After many weeks of travel through the Commonwealth of Jarizza, Rekha Mar’Khabazza and his merchant caravan escort arrives at the border town of Shala. Shala is a small village on the border of the Jarizza Commonwealth and the Khizdushaz Empire as defined by the Kehah Ria. It is primarily a fishing village but also harvests wood from the blackened forest to the north as well as trapping elk, seals, sea lions, wolves, and bears.
Rekha spends several days provisioning and gearing up for the northern climate, eventually procuring passage on a ferry run by three brothers that will take him south across a narrow portion of the ria and across the border into the Empire.
April 5, 7761
Mar’Khabazza unloads is trade wagon and his trusty horse Feldspar on the shore of the Empire. He is attacked by one of the brothers but Mar’Khabazza manages to drive him off while the other two brothers watch. Leaving the three brothers to tend to their own, Mar’Khabazza strikes out to the east with only a vague sense of direction towards the Jewell Cities where it is said that “diamonds the size of fists lie on the open ground, waiting to be picked up.”
After a difficult day of travel Mar’Khabazza makes camp for the night, making a small fire from his store of dry wood and provisions from the wagon. As he is setting up, a stranger walks into the edge of the firelight holding a freshly killed pheasant. He is dressed in simple linen clothes and his possessions are scant except for a simple cloth sack held together with rope. He is emaciated and looks mistreated with scars apparent across his exposed skin and doesn’t say anything, so for lack of anything better to do, Mar’Khabazza invites him to join his fire. The stranger moves into camp, pulls a battered iron kris from his belt and begins to deftly dress and cook the bird.
It is cold and overcast and the ground is wet from snowmelt, although the snow still covers half of the ground and travel is laborious over the rolling hills and small shrubs covering the ground.
It takes a week of overland travel to reach the west fork of the Uedama river and another day to find a suitable crossing.
…and another five days to reach the east fork…
