Upon reaching Seagate they were ushered into the Count's presence, where he congratulated them, and restored to them their property which had been seized illegally by the court when they were exiled. He also explained that there had been many irregular legal aspects to their arrest, trial, and sentencing, and that he had reversed their sentences for that reason.

He rewarded them for their journey by giving each of them dwarven armor, and arranged a meeting of the major merchants to hear about the journey and the prospects for trade. At the meeting they were heckled by , whose low opinion of them found ready favor with some disgruntled members of the court, though not with the Count. During the meeting a mysterious explosion in Arn's Ferry was mentioned; it had destroyed the ancient Giant's tower where Balour Shaw lived. (Gim was dismayed: of what use was his apprenticeship now?) After the meeting Wesved sent men to kill the party members, but the party dispatched the assassins with ease, and Wesved's head ended on a pole when the Count investigated his actions.

The party found that it had returned after four years to a country in disorder: bandits and outlaws were everywhere, travel had become difficult, pirates were ruining trade with the North, smuggling had increased dramatically, drug use had run rampant (and not just in the cities, causing many to worry that the work-force of Carzala would be ruined), people were disappearing from cities and farms, and a group of Barons, including the Baron of Seagate, opposed the Count in everything he did. No one was able to understand why the country had deteriorated so rapidly. How had things come to this? Had the gods looked on Carzala with disfavor? Was the whole land cursed?