Our heroes are still in the city of Paiden, having recently traded the Eater's choker and bracers to Asaba, the gullible human magician. Pawnbroker and Messerbad are joined by Yorden, a human from an unknown world, on Pawag Akowa's recommendation. Yorden had been working as a copyist for the Translators' Guild, a job he was able to do (badly) thanks to his eidetic memory, despite his inability to read. Pawag felt that he would be able to aid the characters far more than he could help the Translators' Guild. The other characters agreed to give Yorden a one-third share of the take from the expedition, provided he doesn't do anything foolish.
The normal rumors are flying about Paiden, including stories about the death of the Duke of Seitha and seiges of Seitha Hold by Vlad. The characters choose to ignore most of these, except for the story that the Escritor of Justice in Hegger thought that several Masters of the Cult of Syago-Jhokk had left Hegger for Paiden some fifty days ago.
The characters decide to first hunt down other members of the Cult of Syago-Jhokk. They decide that Curras the Esoteric is probably likely to know of some cultists, and indeed he does. He tells them about Chugo, a gangster who does loansharking and extortion in Curras' slum for the cult. The characters put pressure on Chugo and get him to lead them to Labbik, a higher-level member of the Cult. They liberally use Tarquin the Red's name, and let the Jhokkada assume that they are operating on Tarquin's orders. Labbik doubts this, as they lack a letter-of-introduction from Tarquin, but they do manage to figure out that the Jhokkada Masters have already left the city. The characters deduce that they must have gone with Tarrago's expedition to the Lost City of Pamban on the Second Plateau.
The characters purchased a fair quantity of supplies in Paiden's markets for the trip. Items they purchased included:
Item Price One pascullo 175 challock Dried food 2 challock per day Assorted Traveling Gear 20 challock 50 Pieces of Paper 10 challock Small mirror 10 challock
The characters followed Tarrago's expedition to the Giant's Path, making better time because Tarrago was burdened with many inexperienced travelers. Both groups stopped in Trail. The characters asked Constable Woodman there about the composition of the groups. They learned that Tarrago's group was composed of about thirty people and as many pascullo. Half of them looked like greenhorns, while the other half were serious-looking folk. Yorden drew pictures of the Jhokkada from the townsfolk's descriptions.
Near to the Giant's Path, the characters encountered Zag, the Yierdo dwarf seeking the truth of Yierdo's death. They had two visions with him, not necessarily of their own choosing, including one of the actual death of Yierdo, complete with encroaching Maelstrom and the prow of the boat of Yaggo the Boatman. They parted from Zag with some trepidation, especially since he revealed that the could induce the visions in others.
Shortly before reaching the Giant's Path, the characters found the remains of Tarrago's expedition. An entire region was acid-burned, with at least three bodies and one dead pascullo in evidence. From the tracks, the entire caravan arrived but only about twelve humans or youda left, along with most of the pascullo. The characters retrieved Chego Ocoiba's letter home from his body, along with a string of 100 challock. They also found Tarrago, apparently badly wounded. Regardless of his protests, he remained their prisoner.
The characters ascended the Giant's Path, Yorden first, after finding the pascullo left behind by the Jhokkada. They also found a single dead Jhokkada, apparently one who fell while climbing the Path. Several lines remained down the Path, apparently left by the Jhokkada, but they were all trapped to fall after a steady pull was applied for a while (as Yorden learned). They fought briefly with the Skin Adapoi, until Messerbad was sent up as an envoy. When Agopon, leader of the Skin Adapoi, determined that Messerbad was of the Loobish Clan, and had been cast out for learning fire magics, most of the tensions were disarmed.
The Skin Adapoi told them something about the Second Plateau and the groups living there. They knew to avoid the Celebrants, and knew about the existence of the agaf, the makers and the Wall People, but no real detail. Agopon was also fairly vocal about Skin Adapoi beliefs and theories.
The Skin Adapoi had let the Jhokkada travel across the Giant's Path the day before, but didn't know where they were going. They could point out the trail the Jhokkada had followed. The characters left Tarrago and some food with them, and headed off on the trail.