And Ophelia heads to Ceveus.

"I haven't heard anything, Ceveus", says the (fairly junior) Earthshaker.

"It's been half a span! Nothing?"

"Nothing. Not even a bird."

"The missing Earthshakers are still missing, I presume."

"Fatebinder!", says Ceveus, "Yes. We sent a bird to Radix Ironcore three fists ago ordering all Earthshakers not already deployed to Vendrien's Well. I don't know if you were tracking how they organized themselves after we - or, well, you, wasn't it? - dealt with Cairn, but he's been their leader; Iron Guard and Chief Earthshaker. They're based in the Stone Sea, near the remains of Cairn, and we got a confirmation back from them after a few days, but they should have reached the valley in a fist or less, and we've heard nothing, not even scout sightings."

"Wouldn't help that most are deployed, if my last few projects are still going - trying to unfucken the province after the Edict happened to it.  My money's on Beastfolk ambush, though; Cairn had a - cult.  And, y'know, if they pissed off the wrong tribe - could've been big trouble.  They certainly have the tactics to pull it off, if they're motivated to for some reason.

"Couldn't say what might've gotten them if they made it here."

"They had the Beasts under control as of the last time Radix gave us a general situation report, I think, but they could have returned, they are crafty savages. Last we heard, they were making for a pass to the south-east. We can't spare a patrol, but you're likely to be traveling around, right? You might have the opportunity."

"One of them got through my guards and wards; I really doubt they're as 'under control' as Radix thinks.  I'll keep my eyes open, though.  Which pass was it?"

Into her notebook this goes!

Some directions are given; his map isn't good, but he has landmarks and the approximate angle relative to the Mountain Spire's shadow at noon. (It's like an enormous sundial. Useful, that.)

She takes this down as well, vaguely wondering if the principle replicates.  She imagines somebody must have tried by now.

"I'll let you know what, if anything, I find, Ceveus."

With the quest logged in her book, she is going to go see what's up with the argument over there!  If it's still happening.

It quieted down when Barik approached. He shrugged and said he was listening because the Fatebinder was interested, and Isotanis nodded and said she could ask, but he still didn't want it overheard.

Barik ambled back in Ophelia's direction and will pass this on. Though actually the Iron Walker who was talking, Euryton, left pretty soon after he did, so who knows what that means.

She'll visit Isotanis herself, then.

"Seemed like you were having a spot of bother, there."

"We have," he says quietly, "And, actually, it's Court business. Shipments of Forge-Bound iron have turned up underweight, and the last one went missing entirely. I've been behind on making armor and repairs for a span now; we've tried to keep it under wraps to avoid hurting morale, but at this point it's not going to last. Command has reports of the Oathbreakers with a suspicious number of iron weapons, too much to be battlefield spoils."

"...Bloody hell.  Alright, I am going to look into that with priority; who's shipping it?"

"Direct from Lethian's Crossing, but that doesn't narrow it down much, they've got a half-dozen shipping concerns - or, I don't really need to tell you, do I, you were their governor. The Forge-Iron Guard should be supervising the loading on the river, but when it comes off the water and onto carts, I don't think they do. We do mark our crates, though; see this one. Looks accidental, but distinctive." There's a pattern that looks like three small claws cut into a corner, with a fourth scratch on a diagonal.

"Yeah, but if it was a specific one of those I could have started there.  Narrows things down a bit.  So I will want to know who's been hired for this, to work my way down the chain to where someone's been stealing from Kyros.  And myself, for that matter, though Lethian's Crossing is not my official concern anymore."

That goes in her priority slot: 'Forge-Iron theft on last mile to Dsfv; check SC, IG.'

"It probably would be easier to start looking from that end, but as I heard that's not an option until we fulfill the Edict. From this end - you could check with the Marshal, she might have records of who made deliveries, but all I remember is that the faces driving the carts haven't been very consistent. Probably they're taking the lowest bidder for their drovers."

"Birds can fly where they please, still, I believe.  I will check with the Marshal, though."

"Thank you. It hasn't had large effects on equipment quality yet, but I'll have to resort to bronze replacements if it keeps up."

Alright, to the Marshal to get the names of the shipping company, and then to the birds, after a short stop to get the decree transcribed for later replication.  (Never rely on a single point of failure.)  She has messages to send.

Dear Calio,

I regret that I do not write with pleasant news, above and beyond the bit where I am dealing with two Archons having a snit and their forces following their lead; it seems that someone has been stealing from the Court's shipments of iron to the front!  As I cannot track this down from the Lethian end, being trapped inside Vendrien's Well until something about the present situation changes, I thought I might prevail upon you to shake loose what information may be found within the records of the shipping concerns of the Crossing, and so on down, if you have the time.  I'm told that the Iron Guard were hiring on random drovers from whoever was available for the last miles of transport; I believe that's likely where the theft happened, and will be pursuing that on my end but would like you to do so on yours, if you've the time.  Please tell them that I did not hire them to make sure the iron made it most of the way to its destination.

The shipments were arriving underweight; I'll transcribed the amount that should have arrived, vs. the amount that did, with the shipping information.

Additionally, whoever did it managed to steal the most recent shipment sent to the Disfavored in its entirety, which suggests that they knew before I did that the valley would close - at least, I would not have risked such audacity had I not known that the opportunity to steal Forge-Bound iron was drawing to a close.  And since so much of it is ending up in Vendrien hands...I am concerned.

The crates in question would have borne the Disfavored's mark somewhere, which I have reproduced below.

[Ophelia here retranscribes the mark, actual size, and the various suppliers, shipment sizes, and results.]

I here leave off this scroll to speak to the Scarlet Chorus and determine if they have experienced similar supply shrinkages.

...She needs to actually do that; damn.  Alright.

She'll wait on sending the scroll with her judgement on to Tunon's Court to be archived for now, then.

"Unfortunately, we didn't record who was carrying the last legs until we noticed there was a problem. The ones we have recorded had the Jade Marmots, the Visitors of Prosperity, the Yellow Moguls, the Hand-Over-Quill, and the Linked Rings. Marmots, Quill, and Rings had three shipments each, the others only one each. The only shipment since we started tracking that came in completely up to expectations was from the Marmots, but that might be chance. The rest have been short anywhere from a third to a twentieth. We think the two before we tracked were each short a fifth, and I asked Pentibor, who's been following us for two years with a trade license, and his memory was that those were probably the Moguls and the Rings."

"...I may have to have words for whoever had the Iron Guard not doing the lading, if it occurred consistently like that.  It might have been the docks.  Where were the shipments unloaded, if you know?"

"I think it was 'Hotchiss Knee'? Down the river from Lethian's, up one of the tributaries that joins it downstream, then unloaded onto Ironhaul Trail before the stream gets too small to float a barge of metal. The Crossing merchants negotiated for who made those pickups and who hired the bargemen, though the Forge-Iron Guard supervised them and gave approval once there wasn't a direct Court representative in place."

She nods.  "Thank you; I'll begin my search there.  ...I might like to borrow a bit of muscle to loom ominously at people when I do so, if you've a few men to spare; sometimes an iron fist will get what a silver tongue cannot.  ...That, and I do expect that whoever took the metal will object to our presence."