Sassani returned to Dejang-e and rendezvoused with the rest of the party at The Whale. They went to the village hall to meet with Elder Nouri, to try to find out what she was upset about. Elder Nouri accused the group of failing to uphold the Butterflies end of their protection deal, as caravans have been failing to arrive and it's been assumed that bandits are responsible. This confirms what Sassani discovered at the warehouse the previous day.
The group agree the missing caravans are the most pressing issue facing them, but that there was no harm in checking out the other issues first. They decided to head out to the goat grazing grounds to meet with Nosriya and investigate his missing animals.
In the field Nosriya showed them where the most recent animal had gone missing. Ryo found tracks from a large cat, and signs that the goat had been dragged away into the jungle. They followed the trail and found the remains of the goat, and a little further on discovered a tiger sunning itself on a rock in a clearing. They surrounded the clearing and tried to herd the animal towards Kathra to finish, but Ryo's missed shots meant the tiger escaped past him and further into the jungle.
They followed the trail of blood back to its lair; a small cave two metres up a cliff next to a river. Kathra and Sassani fell into the river from the fallen tree bridge that the tiger had crossed, and Sassani was badly wounded by quippers in the river. When they finally crossed Kathra and Ryo entered the tiger's cave and finished it off. They skinned it and took its head as proof of the kill back to Nosriya. He agreed to hold on to their goat for safekeeping for now.
As the hunt for the tiger had taken longer than expected they group decided to head out to meet an incoming caravan that was still a distance outside of town, leaving the polluted herb grounds for when they return. They have a few days' uneventful ride, broken up by discovering the ruins of the missing caravan that'd been attacked and ransacked. They discovered three bodies and signs of a struggle wherein the wagon had been attacked by five people. Notably one of the people did not involve themselves in the fight, and one of them appeared to wield a large weapon that was capable of destroying the wheels of the wagon. The attackers had then returned up the road in the direction that the group were travelling.. Kathra took the manifesto from the caravan to prove they'd found it.
On the second night Chae caught a woman sneaking around their camp. When she raised the alarm the woman tried to set the group's tents alight before fleeing into the jungle. Sassani and Ryo followed, but were unable to catch her.
The following day the group met the incoming caravan, and convinced them to allow them to escort them back to Dejang-e. A half-day's travel back towards Dejang-e the group spotted an ambush in the road ahead of them, and pulled the caravan to the side of the road to make a more defensive position and draw the ambushers out. The plan worked, and the ambushers approached and attacked.
The group prevailed over the attacking group of bandits, but Chae and Kathra worked together to bring the apparent leader, the same woman who had snuck into the group's camp the previous night, alive. The guards all survived, but the driver was very badly wounded.