Smuggling Route Dropoff

Ziyad doesn't have a response to that about propaganda. Skyside's all quite hostile, the gangs don't get on with each other.

"No. Me and Svipul weren't in charge. We were the newest members of the company, replacing somebody who got crippled by dinky little people with wings. Dunno why they did it. We all got a cut of the profits of the big stuff, like this printer, but we're encouraged to have smaller stuff as well, so long as it don't take too much weight. Weight is fuel, and that cuts into profits. All three vehicles were in our convoy, but one of the dead people was the guy who lived in the cabin and maintained the campsite. He got paid by everyone who stayed there, and it was the safest stop between Inside and Riverside." Now, well... there's more profit to be made, since the campsite's not taking a cut, but it's more dangerous, too. Especially since nobody knew how the guy kept the campsite safe.

Shivernight Manor

After Ophelia stops screaming and shouting obscenities, and her reactions change, the tactics change a little, too. When Bluefoot leaves to get her supper and sleep, she sends one of her maids down- Applesniffer- who looks nervous and cautious, because she was told to- and she's carrying a pillow. She climbs onto the table and smiles sadly at Ophelia, before pressing the pillow down. It's not intended to smother the snake-lady; just make her think she's being smothered, and by a seventeen-year-old halfling in next to nothing at that. Ophelia's chained to the table, so she can't do anything, but Bluefoot interrupts quite deliberately, and Applesniffer is pushed aside, hitting the floor quite hard and not surfacing again. Bluefoot will smile at Ophelia now, stroke the side of her mask and whisper in her ear. "Life is hope. Life can always get better, and Sapphira will let you live and that is hope. Obey her, and be rewarded, and life will continue getting better. Understood?" With that, both halflings will leave, until morning; letting Ophelia sleep soundly, if she can bound as she is, and the whole thing might seem like it was a dream.