BAMF, Inc. finally returned to Seagate from their exploration of the route through the mountains, with a report (see Appendix A, Report from BAMF, Inc.) of the route, a rough map, and three Auhaami bearing a message from the sheik at Tuath's Rest. BAMF, Inc. traveled through the mountains, picking up a old spellcasting hermit along the way. While they were crossing the Vale of Morin, they were stopped twice by ghosts asking about the re-establishment of the trade routes. In Korsepolis they had to sneak through the continuing war between the orcs and the hobgoblins, but found out that the humanoids were building crude forts and towers there. They finally reached the Giant's Watchtower at the edge of the Mountain Wall, where they found a number of Auhaami camped. When the Auhaami learned for whom BAMF, Inc. was working, three of them decided to accompany BAMF, Inc. on the return journey.

On the return trip, they traveled through the plains, where they were attacked by Horse Nomads and forced into the Thornwood Forest, where they were found by an old woman living in a small hut, who said they could call her Mother Thistle. She and the hermit healed the injured, bickering viciously all the while. When the party reached the Brastor Holding the old hermit left them.

The Auhaami reported that the road from the Mountain Wall to Angbar was better than the Korsepolis road^[26] (though the trail down the cliff was worse), that the castle in Angbar was only partially in ruins, and the Gatar Shey terminus of the Angbar road was farther from Sumaldi, which was important because Batik-al-Yazum was increasing the number of his servants, both alive and undead, and had been raiding the nearby nomad tribes. They also reported that a nomad from the Southern Desert reached them with tales of mass murders in Akhisar, in the fashion of the followers of Arakan.

The characters were invited to meet with a group of merchants on 9 Sawtes 848 to discuss opening trade with the South. At the meeting they discussed the characters' plans for the trade route and what needs to be done. All the merchants seemed very interested, and perhaps even willing to help defray the costs of opening the route. They invited the party back for another meeting on 25 Sawtes 848.

On 15 Sawtes 848 as the characters were walking back from a restaurant, a young man burst out of one of the expensive homes along the street, yelling for help and saying someone has just abducted his father and brother. The characters recognized him as the son of Tyrrell, one of the merchants at the meeting, and approached him, but he fell to the ground and died, a crossbow bolt in his back. Entering the house, they found and killed one of the kidnappers and discovered a hidden passage leading to the sewers.

Following the trail through the sewers, they discovered beggars in the sewers, and then a city beneath even the sewers, inhabited by a race of rat-like humanoids called skaven by the beggars. Some of these humanoids had captured humans and used them as sacrifices in their unholy worship, at which they were joined by some depraved humans. The party rescued the captives and escaped into the sewers, collapsing the tunnel to the Undercity behind them.

One of the captives turned out to be Balour Shaw! Alas, he was incoherent most of the time, and it was clear he had been driven insane and could not remember any of his previous life. The party decided they owed him enough that they would try to get him healed.

At the second meeting with the merchants all went well, with the merchants agreeing to contribute to the building of the road through the Atrusian hills, in return for reduced taxes on the goods that pass through the party's barony.

On 2 Patluf 849 the count summoned the characters to discuss their plans for their barony; the count offered to retire some of his soldiers to the area to provide it with a core population. He also contracted with the party to take a ton of silver to the south and exchange it for gold, which the exchange rate would make very profitable.