The characters have arrived in the city of Kashaad, and have been royally hosted by the residents in an otherwise unoccupied townhouse for about five days. Thus far, they have had one brief conversation with an Elder named Shormon (an incredibly aged human, with the same slate-blue skin and hooked lips possessed by the rest of the citizens), who knows True Speech. The rest of the inhabitants don't appear to speak any language but their own, which curtails the characters' conversation possibilities.
The characters leave their residence and visit the marketplace of Kashaad. It is a large, square court with a series of stone-walled stalls around the edge and a fountain in the center. Only about a quarter of it is used, which fits right in with other estimates of the current population versus the original population.
The characters spend some time talking to the scribe Akubon who knows the Borrow Language spell. He shows them local currency, octagonal coins made of a green metal called javads, and says that he'll sell them a map of the city for ten javads. The characters offer to trade him jaya and the three javads they do have for a map. To show him the value of what they have for trade, they brew some jaya for him and his friend, a parchment-maker named Yakanor. In the process, they learn that Yakanor knows some Fire magic, in particular the Heat spell.
Akubon also tells the characters some things about the society of Kashaad, and points out important landmarks on the map. He mentions the following groups:
As the characters conclude their business with Akubon and Yakanor, they are approached by the aide to the Elder they had talked with earlier. The aide gestures to them that they should return to their residence, where they find the Elder Shormon and his retinue of litter-bearers already present.
The Elder tells the characters about the Blood of Abbatine, which provides the city with both it's High Mana status and it's immortal Elders. He also explains (in a general sort of way) exactly how you become an Elder: at a certain (advanced) age, the prospective Elder is given the Blood of Abbatine. From that point on, the candidate is an Elder, and is guaranteed to never die of aging. Unfortunately, the debilitating effects of age continue to progress, so most Elders are quite feeble.
Finally, Elder Shormon offers all the characters places in the city. He claims that Kashaad is the finest city in all of Abbatine, and asks the characters why they would ever want to leave. He appears to believe his own words quite sincerely, though the characters could rightly take his suggestion that they should never leave as something of a threat. The characters are somewhat cool to the suggestion of staying forever in Kashaad, so Shormon tells them that his people originally came from the world of Shildree, and that he could tell them how to get there. With that, he and his retinue leave.
Somewhat later in the day, the characters are disturbed by the sounds of a procession outside their residence. Looking out the windows, they see a troop of locals in red robes marching by in groups of two. Each group carries a large skin bulging full of some kind of liquid. The characters deduce that these folk are probably the Bloodkeepers, who Akubon told them are in charge of the Blood of Abbatine. Curious, they follow the Bloodkeepers to the edge of town, where the procession breaks up into individual groups. The groups then spread through the city, ladling the Blood all over the ground. Yorden attempts to retrieve a bit of the Blood before it seeps into the ground, but uses the Jaya Cup to do it (see below).
The only cup Yorden had on his person when he attempted to retrieve a bit of the Blood of Abbatine was the Jaya Cup the characters had found in the Drinker of Tears' lair. Unfortunately, it immediately converted the Blood into fresh, hot jaya. Though the Blood was gone, the characters immediately spent time examining the cup's properties. They learned the following things:
Messerbad becomes fascinated with urinating in the cup, turning his own bodily waste into (drinkable) jaya. The other characters were disgusted by the practice, and Pawnbroker finally took the cup away from him.
Later that night, the characters receive a visit at home from the parchment-maker Yakanor. He hadn't spoken at all at their previous meeting, but demonstrated now that he could speak Old Youden very badly. He claimed that this was because his mother was from Paiden, and had stayed in the city to marry a Borderman.
He offered to purchase all of the characters' jaya in exchange for a map showing the Bridge to Shildree and Akubon's explanation of the way to Paiden. Some negotiation followed. Yorden asked that Akubon include a book of children's stories in the deal, and Pawnbroker offered only half of the characters' jaya in the deal. Yakanor agreed to the children's book, and compromised at three-quarters of the characters' jaya.
