Arrival at Riverdrown

On their way to Riverdrown, the party stumbles upon an orc and a young human girl arguing beside their two wagons. The orc, wearing spectacles and speaking eloquently, introduces himself as Karok and the girl as his adoptive daughter Rua. He claims that Rua irresponsibly sped the wagons over a hole in the road, causing the coupler and one of the wheels to break.

The party quickly fixes the wagon and continues riding north with Karok and Rua. They explain that they are textile merchants looking to sell their wares in Riverdrown for the first time, but Karok expresses uncertainty over the League letting him do so. Taigus, unwilling to have them be turned away, promises to pull some strings to let him and his daughter into the city.

Later that night, as the party breaks camp, Roach and Chazu discuss their respective lives, both of them enjoying the company of another tiefling. Chazu seemingly laments his tenure as a thief while Roach informs him about his mission to find the Blood King's tomb. As the night carries on, Taigus, Nadu and Hachiman acquaint themselves with Karokk while sitting around the fire. The big orc finds a way to comfort all of them.

The two caravans reach Riverdrown the following day. Taigus, using his rank within the Merchants' League as leverage, gets his friends into the city without having them searched or taxed at the gates. Many of the party members, having never stepped foot in such a large settlement before, are taken aback by its beauty and complexity.

Wanting to deal with his contract on Fredward first, Taigus pays a visit to his superior, Lieutenant Nimrya Tal'vaar, and informs her of the debtor's death. Speaking with Nadu, she raises his inherited debt by 30 gold and demands its full repayment in a week's time. She also gives Taigus and Roach new contracts - Taigus is tasked with hunting down the scoundrel Exal, a wanted seditionist and the man who saved his life, and Roach is tasked with killing a mutant crocodile in the city's sewers. Chazu and Narlor both join the city guard, having earlier expressed interest in doing so.

Afterward, Hachiman, Lau, and Roach go to the Central Library, each of them in search of different information. Hachiman learns more about his family's sword, as well as his faraway homeland, Lau learns about the history of slave trading in Vorith, and Roach learns about the Blood King and his relationship to the sword Valfigor. In particular, Roach reads a book titled Epistles of the Blood King, a manifesto bound in pitch-black leather.

Sitting with Lau, Roach notices that the last half of the book is blank. It then begins writing itself in blood, recounting the immediate present as Roach holds it. The book, drawing from the Blood King's soul within Valfigor, implores Roach to find the shield, threatening to make him bleed to death if he does not. Blood begins dripping from Roach's eyes, nose and ears. As its last message, the book tells Roach to find an archaeologist in town.