Harvan has lodged you in the town of Dirkuk, the northern seat of the magistrature where he has a house by the magistrate’s buildings.
He has business for the magistrate, leaving you to your own devices. José meets with officers in the precinct and discusses tactics and learns more of the military sciences as they are understood in the Harixan Kingdom.
Farshad investigations into mercantile possibilities, and comes up with three options. A caravan heading to the Spice Lands to buy spices to bring back, somewhat high risk, but high return.
Buying up silks from Hao merchants to trade to the Sardic Empires and Ta-Khemet, fairly certain but lower returns.
The third, metal, weapons and wood to Ta-Khemet, part of their colonial efforts. Risky, as Ta-Khemet’s Nasut (King) is annoying many of his nobles and merchants with the resources bleeding out to fuel their wars of colonisation.
Farshad and those of the group who want to invest decide to divide their wealth into three. Two parts go to invest in spices, the third in Silks,
A week later, Harvan arranges a meal, and explains what he plans. He is still involved in work for the magistrate, and cannot leave for a while.
He and Gunion can puzzle out some meaning from the cuneiform, but the language is that of Ikaihurid, a dead language. However, in the west, in the kingdom of Quulbar is the enclave and free city of Irilun. This city was once one of the furthest reaches of the Ikaihurid empire, and there is a temple with a library and priests and priestesses he believes still use the language of Ikaihurid in their liturgies.
He asks the group to act for him again, travel there, taking the rubbings to the temple and start the translation until Harvan arrives. Harvan will pay, provide travel funds and the services of a translator (Kuldiz), and mules for travelling.
The group decide how to travel, if they head north they can take a ship part of the way, but might have to leave the mules behind. The silk caravan is sharing a third of the route, but it is a longer way, or they can take the shortest route, hugging the coasts.
Although José gets distracted with a treasure map, Utana and Farshad find some rough snippets of information about the journey ahead, and Jushuur has some knowledge of the area from his past.
In the end they decide to cross the border with the Rule of Ishtir with the Silk Caravan, then head north-west. In their last night with the caravan, they are entertained by the guard captain, and wished well for their journey.
Towards the end of the first day, Utana spots a group standing in a circle. Farshad and José investigate, and see a group of worn statues. The statues proved to be part of an arrangement around a covered well.
Resting and watering, despite the noises of animals during the night, they set off, coming to a town two days later. Entering, Farshad, with Utana and José in the background, sees to getting supplies. It is only as he pays for them he realises that is pouch has been lifted. It is only the experience of markets and interactions that let Farshad spot a hand off of the pouch from one street urchin to another.
Farshad followed the recipient to a small house, himself followed at a distance by Utana and José. Farshad clambered onto the roof as Utana went in through the door, spooking the boy who went up the ladder.
On the roof, Farshad attempted to intimidate the urchin, who laughed at him and turned to run, but a good skill across the boys arse with the flat of Farshad’s arse send the urchin flying into the low wall and down in pain. Farshad recovered his money and gave the boy some advice.
The group went to a caravanserai near the town gates, only to find that a healer had set up at a table on one side, with charms, philtres, herbs, pills, spells and talismans.\n\nJose watches him as he appears to cure a limping man with words, a laying on of hands and two pills.
José was curious, and took the man aside, noticed that he seemed confused and drugged. By the time he finished his examination, José was sure that the man was a fraud. He alerted the barman who got two of his burliest regulars to seize the charlatan.
The barman told him that he would hold him for two days. If all was well, then he would release the charlatan with money for his trouble. Money that José would then owe him,
If not, then not.
The group retired to bed and there we left it.
Running jokes of the night centred around Farshad embezzling the investments, setting up Farshad University, selling Farshad camel steaks, building Farshad Tower in Irbuk, with gold toilets, and wearing sharp clothes and driving a flash chariot.