In Whitewall, Xenofos went to thank Jaldis in person for her help, and she gave him a letter to carry to the Chief Priest of the Temple of Lhankor Mhy. The party left Whitewall relatively early, to make their way to the river, intending to seek passage downstream. This neatly dodged the purported trouble that was going to hit Berra if they stayed.
Along the road, they intercepted a wagon between Whitewall and the river. Berra confronted the wagoneers because they looked at her feather funny. They claimed to be trading fish, but when confronted, they attempted to flee. This resulted in a confrontation leaving the surprise crossbowman dead, and Berra and Rajar with two captives. Beneath the rotting fish, the crates had secret compartments full of hazia. Once captured, the criminals talked nervously about a mastermind known only as ‘The Duck’, or sometimes ‘Mallardyr’. Despite Berra’s attempts to get rumours of Devolin’s whereabouts from them, they would not tell anything more about him, saying that he worked through middlemen.
During the conflict, Dormal kept Yamia calm, eventually resorting to creating loud bird noises to cover the sound of the fight. The party burned the hazia and hung the dead drug dealer/crossbowman alongside the road. Dormal and Berra had a short argument over whether Berra had been ‘looking for a fight’.
The party rafted down river to Karse. No one fell in, not even Billy. Rajar and Berra obtained ransom for their captives, which they shared. Irillo arranged passage for the party on a ship to Nochet.
During the sailing, the ship was briefly pursued by pirates until Varanis set fire to their deck with lightning. Venlar listened in on them via Wind Words, and heard mention of the name Harrek, which made it likely they were Wolf Pirates. Yamia came up to see what the fuss was about, and Dormal told her that it was a ritual and everything was fine. Berra was too amazed to blurt out that it was not. After that, the trip to Nochet was mostly uneventful.
In Nochet, Grandmother invited all of the Saiciae party members to visit with her. The meeting was peaceful, though the Saiciae Wyter snake did give Varanis a rather cosy hug. Rooms in the Saiciae compound were arranged for all who wanted them. Most of the party took advantage of the baths, with Rajar emulating the falling of the Block on the Devil, jumping into the bath with a loud RARRR! Dormal had a secret meeting with Grandmother, with some more reporting in.
Berra went to visit the Temple of Humakt, to arrange for Yamia to visit and have someone look at her.
Xenofos visited the Library. En route to the library, someone attempted to follow the scholar, but got caught up in a tavern brawl when he dodged through a narrow wine shop, allowing Xenofos to make his way to the library alone. At the library, he was greeted by a pompous sage with an inflated sense of self-importance and was unable to deliver the letter entrusted to him by High Healer Jaldis.
