The usual suspects are all around: Chris (Pawnbroker), Tim (Laerynthe) and Nick (Mungo). Everyone else is apparently absent.
With Ku absent, Mungo retrieves his magical sword (index 65) from him.
It is now 254th day of Abbatine Year 856. The characters are still camping in an abandoned Faiai Family plantation about a half-day's walk downriver of the city. They know to avoid the small fire-spirits that act as scouts for the Mardakan army, and are fairly confidant that Prince Tonnalk's troops have not identified their position. The characters are accompanied a large group of Holy City humans from Pellwen's Plaza, led by the Living Weapon Fesh, and a smaller group of Living Weapons from a variety of Plazas gathered together by Laerynthe. Altogether, the characters are accompanied by about thirty able Living Weapons, two Food-Makers (one maimed and one infected with the chills), and ten healthy Folk. A fairly large number of Holy City humans suffering from the chills are also living in the plantation main house.
Among Fesh's Living Weapons, five know the Invisibility spell.
The characters fear that their food supply may be contaminated, and are also interested in being able to eat ear-runners. Pawnbroker spends a week determining the safest ways to cook ear-runners so they do not carry the chills. He finds that boiling the meat for a long time, turning it into a sort of chewy stew, works best. As a side benefit, the long cooking helps to reduce the gamy nature of the meat. He also learns that using fire to broil the meat is chancy: use a low fire for a long enough time, and the meat is safe. Use a higher fire for a shorter time, and it isn't. The characters persuade the Living Weapons to eat ear-runners and allow the diseased Food-Maker to recover.
Laerynthe resolves to sneak into Paiden to bring the city's alchemists samples of the breel repellent and learn about the situation inside the city. He borrows two Living Weapons with the Invisibility spell from Fesh and heads out around the city. He leaves his armor behind, taking with him only a limited amount of equipment and weapons. He also takes a half-dozen vials of breel repellent. He intends to look for other groups of survivors along the way, and then to reach the city by floating down the Paiden river. He expects the journey to take about a week.
Laerynthe and his Living Weapons bring ear-runner stew along for food, but discard it after about two days travel. They decide to simply not eat for the last part of the journey.
Two days after they discard the spoiled ear-runner stew, Laerynthe and his Living Weapons reach the Paiden river upstream of the city. They wait until nightfall, then slip into the water to drift downstream. Unfortunately, they are ambushed by a patrol of bat-folk armed with javelins. Unable to fight back, one Living Weapon panics and drowns while the second is slain by the bat-folk. Laerynthe is hit by two javelins and is badly wounded. He abandons the doomed Living Weapons, then swims deep towards the city. He barely manages to climb into a boat off one of Paiden's docks, then hide himself beneath the dock.
While Laerynthe is bandaging his wounds, two of the bat-folk land on the dock and prowl towards him. Both Laerynthe and the bat-folk quickly determine that they are at a standoff: the bat-folk cannot reach Laerynthe without exposing themselves, and he cannot move without being skewered. Laerynthe and the bat-folk instead have a long conversation about the politics of the situation. He learns that the two are named Chee and Rav, and that they come from a settlement in the mountains above Prince Tonnalk's lands in Mountainshadow. He also learns that while the bat-folk are not among the Created of Mardaka, they owe allegiance to Prince Tonnalk in exchange for the right to live in the lands he controls. Laerynthe can tell that the bat-folk are not particularly enthusiastic about being involved in this conflict, but feel that they have no choice. Several hours before dawn, the two bat-folk fly into the darkness, leaving a small copper amulet in the shape of an insect (index 67) behind. Laerynthe is unsure what the amulet means (and later determines that it is not magical), but takes it regardless.
After daybreak, Laerynthe is found by two troops armed with crossbows and wearing very crude helmets. They take him to the Translators' Guild, telling him gossip about the city's troubles along the way. The most notable tidbit is that two or three thousand Holy City folk are living within Paiden, all crammed into the Old Market.
Laerynthe finds that the Translators' Guild, once a center of learning in Abbatine, has been transformed into a field hospital. After a healer takes care of his wounds, Laerynthe runs into Tellwae the Mixer, who is not particularly glad to see him. Despite his chilly reception, Laerynthe gives her the breel repellent and explains to her what it is. Before she heads off to distribute samples to the other alchemists at the Translators' Guild, Tellwae tells Laerynthe that the Bosst Patriarch was killed when the Dashugam Barracks was fired, and that Kobus Akowa (who had been both Guildmaster of the Translators' Guild and a friend of the characters) was also killed while coordinating magical defenses. She also tells Laerynthe that the characters' home is still standing, and that Curras the Esoteric is still living there.
Laerynthe finds that Curras is home, armed with Laerynthe's massive crossbow. The house is only about three streets away from one of the regions incinerated by Prince Tonnalk's priests, causing Curras to be just a bit on edge. After Curras tells Laerynthe about the problems Paiden currently faces keeping track of thousands of Holy City folk. One of the solutions was devised by Pawag Akowa: each of the known Holy City humans is "registered", and is tattooed with a unique number recording both identity and Plaza. A master log of all the numbers is maintained in the Translators' Guild. Curras admits that the large number of "rogue" Holy City humans only complicates this task. To help, Laerynthe tells him which Plazas are filled with Spyral Devotees. He then fetches his old suit of leather armor to wear out of the city. He gets out of the city by drifting downstream during daylight.
While the other characters pursue their various activities, Pawnbroker persuades Fesh to have his Living Weapons forage for food (primarily by hunting for ear-runners, which are easy to find) and to patrol the area. Mungo leads a number of the patrols.
