Another town, another tavern. Again seeking information, Fiamma manages to get an innkeeper to introduce them to another traveler hidden in a back courtyard. The traveler is in knobby robes and seems to talk to himself a lot. He claims to have a scrying crystal and be able to do magic. As he mutters, Fiamma does see something in the crystal. The strange mage seems amazed, as though he never has seen anything there. The Party manages to convince him to reveal himself: a gnome and a dwarf together pretending to be one man.
Intrigued, the Party agrees to let the two join them. Suddenly someone notices a head peeking over the back wall. Shadya and Fiamma race around to find a pile of cotton and no sign of the spy. It is decided to leave immediately. The strangers go off to fetch their gear and Shadya goes to pay the innkeep. His assistant is willing to take the money and says that the innkeep hasn't been seen. The Party wants to institutes a search. Upon the return of their new friends, Fiamma asks to use the scrying crystal to find the innkeeper: she sees a closet. Shadya and Orlando persuade the assistant to let them search the inn. On the ground floor in a room facing the street, they find the closet. Blood is seeping out. Inside is the keep, dead of a stab wound.
Shadya determines that the innkeeper was killed from behind, near the window of the room and dragged to the closet. Apparently the murderer used his own body (or something) to keep the blood stanched during that process, as there is little trace on the floor. Again Fiamma brings the crystal into play. What she sees is a view from man-height out the window of this room at the Party clustered in the street.
Figuring the murderer has left town - probably in advance of the Party - leave is taken. Questioning the town guard, they find that the only one who has left is a farmer with a wagonload of hay. So the Party rides. They come upon said farmer stopped in the road, much bemused and befuddled. He claims he'd been attacked from behind in his own wagon. The Party deduces that the assassin hid in the hay and left it when it reach a point near where he'd hidden his horse for a getaway.
Shadya and Orlando decide to speed ahead to cut the assassin off, if possible. Fiamma and the rest stay behind to escort the farmer and try to ascertain that he has told the truth. The two groups agree to be separate for no more than an hour. Shadya and Orlando race! They note the couple of places along the route that the forest comes near the road ... and suspect that their quarry will try to regain the road at such a place. But a half-hour's hard riding reveals nothing. They start back, traveling slowly and watchfully this time.
Meanwhile, Fiamma spots a boot. She hops out of the wagon to investigate and finds two boots and some blood-soaked clothes. Nearby are indications that a horse was here for sometime. Thus far the Party's theory seems correct. It is not clear how fast the assassin could ride in the forest, however. Fiamma rejoins the wagon and the group travels on.
They can make out Shadya and Orlando's forms returning down the road when an arrow whizzes by Fiamma's ear. Dodging quickly, she attempts to make out where the arrow came from and races towards it. Gazim follows protectively behind. They come up blank so Fiamma returns to hunt up the arrow. Her search meets with success. Akbar pronounces the tip poisoned, just as Shadya and Orlando rejoin the Party.
The desert warrior becomes grim at the news of this new assassination attempt. She insists on tracking the miscreant and, aided by the sharp-eyed gnome, succeeds in finding the trail. Leaving the farmer and his wagon to travel as he would, the Party rides and walks through the forest and into a rocky ravine. Night finds them wending through higher and higher rock walls, the gnome and Shadya well in advance. It is full dark when they notice that the nature of the canyon has changed at an abrupt turn. The ravine ends in a very steep wall which Shadya realizes would be a challenge even for such a horse as her Noor. As she and the gnome consider their route, the Party catches up.
There is some speculation about a secret tunnel through the canyon wall, but, in the end, Shadya and the gnome climb up. What they see is amazing enough that they signal. Orlando and Fiamma join them. Below is a well-wooded valley with roads visible in the moonlight. At the far side of the valley is a stone keep or tower; clearly the destination and hideout of the assassin they seek. Perhaps it is the source of all the assassins encountered on this benighted quest.
The four rejoin their companions and discuss the possibilities. It is decided that a scouting party should be sent, but that the scouting party should be formidable enough to be effective in case of trouble. Also, only people with horses capable of making the steep climb could come. Shadya, Orlando, and Fiamma elect themselves. The climb is made with much difficulty, but safely. For a brief moment, three horses are silhouetted against the sky. Then the three ride down into the valley. Nasir's troubled eyes peer over the valley edge, following their course.
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