Everybody has shown up today, for a change.
As the curtain rises, it is almost the end of the Low Cold Seasion of 854. The characters are at the banks of the river between the Tadooban Forest and the Yodai Forest, almost within reach of Paiden.
Pawnbroker finds a ford across the river fairly quickly. The characters venture across, aided in part by Animal Handling rolls to get the pascullo. After they cross, the characters have about five days' of food available.
Yorden notes that the Eater's fortess is fairly close to the group's present location. He suggests going to visit it. The other characters suggest that it would not be a good idea to go there until (at least) the group has a chance to retrieve their protective net from Paiden.
Three Dellemoi adapoi start tracking the characters from the banks of the river. The characters spot them occasionally. The characters remain aware of them for half a day, then camp on a rocky bluff. They don't see anything over the night, but the next day several characters determine that they are still being followed. Messerbad makes some efforts to talk to them (using Diplomacy), but the Dellemoi do not respond.
About midway through the journey, Pawnbroker recognizes that the group has been using askalach to communicate privately, and that some of the Dellemoi (who fought against the Eater) might recognize it and be offended.
The group meets a group of five troops from Paiden. All of them are poorly equipped (soft leather, falchion, shield, pot helm). They insist upon performing a "medical inspection" on the characters and searching their stuff. Yorden gives them a bribe of 20 challock to expedite the matter. Laerynthe thinks that he recognizes one of them, but isn't sure from where.
Upon arriving at Paiden proper, the characters pay a fisherman to ferry them across the river to the shantytown where Curras the Esoteric lives. He is much as he has always been, but the streets of the shantytown are strangely empty. Large numbers of soldiers can be seen upon the walls of Paiden and walking the streets of the shantytown. Also, the reek of cold jaya that had pervaded the air near Curras' shack is gone, replaced by a foul stench of garbage.
The characters talk briefly with Curras, offering him hot jaya from the Jaya Cup to loosen his tongue. He tells them that the weeping plague is said to be rampant in Xod Hive, which has turned into a huge mass of dead and dying deyrey. He also tells the characters that Vlad Worm-Rider is still in Seitha, and that his infiltrators have been found in the Yodai Forest. Rumor also says that there are demek work teams on the streets of Seitha, doing who knows what.
Curras identifies several objects for the characters, for ten challocks each. The item index numbers are: 34, 45, 37, 41, 44, and 45.
Curras also says that jaya is selling for ten challock per kilo in the Patriarch's Market. As the characters later determine, this is a bit of a low estimate (doubtless Curras, smartly dressed in his rags, only rarely makes it to the Patriarch's Market).
The characters decide to enter through the Turgosk Gate, where Yadal Dillir should be Gatewarden. They find that he is no longer Gatewarden, and that his office is now filled by Tanbach Bosst. Tanbach boasts that all the Gatewardens are now of the Bosst Family. There are also many human and youda soldiers at the gate. The characters are interrogated, charged nine tebbit (four for an entry fee, and five for the "military tax"), and then apprehended when the guards note that they are carrying "Vlad crossbows" (the Maker two-shot crossbows carried by Pawnbroker and Yorden). The characters obtain their freedom by having Tanbach send a man to the armorer who made bolts for Pawnbroker the last time he'd been in the city (significantly before Vlad and his vor-worms overran Seitha) to verify that Pawnbroker had possessed the same weapons then. The guards do not search the characters carefully enough to find the Maker coins they carry, for which the characters are fairly grateful.
Lukar is singled out for special attention because he looks different from anything the guards (and Tanbach) had seen before. Tanbach orders that he be taken to the Tower, where he is interrogated by an aged youda named Tagaddo Faiai. Tagaddo asks him many questions, all about Vlad and the Makers. Lukar's answers are all vaguely terrified and contain no information. Tagaddo is satisfied of this fairly quickly and lets Lukar go hours before the other characters are granted freedom. He makes himself useful by taking care of the group's pascullo. He also sings for the crowd, taking in 15 tebbit in the process.
After their experience at the Turgosk Gate, the characters return to their home, which is still intact, and get in touch with their two maids. They spend the remainder of the day, and all of the next, recovering from the strains of their journey. They enjoy a hot bath, good food, a change of clothes, and the opportunity to very surreptitiously bury their collection of Maker coins in the backyard (where the maids and the neighbors can't see).
After recuperating, Yorden and Pawnbroker take to the Patriarch's Market armed with samples of jaya to determine current market prices. Yorde determines that most suppliers are offering only mediocre quality jaya, for prices ranging from fifteen to twenty challock per kilo.
