We decide that the dwarven hold Din Borim would be best served as a forge and trade station with the dwarves we met near Groghaven as its keepers. We plan to discuss this with them, and also the improvement of the trade route by widening, etc. when we come by there again.

Our immediate goal is to head into Giovanni’s land, however, so we set of to the south the next morning after a night of rest in the keep.

After traveling for one day, we arrive at a small town called Tefana, the inn here is called the Harper and Goblet. The place looks old and not well maintained. The bartender looks Tilian.

We see a bunch of men at the bar, and after speaking with them they say that they are not in the employ of Giovanni “right now” as they are not on a job. Brokk recalls that Tilia has many mercenaries, and it’s kind of a main export of theirs. In fact Giovanni himself was a mercenary captain, and he still calls himself a captain.

Jean says to them that we plan on traveling to Castinea tomorrow. They say that there are patrols but if we don’t cause any trouble there shouldn’t be cause for concern. Castinea is the biggest city in the region. It has a lot of shoreline for ships and a big stone wall all around it. It’s well fortified. We finish up and stay the night here, then leave for Castinea in the morning.

We go through another small town and continue on to the south. We make it to Castinea and find a place to stay (the Borderland Inn), then spend the next several days finding things out about the area, mostly by socializing and greasing some palms, before we meet with Giovanni.

Giovanni resides in a keep on the east side of town, across the river. His personal mercenary company is called The Hounds, and they are all Tilian. (Other mercenary groups have been from varied nationalities.)

We find out that Giovanni was in the employ of Hauptner, but there was some kind of falling out between them. There was supposedly a failing by Giovanni during a battle that caused the rift, then he came here. This was an abandoned area due to some attacks, but he has rebuilt from ruins in the time he’s been here. He’s been here 20 years, but the city has only been built back up for about 10.

We find out that Urmino DeSalvo, the town castellan, frequents a restaurant called Mazetti’s. We work on setting up a meeting with him. Jean goes to the restaurant and buys DeSalvo a flagon of wine. He explains who we are and how we want to setup trade routes, the issues with Gilemet, etc. Jean passes DeSalvo a map that he made of the region and tells him that he can give it to Giovanni. The man agrees and heads out.

Meanwhile, nearby in the “Steps” (the rich neighborhood) Vedasi sees a door in  a nearby tree and lets Maruviel know about it. It says Phandyth’s Chalice on the door. Inside they find a tavern that is of wood elf design. An elf maid is here and she says that no one has been here in over 90 days. They enjoy the drink and she says that she has rooms to let if they are interested. Vedasi and Maruviel feel at peace here and decide that they will stay.