The Blacktongue Thief

The next morning, Fulvir summons the party to breakfast and announces that he is moving his home to avoid an approaching giant army. He forces the group to accept three bizarre musicians—Bizh, Nazh, and Gorbol—as part of their company.

As the enlarged party departs, Fulvir’s house stands upright on enormous roots and walks away. On the trail, the group passes an inert clay man and later sees a mixling resembling Bolr, a small deity with a bear’s body and a man’s face. The creature weeps over the magicker’s abandonment. When the musicians play their instruments, Galva grows offended by the terrible music and threatens them into silence.

The party arrives at the Oxbone Walls, the border of Molrova. They bribe the guards so that they may enter the war-torn country of Oustrim, where they encounter refugees fleeing the giant invasion. A refugee woman informs them that the capital, Hrava, has fallen. She reports that King Hagli is dead but his wife, Queen Mireya, may have survived.

At their campsite, Yorbez catches Bizh stealing bread from her open pack. As punishment, she cuts off the tip of his nose. The party debates over whether to abandon the musicians, but Norrigal senses that they possess a hidden magical significance and insists that they remain.