In the meanwhile, Lukar takes stock of the local entertainers. He sees a few who can match him, maybe one or two who can beat him, and many who aren't even in his class. He estimates that with three or four days to get the feel of the local demand (and the style of youda entertainment) he can easily make an income of thirty-six challock per week.
Meanwhile, Laerynthe takes a tour of the Old Market. He quickly realizes that there are no Jhokkada visible in the area, even those he had once seen all the time. Remembering back to the border patrol, Laerynthe realizes that the one soldier he thought he recognized was one of the "missing" Jhokkada. When he later mentions this to the characters, there is some speculation that the Jhokkada may have gotten themselves "promoted" into the military. Laerynthe also notes that there are many posters up offering positions in the army.
Messerbad spends his time repairing his long-neglected garden (which also provides a nice cover to ensure that the place where the Maker coins are buried is totally unrecognizable), and talking to the maids. They offer him two interesting tidbits:
Later that night, Yorden pays a visit to his friend Fessen the Eye in the Old Market. Fessen isn't particularly upbeat. He says that since trade with Hegger was cut off, money just hasn't been flowing freely in Paiden. There aren't as many wealthy citizens around to rob, and not as many wealthy citizens around to buy stolen goods. The Bosst Family has become quite powerful, and the Faiai seem to be losing their grip on the rulership. The Veka and the Abbas Families, both of whom depended heavily upon trade, have been hit very hard. The Lesso Family, which had been on the bottom of the heap for some time, appears to be gaining some ground by feeding on the Veka Family's misfortune.
Yorden also asks about the Jhokkada. Fessen isn't as sure about them. He says that they had some kind of massive power struggle over the last couple of seasons. Nowadays, there are a lot fewer of them around, and the ones who remain keep a much lower profile. However, there are still occasional mutilations (suggesting that Matok's pet jhokk is still active), and those Jhokkada who remain are more skilled and more vicious than those of previous years.
After considering the situation, the characters arrange to have a meeting with Lembey Abbas, newly-made Patriarch of the Abbas. As usual, the characters make the arrangements through Zazak. Zazak has been doing well for himself: Lembey recently gave him a job as a scribe, which is much more to his liking. However, he is not more prosperous, as the Abbas are suffering badly. He has been forced to ask himself how long he and his kinfolk can continue to work for the Abbas if things don't change. He cannot complain for himself, but many of his kin are not. Regardless, he arranges a meeting between Lembey and the characters in a day and a half.
The characters go to the Abbas Family compound in the mid-afternoon, where they are shown into the dining room for a meal of reasonable quality with Lembey. Lembey is looking quite tired, as if he is under great pressure.
The characters tell Lembey they have a fair quantity of high-quality Hegger jaya to sell. Lembey offers to sell it for him. He will take a 10% cut, and will guarantee a final price of no less than 22 challock per kilo. It will take him two weeks (twelve days) to sell all of it. The characters accept this offer.
The characters discuss a number of other matters with Lembey. The possibility that they might attempt to kill Vlad is raised. Messerbad shows the small "VH" medallion he was given years ago by one of Vlad's men, suggesting that it could be used to infiltrate Seitha and get close enough to Vlad to strike. Lembey appreciates this plan, but suggests that if the characters are interested in a reward, they should probably talk to the Bosst Family about money. After all, they already have all of the Abbas Family's money.
The characters also tell Lembey about their project to find a second trade route between Paiden and Hegger. Their current intention is to try and find a safe way back towards Mother's Hill through the river between the Yodai and the Tadooban forests. They've already determined that the Tadooban Forest will be essentially impassable to caravans until someone does something about the Ganbell Clan. Lembey allows that he has dealt with Elfest before, and is willing to participate in the plan. In particular, he is interested in arranging the route so that the Abbas and Veka Families have a monopoly access to it for a while.
To make their project work, the characters need a good boat, a settlement on the riverbank, lobrun to paddle the boat upstream, and enough supplies to get there in one piece. Lembey says that the Veka Family has a large number of turgosk who had been working the copper mines who could establish a settlement and protect caravans. They also have copper ingots in large quantities (obviously) to provide trade goods. The Abbas Family has lobrun slaves available.
Lembey tells the characters that he wants a week to make a proposal. The characters thank him and leave. He tells them to arrange the transfer of the jaya with Zazak (the transfer is made that night).
Each character gains three experience points. Chris inquires as to the possibility of getting Toughness through magical means; the estimated cost will be about 500 to 600 challock for alchemical preparations once a sufficiently knowledgable alchemist can be found. The normal point expenditure (10 points) will also be necessary.