A few days pass uneventfully. Elbolin and Gourbain arrive in Phandalin one day around noontime, and find it about like they left it. Tranquility prevails, and although they notice the presence of Sildar's men keeping an eye on the town, and it's obvious that they notice them too, nobody approaches them.

They go first to the Townmaster's Hall, to see if Sildar is there, since they have news and a letter from his niece Talis. Sildar is indeed at the Townmaster's Hall, looking over some papers, along with Harbin Wester, who just likes having an office because it makes him feel important. Gourbain stays outside to guard the cart with the egg, and Elbolin goes into the hall, where Sildar greets him warmly. "Ah, the intrepid adventurers have returned! Are you all here?"

"No," says Elbolin, "just myself and Gourbain. We have some news; we found your niece."

He proceeds to tell him about their adventures and the battle in Greenest, and about meeting Talis as the waitress and then visiting her at her house. "We think she may have joined up with the cultists. We're not sure, but she may have even betrayed our location to them when we were at the Old Greenest Inn. Anyway, she sent this letter for you."

Sildar takes the letter, and reads it carefully, furrowing his brow. It's confusing news.

"She signed it at the bottom, 'PTG'", he says. "You know what that means?"

"We're not exactly sure, but at the cultists' camp, we heard them say 'Praise Tiamat's Glory' a lot, so that's our suspicion."

"Hmm. That would certainly make it appear that she has joined them. Do you know who this Tiamat is?"

"No, we haven't figured that out yet. We think maybe their queen, or a dragon, maybe both? Maybe their queen is a dragon?"

"Yeah, my sources have been trying to figure that out as well. Hopefully you can get to the bottom of it. Anyway, I promised you 100 GP each to find Talis, and you did all you could do. Can I trust you to take the money to your friends?"

"Of course," says Elbolin, stashing the 700 GP in his rucksack.

Back on the Trade Way, the caravan has stopped at a creek crossing to water the horses. "Hey," whispers Leosin to Hooflepoof, "did you notice that guy?"

"What guy?" says Hooflepoof.

"That guy," says Leosin, pointing subtly to a rather plain-clad human up the river a ways, tending to some thirsty horses. He's been watching you all day. And I'm pretty sure he's with one of the cultist wagons."

"Do you think he recognizes me?"

"Looks like he might, he thinks you are interesting for some reason."

"What should I do?"

"I don't know, but it's kind of a frightening idea, if the cult knows we're here. I've been watching him watching you. He's trying to be subtle, but stay within sight of you. I haven't seen him talking to anyone else, so maybe if he does recognize you, he's the only one."

Hooflepoof ambles around and quietly warns everyone, pointing out the cultist as subtly as he can.

After they have been on the road a few hours, their travel is interrupted by a few carts stopped in the road, surrounding something in the road. Even from a fair distance, they recognize it as a human head. Black Barry runs ahead of the cart, and finds that it isn't just a head, but a person buried up to his neck in the road, with the word "oathbreaker" carved across his forehead. He is apparently alive, but unconscious. Several other cartmasters stand around pondering what to do. Black Barry immediately starts digging him out.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" asks one of the other cartmasters. "We don't know who he is. Somebody buried him here. He probably deserved it."

"Well he's not dead, so at least we can question him."

The cart approaches, and Hooflepoof jumps down and helps Black Barry dig. After a few minutes, they pull the man out into the road. He is wearing only a loincloth, and has a tattoo on his chest of a harp in a crescent moon.

Hooflepoof recognizes it as the symbol of the Harpers, which Black Barry had recently joined with Leosin. "Is there anything in that book that you got about tattoos?" he asks Black Barry.

Black Barry digs the book, The Harper Way, out of his pack, and thumbs through it. The only reference he can find is a passage that says that most members wear a pendant, but if you are a very dedicated Harper, you can get a permanent mark such as a tattoo.

The man is still unconscious, and the adventurers yell at him, shake him around, stick their stinky armpits in his face, and do funny dances, but he doesn't move. Finally Bilbo steps up and pours a little water in his mouth, and he starts to twitch and show signs of life. She pours in a little more, he swallows very painfully, and then his eyes open and he grasps for her canteen, gulping down as much as he can. Then he sits up in the road.