The party took Ldemi back to their hideout and, after a night's rest, began to question him. He agreed to help the party destroy the remaining Goto Mei in exchange for their protection; turns out Sahrizan was his father and he was disliked because of the power that gave him. Eventually the group agreed to roll him in to the Butterflies, and he and Qutai started to team up.
Ldemi revealed that Aman had been targeted for corruption by the Goto Mei. They had hired Sanua Tiktu, a Forked-Tongue Charmer (a trained agent of manipulation from the far reaches of the Empire), to bring him round. The party has yet to decide whether to kill Aman, confront them both, or try to separate them and talk to Sanua.
Whilst in camp, Kathra realised that she could use the Sending spell to communicate with Shava in Otgon Sum. Dashya Ravi owned up that he also has the spell, and he aided the group in sending a number of messages back to Otgon Sum to update Shava on the situation. Wei also sent a runner back to Mahra Mahmi with one of the two earrings so Shava would have some method of responding.
The Wraith asked for one day to clear out Goto Mei loyal to her from The Pit. The party gave her the time, with Wei Liang watching the secret exit to see how many left, then turned up with Qutai and some other cells of Butterfly agents to clear the place out. When they arrives only ten Goto Mei remained, and four of them turned out to be plants The Wraith had left behind. The remaining six Goto Mei are slaughtered, and the Pit finally reclaimed.
Qutai is reinstated as master of The Pit, and has given the party lodging in the upper levels. He is now working with Ldemi and The Wraith to establish control over Jiiwani.
Sassani, realising her work with the orphans is complete, sends word to them that they had done well and arranges for food and water to be delivered to their normal meeting spot for the coming week.
Kathra got wind of her priestly rival planning another attack, and confronted him when he showed up. After a brief butting of religious ideals she triggered her sneak attack from the rest of the party, and killed the other priest and his men. The followers' bodies were returned to Kazan's temple, but she has kept the corpse of the main priest and is using Speak With Dead to pump it for information.
After a few days downtime (during which Wei loves and loses), a message is finally received from Shava. She instructs the group to attempt to save Aman if possible and that the portals the group are looking for are located in the Zavkhan Assembly, which Qutai explains is one of the central government buildings inside Hebi Palace. Shava tells the party to use Qutai's “family” to get inside.
Qutai explains that his “family” is a series of false identities he had set up in case access to Hebi was ever needed. He doesn't want to burn the identities though, and says the group will have to do something for him in return (I FORGOT WHAT) if he lets them use them. Alternately, he informs the group that Aman can be located every Thursday afternoon in the Imperial Gardens, which wouldn't need them to access Hebi Palace at all.
Ryo and Chae-rin attempted to break into Hebi Palace to locate Aman and the portals. Unfortunately they were unable to breach the outer gates, and triggered a silent alarm summoning guards. They dived into the river to escape.