Several days after the patrols start, Mungo and three Living Weapons encounter a recent trail to the east of Paiden. Mungo examines the tracks and (with the aid of an incredible Tracking roll) determines that they were made by eight youda, three of them with spears, one of whom is wearing a pair of boots made by a leatherworker in Paiden. Mungo and his Living Weapons follow the trail as rapidly as they can, finally encountering the group on the outskirts of an isolated plantation off a tributary of the Paiden River.
The leader of the eight youda introduced himself as Gaman Cassand. He reports that they are part of a larger group of Cassand and Dillir Family members led by Taotach Cassand. All of them had been living on plantations outside the city, until they were overrun first by Holy City humans and then Prince Tonnalk's army. Gaman quickly takes Mungo to meet Taotach, who says that he has about fifty able-bodied youda at his orders. While many of his men have their own equipment, he is still in desperate need of weapons and armor. He is impressed by the fact that Mungo has managed to persuade some of the "tattooed men" to fight for him, as his own experience had been much less promising. Mungo mentions that his group has some equipment captured from Prince Tonnalk's men, and promises to try and send some gear to Taotach.
The characters tally up the weaponry they have taken from fallen soldiers. Altogether, they have:
Pawnbroker gathers up 8 shortswords, 17 spears, 20 wall shields, 1 small shield, 5 longbows and 70 arrows and sends them off to Taotach Cassand.
Laerynthe convinces Fesh to use the three surviving Living Weapons with the Invisibility spell as couriers between the characters and Taotach's people. He learns that about fifteen of Taotach's folk lack good weapons, which should be compensated for nicely by the weapons Pawnbroker sent them.
Pawnbroker spends two weeks training twenty Living Weapons and Nop to fight with shortsword and shield. He instructs them mercilessly, and only fourteen of them manage to successfully complete his training regimen. Those fourteen gain one point in Shortsword skill and one point in Shield skill. Nop also gains one point in Shortsword and one point in Shield, but also gains ten experience points (see his new stats below).
Laerynthe organizes messengers to maintain contact between the characters' group and Taotach Cassand's people. He also persuades Fesh to send out patrols to look for other groups of surviving Living Weapons and Paiden citizens. Mungo acts as a liaison to Taotach's men.
Over the time Pawnbroker is training the Living Weapons, Laerynthe and Mungo find two new groups of survivors. The first is a group of fourteen members of the Pan Family, including six able-bodied men, led by Lingre Pan. The Pan family is a minor human family allied with the Faiai. Because their group is small, Mungo allows all fourteen of them to live at the characters' camp.
The second group is much more threatening: a band of almost two hundred Holy City folk claiming to be of Abanga's Plaza. The characters have already spoken to a Food-Maker from Abanga's Plaza who was clearly a Spyral Devotee. The group is led by the Food-Maker Suro. In addition to Suro, the Abanga survivors include one additional Food-Maker, twenty Living Weapons, and one Tale-Teller named Liggin.
The characters are gravely tempted by the presence of the Abanga's Plaza refugees as both of their Food-Makers are expert at the Cure Disease spell. This claim is eminently believable, as there is no sign of the chills among the Abanga's Plaza Folk, even though they are aware that the ear-runners pose a disease threat. Mungo and Laerynthe finally decide to lead them to an abandoned Lesso Family plantation to the east of Paiden. Suro is pleased by this, though he clearly would have much preferred to bring his whole group to the characters' refuge. In return, he offers to cure those among the characters' group afflicted by the chills. To arrange this exchange, the Tale-Teller Liggin agrees to accompany the characters back to their camp.
Along the way back, Mungo regales Liggin with tales of his own bravery.
The characters organize a journey back to the Abanga's Plaza refugees. They bring with them the sick Food-Maker, two sick Living Weapons (out of twelve), plus four Folk to carry the Food-Maker and eight more Living Weapons as escorts.
Along the way, the characters encounter and speak with several hidden Dellemoi Clan adapoi. The adapoi mention that the "large group" of outsiders have tried to talk to the adapoi, asking after ways to get to other worlds. They also mention that they have healers who know the Cure Disease spell.
After some negotiation, the adapoi agree to send a healer and a Speaker to the characters' camp. The characters immediately return to the plantation, without visiting the Abanga's Plaza refugees. Pawnbroker wants to work out a deal with the Dellemoi to try and get Prince Tonnalk's army to destroy the survivors of Abanga's Plaza.
A group of adapoi shows up at the characters' encampment on schedule. Their group includes a healer, the Speaker Ebenei (who is known to the characters), and several other adapoi. The healer takes several days to cure the Holy City folk suffering from the chills, while Pawnbroker speaks with Speaker Ebenei. He proposes a huge message to the bat-folk written on the ground in stone to give away the location of the Abanga's Plaza camp. The intention is to get Prince Tonnalk to respond. Ebenei agrees.
The session ends on the 275th day of Abbatine Year 856, in the Low Hot Season. Each character gains three experience points.
After his recent experience point gains and the gift of several pieces of equipment from the characters, Nop has been somewhat transformed:
| ST | 11 | Move/Dodge | 6/6 |
| DX | 14 | PD/DR | (2+2)/2 |
| IQ | 12 | Parry/Block | 7 (shortsword)/7 (small shield) |
| HT | 10 |
Holy City Human (Magery, -1 DX, some others)
Tharrish-12, Old Youden-11, Shield-14, Shortsword-14, Stealth-15, Running-8, Naturalist-11, Climbing-13, Acting-11, Scrounging-12, Animal Handling-10, Cooking-11, Crossbow-14, Fast-Draw (shortsword)-13, Knowledge (Holy City Humans)-12
Shortsword (cut 1d+1, imp 1d-1), Small shield (PD 2), Mungo's old crossbow (ST 13; imp 2d, SS 12, ACC 4), Leather armor (PD 2, DR 2)