They agreed that the jaya would be exchanged by moving it to a deserted house Yakanor's mother once lived in. He gave the characters the key, and told them to give it back to him when the jaya was there. He would then provide the book, the map and the information.
In parting, Yakanor also warned the characters that the Elders' power was pretty much absolute in Kashaad, and that if they stayed too long they might find that they would not be allowed to leave.
The day after the characters' conversation with Yakanor, a servant comes to their door and (after unsuccessfully casting Borrow Language at Pawnbroker twice) asks them to go to the Khatumor Hall and enter by a side door. He says that his master Poroban wishes to speak to them. He also requests that they travel alone. The characters refuse this request and instead travel in pairs, fully expecting that the Khatumor is planning on having them killed.
Once there, they are ushered into a room with Poroban, the otherwise submissive factotum to the Elder Shormon. Poroban explains that while the characters might think that he is an influential man, he is only a Younger. He must obey the word of any Elder, by force of tradition.
Poroban explains the details of the situation in Kashaad to the characters, and tells them about the Khatumor, a council of Elders who are the ultimate rulers of the city. The characters had already realized that there were a lot more Elders than Youngers in Kashaad. Poroban tells them that there are actually about 25,000 Elders living in the Halls of Wisdom, but only 5000 Youngers in the city. Needlessly, he also comments that even with the magics available to every inhabitant, supporting the Elders is a colossal drain upon the Youngers.
Finally, he warns the characters that if some Elder decides to order him to restrain them in the city he will have no choice but to obey. His comment is taken as a subtle warning by the characters. After that, the characters leave him, though Yorden stays for a moment to ask if he can move to a different residence. His excuse is that he has become irritated with the forest-thing's personal habits. Poroban tells him that he can set up housekeeping in any unoccupied dwelling.
The characters briefly debate among themselves afterwards on ways to kill 25,000 feeble magicians, and whether or not Poroban was waiting for them to offer to do the deed. The finally conclude that he would have been shocked and horrified if they had offered.
Soon after the interview, Yorden leaves the rest of the characters to take up residence in the house once occupied by Yakanor's mother. He takes with him only his personal possessions, including three-quarters of the group's jaya. That night, Akubon and Yakanor come by and give him some housewarming gifts. Specifically, a map showing the way to the Bridge to Shildree, a book of children's stories, and a verbal description of the way to Paiden. Akubon also warns Yorden that the Ganbell Clan has been training atraphors (six-legged sabertooth cats) to attack humans and deyrey, and has been spreading them along all the best paths between Kashaad and Paiden.
Yorden and Laerynthe spend their final time in Kashaad looting unoccupied houses. They find that there aren't many coins available, but there are lots of housewares (pots and pans; utensils; mirrors; etc.). They manage to retrieve a total of 160 kg of stuff, worth about 5 challock per kilogram. A successful Merchant roll will be sufficient to find the most valuable items, a total of 40 kg of goods with a value of 10 challock per kilogram. The remaining 120 kg is worth only 3 challock per kilogram.
Pawnbroker sets up shop in one of the many unused stalls in the marketplace and starts selling jaya, both brewed and ground. He is fairly successful, making a total of 25 javads before some cantankerous Elders become upset and ask the Bordermen to make him stop. They tell him that he can no longer sell jaya in the marketplace (with the aid of the scribe Akubon), so he gives it away instead. The Bordermen take this with fine humor, and consume quite a lot of it.
Messerbad spends his time converting the courtyard of the characters' townhouse into a jungle, complete with tall trees and lush undergrowth. He also grows a bit of jaya and some alchemical herbs.
After leaving the city of Kashaad, the characters head down the Kashaad River (using Apportation and raw daring to get their barge down the 10-meter falls near the city), witnessing a Ganbell raid on the city's dead zone. They set down on the opposite side of the river, encounter three senselessly aggressive Ganbell Clansmen, and slay them. At this point, the session ends. Each character gains three experience points.