As the session opens, Messerbad and Pawnbroker have returned to Paiden. Their erstwhile companion Alcatraz had finally succumbed to the influence of the Mask of Pwir on the trip back from the Edge of the World and ran screaming into the forest. His breakdown may have been related to the effects of seeing the Maelstrom, though learning the truth now is all but impossible.
The characters met with two old acquaintences upon entering the city: Peter (human; a minor magician and scholar) and Jebben (youda; a herdsman), both Spinners originally from Tazik. The two of them are currently supporting themselves through odd jobs, and clearly miss their days back in Tazik, where the Spinners were prosperous and able to spend a great deal of their time advancing their studies. Pawnbroker wanted to identify the random magical objects the characters had plucked from the ruins of the Eater's fortress, and Peter pointed him towards Curras the Esoteric, a magician of unusual repute who lives in a slum on the wrong side of the Paiden walls.
The characters ventured out into Curras' slum and found him in a ramshackle, foul-smelling hut superficially very similar to the many other foul-smelling, ramshackle huts in the area. He is a wiry sort, daubed in mud and slime, but he efficiently identified most of the characters' magical objects at a price of five of the Eater's square gold coins (worth about 35 challock each).
After visiting Curras, the characters went to the Translators' Guild to try and get the two books they stole from the Eater's library translated. They met with Pawag Akowa, the dour, fungus-bedecked youda translator, who took the books from them overnight to translate the titles and frontspieces (at a charge of only 30 challock). He also told them that the books were written in askalach, and that they would probably need to deal with Master Translator Hennes Akowa, the resident expert on that languages. They could not deal with him that day, as he was quite busy with some other clients.
Pawnbroker decides, upon learning that though the Eater's Choker and the Eater's Bracers have a number of signficant magical powers (including the creation of infernos of flame and the draining of life), they can only be used by the Eater, to sell them to the nearest available wealthy fool. This fool turns out to be Asaba, the magician the characters previously warned about the conman Tarrago. That time, Asaba drove the characters away in anger after learning of his credulity. This time, he was actually quite happy to see them. He agreed to purchase the Eater's objects in exchange for an enchanted suit of chain armor with +1 PD and two spells from his library (Smoke and Sense Earth) for Messerbad. Chaba (Asaba's Yierdo dwarf servant, and in many ways the true master of the household) tells the characters that Tarrago is planning an expedition to the Second Plateau, to find the Lost City of Pamban. Chaba also comments that Asaba had wanted to go, but that he had talked him out of it (because he didn't want to go to the Second Plateau himself).
The characters learn that Master Translator Hennes Akowa has been killed in the Translator's Guild itself. Pawag agrees to translate their books for them anyway, at a cost of 900 challock each. He then meets with them later to tell them about the theft of several askalach books from the Translator's Guild, apparently by Hennes' murderers. He asks the characters to bring the books back, but cautions them that they must not speak of their mission (the dishonor to the Translator's Guild would be too great). In return, he offers to do their translations for free.
The characters ask for, and get, the following documents from Pawag: