Approaching Borutesh, the party were met by Rhiavet, the guard captain of the village, accompanied by two bodyguards. The party were told that they were welcome in the village, and that they would be free to explore the area as long as they stayed with the provided guards for them. They were also told that the evening ceremony was about to begin, and their attendance was expected; after that, they would be shown to some guest quarters.
The party followed their guards to the Hanbalani monument, where the rest of the village was assembled. Three figures approached from the mansion to the west; Shiaali, Fali and Kalah. Shiaali led the village in a ceremony; she switched between several different languages, and the party got the impression that much of what she said was not understood by the villagers. Arc also noticed one of the villagers, Setesh secretly passing notes with another, apparently not interesting in following the ritual despite the apparent importance.
After it was concluded, the party were escorted to their guest quarters, and the guards stood outside. It was a simple room, but with a crystal in the ceiling that Elias Minch believed could be used to listen in on their conversations.
The party slept for the night, and then were taken to meet Shiaali the next morning. They initially met her possessed by her spirit and using the name Shiaaktavi; while she granted them permission to learn about Borutesh, the disdain in her voice was obvious. Then the spirit left, and Shiaali led them to a private room and temporarily paralysed her bodyguard Kalah. Her demeanour shifted; suddenly she was very happy to see the party, and asked about Miira. They then discussed how they were going to get Shiaali out. She explained that her Quori spirit usually possessed her first thing in the morning and for the evening ceremony that they had witnessed the previous night, but it could do so at any other time. She was also never alone; she was always accompanied by her faithful bodyguard, Kalah. After this conversation she would wipe the memory of both her herself and Kalah to prevent the Quori from learning of their plan. The party agreed that they would get her out, with an initial plan based around casting Invisibility on all of them to get them out quickly and quietly.
After this meeting, the party spent the day touring the village, always accompanied by two bodyguards. They started by investigating the outer wall, as they would need to get past it to get Shiaali out. They walked around the entire perimeter, noting the three gates, and the fact that the wall on the southern edge was in a poor state of repair. Outside the southern gate, Arc struck up a conversation with an ogre called Tallack, who expressed some disillusion with the philosophy mandated in Riedra. He doubted that he would be rewarded for hard work with reincarnation as one of the higher-caste races, as no changeling or human that he had ever spoken to had ever remembered a previous life.
They then headed to the mess hall, to see if they could make contact with the villagers that they had seen at the previous night's ceremony who were passing messages to each other. However the bodyguards prevented them from sitting down with the villagers, expressing concern that the outsiders would corrupt the locals with the ways of Khorvaire. But the party had better luck that afternoon when they visited the Industrious Forge; Selene d'Lyrandar and Elias Minch struck up a loud conversation on the farming tools that were being made there, despite their complete lack of knowledge on the subject. This let Arc slip over to Setesh and introduce herself by claiming that 'the silver wolf is in the air tonight'. This nonsense confused Setesh, but when he responded asking about Arc having sympathies with the Torn Veil, he was apparently convinced of Arc's potential as an ally and agreed to meet later when there were no accompanying guards.
The party continued their exploration of Borutesh. Elias Minch noticed some flowers growing around the central area which he recognised as Dreamlily. He picked a few, as he thought that he might be able to make something that would knock someone out for some time. They then returned to their quarters; Elias Minch got to work on the Dreamlily, while Smith and Selene d'Lyrandar made enough noise to make it sound like all four of them were busy. Meanwhile Arc slipped out of the window, and disguising herself as a local labourer made her way back to the Industrious Forge.
Reuniting with Setesh, Arc was taken into some tunnels below the forge. There Setesh introduced Arc to several other members of his organisation, which he explained was a local resistance group. In particular, Arc was struck by the mad rambling of Nivi. Arc offered Setesh a temporary alliance, as they shared a common enemy in the authorities in Riedra. Setesh was reluctant, not seeing how Arc would be able to help their cause, but after explaining their methods Arc agreed to help get Tallack out of Borutesh. The ogre would be 'vanished' by The Thousand Eyes if he stayed much longer, due to his vocal objections to the system. Arc agreed to get Tallack into the tunnels where they currently were, so that Tallack could make his way to an underground dromite colony where he would be safe.
Arc made her way back to the others, and then together they attended the evening ceremony before heading to bed early. As soon as they awoke, Selene d'Lyrandar used her Mask of Many Faces ability to disguise herself as a local, and left through the window to head to the ogre pens outside the southern gate. There she awoke Tallack, and persuaded him to step away from the other ogres. She explained to him that she could make them both invisible and get him inside the gates without the guards seeing them. The ogre did not believe her until she cast Invisibility on both of them, and lead them towards the gate. They successfully got past the guards without being noticed, but Selene d'Lyrandar thought that she saw a figure at the monolith looking directly at them, which could have been Fali. Moving quickly, she made contact with Setesh and helped Tallack into the tunnels. Setesh agreed to help, so Selene d'Lyrandar told him that they would be enacting their plan the following evening. She then returned to the others, and they agreed that it would be better to leave via the tunnels to the dromite colony rather than going cross country; that way they would be less likely to be spotted.
They continued to walk around the village while discussing their plans. They switched to speaking Elvish, just in case anyone was listening in; in the hope that even The Thousand Eyes wouldn't understand the language. Fali cornered them outside the Healing Hand Hospital, and admonished Arc for speaking to Tallack the previous day; a changeling should not be conversing with an ogre. Arc apologised, and Fali extended an invitation to the Tower of Eyes where she worked.
With the conversation over, the party resumed their planning of the rescue of Shiaali. Selene d'Lyrandar spent her time around the centre of the village, watching for guard patterns. Arc decided to accept Fali's invitation and see the Tower of Eyes; there Arc saw how the rest of the village was observed. Elias Minch decided to check out the mansion itself.