Four weeks go by, giving the characters some time to practice their various newly-acquired professions and get settled into their new, luxurious dwelling. Yorden finds that his duties as assistant to Tellwae the Mixer leave him with a fair amount of time in the afternoons and evenings that he fills with gambling and sleight of hand.
Because Yorden has high Sleight of Hand and several spells specifically useful for cheating at gambling, he will almost always win in games of chance and skill. Every week he plays, he can gain 3d challock without risk (no roll necessary). If he wishes, he can make a Sleight of Hand skill roll to gain more money. For every additional 1d challock, the penalty to his Sleight of Hand roll is -2 (thus, to gain 5d challock, he must roll at -4).
The characters swiftly realize that the two recent deaths (Evangia Bosst and Shifty Zeke) could have been caused by something similar to a jhokk. Because the Jhokkada Master Matok has been seen entering the city, possibly greatly changed from his time in the jungles of the Second Plateau, they decide to look into the deaths as a way to try and locate Matok.
Their first effort involves talking to Yadal Dillir, the youda Gatewarden they know fairly well. He and his Guard Captain Curwitch Bosst (clearly a marginal soldier, married into the Bosst Family & took his wife's name for the prestige) have no really useful theories on the deaths, but do suggest that the body-men who took the bodies away may know something. Though Yadal doesn't appear to know much about them, the characters swiftly realize from his description that they must be oorthoi. He gives the characters directions to the oorthoi section of the Lower River shantytown ("follow your noses").
Curwitch tells the characters a bit about the Bosst Family's internal politics. In particular, he tells them that Evangia's son Anpago Bosst is one of the up-and-coming members of the Family. Even though he is still young, and only cousin to the Bosst Patriarch, he has gained much responsibility in the Family's operations.
The characters meet with Sagop the oorthoi body-man. Sagop is a chunky, solidly-built oorthoi with no patience for the normal oorthoi style of dress (enveloping robes, concealing their bodies from outsiders). He is also aggressive enough that the characters briefly become concerned that they might end up in a fight with him (and his unseen allies). Sagop is quite forthright about having taken away the bodies, and is even able to show the characters the skulls (Evangia's body was so badly torn apart that the Bosst Family didn't want it back; they buried an effigy instead). The wounds could indeed have been caused by a jhokk's claws. Sagop also mentions that he found three other bodies in the sewers with similar wounds, some weeks ago. When shown a Jhokkada medallion, he confirms that all three bodies were wearing them. He also comments that Anpago Bosst was the one who called him to the Bosst Family compound, and that Anpago is one of the creepiest humans he's ever met: his eyes seem incredibly old, even though his face is very young.
With the information they get from Sagop, the characters decide to try and meet with Anpago.
The characters' first inclination to contact Anpago is to try and find him at the Patriarch's Hall on business, and talk to him there. They manage to spot three Bosst Family members leaving the hall the day after they talk to Sagop, and proceed to badly botch a Savoir-Faire attempt to gain their trust. All was not lost, however, as one of the three turned out to be Anpago. He offered to meet them for dinner at the Faiai Garden that evening. They noted that everything Sagop said about Anpago being a creepy bastard was true.
Before dinner, the characters ventured back to Sagop's place to have another conversation with him. They found that he and his wife had both been strung up inside their hut, and that their bellies had been slashed open. Both were dead, but still warm. The characters swiftly found themselves confronted by three Jhokkada, including one well-muscled one wearing a bloody butcher's apron and carrying a massive blade (this Jhokkada was swiftly nicknamed "Big Blade"). They have an abortive fight that ends when the characters retreat out of the shantytown, but not before one of the Jhokkada threw a poisoned dagger at Messerbad, forcing Pawnbroker to use one of his few remaining poison antidotes on him.
In general, dinner with Anpago was fairly uneventful. He suggested that there had to be a Jhokkada traitor among the Bosst Family, as the Family compound is massively defended. The thought that an assassin (no matter what kind) could enter and leave so easily without inside help is ridiculous. However, Anpago had no good suggestions as to who exactly the traitor might be. The characters made a lot of jokes about hunting breels.
In the days after their meeting with Anpago, Pawnbroker and Garret started a watch on the Old Market, trying to find Jhokkada. They spotted one anomalous individual wearing some clothing in the style of Hegger (anomalous because virtually all merchants from Hegger do their business in the Patriarch's Market), then noted two of the Jhokkada they had met in the oorthoi shantytown talking to him. Following those two, they reached a jaya house serving a very tough-looking crowd. One of the customers turned out to be Tarquin the Red, a magician from Quellowa in Mardaka whom some of the characters had tangled with before. He didn't initially recognize Pawnbroker, at least until Pawnbroker leapt up and howled out a challenge. At that point, Tarquin threw a Shield on himself and the entire rest of the jaya house drew blades. Pawnbroker and Garret beat a hasty retreat, and were forced to rely upon the Gamago's Doorway potions Yorden had previously mixed to reach safety (Pawnbroker reappeared in a plantation field six hours later; Garret reappeared near the Upper Gate after twelve hours).
After the incident at the jaya house, the characters fully expected that Tarquin would come after them, and indeed he did. Accompanied by one Jhokkada Master, Big Blade, and two other Jhokkada goons, he tried to attack their townhouse. He used a lightning bolt to blast a hole in the door and two small air elementals to lift the bar from the inside. The Jhokkada rushed in while Tarquin raised up a windstorm to make maneuver difficult. By the end of the fight, Big Blade and one of the Jhokkada had been cut down (the one Jhokkada is now a prisoner), the Master and the other Jhokkada goon escaped into the wind. Towards the end of the fight, Pawnbroker caused Tarquin to reveal himself by rushing into the center of the street, crying out insults. Tarquin's ego forced him to respond with a lightning bolt, whereupon Yorden used the flash of lightning to sight on Tarquin and killed him with a well-placed poisoned crossbow bolt.
Each character gained four experience points (three plus one for killing Tarquin).