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Yornan immediately shifted his logical assault. After Yancey admitted that the Martin Shimlock and The Resistance were muscle used by his organization, Yornan lied to Yancey and said that the party had suffered greatly due to the lies and underhanded behavior of Martin. Corliss jumped in with another account where Martin had done the same. Yancey believed the lies and was convinced to tell the party more details.
Yancey worked for a secretive organization that was attempting the thwart both the Polonians and the Orcs. The orcs were attempting to gather these special rubies that served as reserves of magical power, presumably in an attempt to gather enough power to conduct some unknown ritual in the future. Rhagal remembered having seen one of the gems before, used in the Orcish ritual at Pebbledrop Fort, but crushed by Gronth after the battle.
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After returning to Highbridge, the party learned that tax collectors from the Southern Mercantile Company led by Percy du Ramshead had come into Overtown collecting a “bridge tax” to help repair the bridge destroyed by Cirnan Sulo and The Resistance during a previous mission. The citizens of Overtown resisted and examples were made. At some point, Company Security broke down the door to The Rusty Spigot, dragged Grenn the Bartender into the common square in Overtown and hung him next to four other unfortunate Riding folk. The guards also dragged away Kelmen Longbottom, great-nephew of Batilda and nephew of Selma Longbottom of the The Knot.
The party offered to help rescue Kelmen and punish Percy and were quickly led into the backrooms of The Rusty Spigot where Selma and Clyde ran the thieves' guild. Selma promised all of the support that she could, including all the information on the Prison that they had on Highbridge Prison.