyral Devotees hiding inside Paiden to fight upon his behalf, and admits that he cares "not a thimbleful" for all of their lives that will be spent in the upcoming assault.
On a parting note, Anpago emphasizes the importance of reaching agreement with Greineh, that he brings a large body of deyrey troops to the battlefield.
The group that travels to Xod Hive is composed of Mungo, Pawnbroker, Patrisha Veka, Fesh's chief lieutenant Ago, Nop and three Living Weapons. Fesh remains behind to oversee the defense of the Anab Hive camp.
Fearing interception by bat-folk patrols, the characters elect to use the inland route to the hive. They bring provisions for nine days, and take a total of three days to reach the outskirts of the area once claimed by Xod Hive.
The characters find that the outlying fields of the hive are being reclaimed by adapoi. The whole area is dotted with thick underbrush and strangely young-looking but huge trees. Along the way, Patrisha Veka also spots a shallow grave that proves to contains several turgosk skeletons. While the characters are debating the possible meaning of the gravesite (they suspect that the deyrey are not the killers, as they would have simply eaten the bodies), Mungo uses the Mask of Pwir to spot two deyrey drones moving towards the group by swimming through the earth.
The lead drone proves to be named Lophoon. He is a skinny creature with no wattles who agrees to lead the characters into the hive. During the trip, he mentions that if the characters provide a good deal, he might be "favored of Greineh". Knowing both that Greineh is another drone and that drones normally wish to be "favored of Queen", Lophoon's comment raises Pawnbroker's and Mungo's eyebrows.
The route to Greineh's audience chamber truly demonstrates to the characters how far Xod Hive has fallen since it's Queen and much of it's population died of the Weeping Plague. Half of the mounds are collapsed, and both the plaza and the surviving mounds are in poor repair. A crude wooden passageway leads into the main mound, apparently constructed in a slavish attempt to imitate Paiden's architecture.
Access to the audience chamber is controlled by a waddling, fat deyrey of middle age adorned with feather and bone ornaments. The creature only gives way to Lophoon and his escorts after much whispering and strutting.
Finally given access to Greineh's audience chamber, the characters discover that Greineh is a toothless, scarred drone of great bulk who, in an effort to "become Queen", had his genitals removed (he wears them as a grisly necklace). To his right sit two nearly-naked drones; he occasionally reaches over to lick their wattles in an obviously obscene manner.
Despite the depraved nature of Greineh and his advisors, the characters manage to bargain with him. They agree to provide 250 pascullo, in exchange for 1200 neuters and 30 drones in the battle. Greineh appoints as his general Elpin, a drone of incredible age who had led the Xod Hive assault upon Tazik, but who is now so feeble that he must be carried around by two neuters. Pawnbroker cautions Greineh that his troops must remain in the safe-passage area defined by the adapoi, and that for every deyrey that strays, he will be paid one less pascullo. Greineh agrees to these terms. He also agrees to give the characters a gift of Lophoon and twenty neuters (picked by Lophoon) after the battle is done. At the same time, the characters negotiate with the adapoi Warleader Eloshan to compensate him with one pascullo for every three deyrey that stray from the trail.
The session ends upon the 314th day of Abbatine Year 856, four days before
the end of the Low Hot Season and the year. Laerynthe and Shadow remain
within the Paiden city walls, while Pawnbroker, Mungo, and Patrisha Veka
are returning from the Xod Hive ruins at the head of an army of 1200 deyrey.
Each character gains four experience points.