Kiwa leant forward, and let out a held breath, " Thankyou.  I will of course pay you for your time and efforts."

She put a hand on Khutuluns arm and gave it a slight squeeze, " Be careful, Please."

An elderly man came forward with a small lockbox and it was placed on the table.

Kiwa indicated for them to take it, " One hundred silver coins.  Another 200 when you return with the evidence."

She held up a hand, " Jupp! Uce!  Please take these.  With your armour, you will find your time here far more pleasant...less...sweat...and smell...and sores...and fungal infections...and heat stroke...."

She hands them two brass rings, one into each of their hands, " I will need those back."

" So where are you bound for first?"

Jupp + Uce: Add a Fan Ring to your Equipment.

Slidding the ring on Jupp smiles " That makes a big diffirence, thank you" turning to the others "I think our little guide here has some ideas of were to go first"

Mal looks over his shoulder for comic effect, but it's clear he's a little nervous about going up against Seto. "W-why don't we check out those tunnels? I'm pretty sneaky, we can probably get the evidence we need without alerting anyone, if we're careful."

Krikoris shakes his head, "Don't you think it'd be better to do that after we rescue that other person? The longer we wait, the less likely they'll still be alive and intact. Also, I tend to start fires where I go, and my armored friend here is many things, but sneaky isn't really one of them."

Uce smiles and bows. "Thank ya." He puts the ring on his finger. 

"Oh, okay. Khutulun, is it? Looks like you're leading the way."

Quote from Ismenow >>

Krikoris shakes his head, "Don't you think it'd be better to do that after we rescue that other person? The longer we wait, the less likely they'll still be alive and intact. Also, I tend to start fires where I go, and my armored friend here is many things, but sneaky isn't really one of them."

Kiwas face took on a strange expression, " If you could maybe not start any fires here....the town is mostly made of wood, rattan and bamboo.", she finished with a strange half smile.

"If we are to head into town to look for my contact, she should be easy to spot. Sila usually begs for coin in the Smoking Streets, often on the corner of Balehs Tool Shop. I say she is easy to find as she was cursed by a witch and her eyes constantly run with tears."

"That sounds like an interesting tale, did she annoy the witch or fail to complete one of those bargins" Jupp bows to the lady of the house "We will try to keep our compain in check in regards to fire" and begins to make his way towards the exit pausing at the door to wait for the others

Krikoris stands and bows to the mistress of the house and moves to follow.

Mal bows with an audacious flourish, not in mockery of his foreign companions, more like an attempt to emulate and improve upon the custom. 

Looking at Kiwa, Khutuluns nods.

"I will make sure we right this wrong."

Holding her right hand in a fist and the covering it with her open left hand, she bows and then follows the others.

"It is this way to the Smoking Streets."

With a slightly bemused smile and a worried crinkle of the forehead from Kiwa, the new companions head off toward the artisan district.

The peals of hammers and chisels ring through the haze of woodsmoke and noisome tanning vapors that hang in this district.

Many of the artisans and fabricators here sell  to nearby merchants rather than direct to the public but some will make exceptions.

As Malambing is well aware aside from the artisans that labor in this trade, this district also sees many of the squared wooden  houses of the Merubat who work the timber and rice-fields of the city. The land here is cheap enough that even their poor wages can afford some place, though they must endure the stinks and smoke.

The two locals know that the artisans of the street are devout worshippers at the Shrine of the Maw for the most part, many generations of work with obdurate iron has left them following certain quiet cults of shadowier dieties. Some of these cults are harmless, being only private rituals of devotion.

Others are rumored to involve redder sacrifices. Some say dukun and witches deal with these cults to spirit away the remains of their sacrifices for dark sorceries.

Approaching Balehs Tool Shop you see the lines of rough tools of those work outside of the town walls a plethora of wooden shovels, picks, hoes, braided vine ropes, braces etc.

The patriarch of the crafters is old Baleh, a Lokanan man with much-scarred hands and a taciturn way toward anyone not a labourer. You can see groups of work gang bosses here spending the hottest part of the day drinking sour palm wine and working out the work assignments for the next day.

Your quarry is squatting on the corner of the building holding a wooden bowl in her hands and dressed in roughly used loose cotton which was once a yellow/beige colour.

Khutulun slowly walks over to Sila, taking out a silver coin that she runs through her finger and off her knuckles before dropping it into her bowl.

"Hello Sila, it has been some time. How is everything going down in Smoking Streets?"

The woman raised her tear-stained face towards her, " It goes.  Little money, little bother, Kakak Khutulun.   What brings you here?  And with such strange company...."

A tall leather-clad Orang Bunian bows to the smith for their hospitality as she walks toward the exit and picks up her freshly sharpened halberd.

As she emerges onto the street, she clearly saw for the first time another Orang Bunian which worried her for Cinta wanted to stay anonymous from her own kind but her curiosity and noble upbringing forced her feet to advance into their direction for answers.

The sun catches the dullness of her leather armour, a simple dark brown with a green inlay pattern of vines and flowers. The shadows retreat and reveal a rough-cut emerald hanging on a platinum necklace, her white-blonde hair and steel-blue eyes turned any form of anonymity into something impossible for her to obtain.

Cinta knew her looks would cause a few to turn their heads, even commented upon. She moves her left hand to her deep purple shawl wrapped around her hips and withdraws a few copper pieces whilst her right arm or lack thereof but instead, a delicate-looking mechanical contraption resembling a brass coloured prosthetic held the halberd against her shoulder. Her skin, whiter than the freshest snow on top of a mountain.

Cinta reaches the group and places a few coppers into the beggar's bowl.

"Good to see more Orang Bunian around these parts," she says as stands up from a crouch. "What brings you here from the comforts of our home?" Cinta begins to lean on her halberd, giving her prosthetic a rest.

Mal stares at the prosthetic arm in amazement, but says nothing, shifting slightly to avoid the dirty looks he feels he attracts from the working people of this district. He'd been through here before a few times, but he didn't really have a lot of business in the area and so he was looked at with suspicion. 

Uce smiles at the newcomer's voice as he continues to relax. 

Krikoris sees the stranger approach them, and eyes the strange prosthetic. Leaning over to whisper to Mal, "Is that normal here or not?"

Jupp streches resting a hand on his weapon "We don't know you friend and your contraption tells me you may be battleworn"