### 323

The faces of your three companions are covered by an unsightly red rash. Each man is suffering a headache and they feel nauseous and dizzy, yet these discomforts fade after you attend to them using your Kai curing skills. However, try as you may, you cannot relieve them of the vivid rash that has erupted all over their faces, hands, and feet.

With dismay, the three men resign themselves to the fact that they have contracted Bita Fever. Although their lives are not at risk, the inflammation of their skin is causing them great discomfort. Their only hope of easing the persistent irritation is for them to reach Bisutan and find an apothecary who may be able to concoct a lotion to soothe their purulent skin.

You ride all day under a clear sky and a blazing sun and stoically the marines suffer their pain in silence. Their only relief is the protection afforded by their cool, flowing mhaktis. It is late in the afternoon when you catch your first sight of the great city of Bisutan, which is located upon an island in the estuary of the River Khorda. A titanic stone bridge carries the coastal road over the shimmering waters of the Khorda towards a towering gatehouse which is flanked by two massive stone dragons. It is not the custom of Bisutan’s city guards to stop travellers without good reason, for here the merchants of all Magnamund meet to haggle and trade and barter their cargoes. They allow you to pass through their great gate, but one sharp-eyed young guardsman with promotion on his mind notes the strange pallor of your companions and he demands that they halt.

‘Bita Fever,’ proclaims a gruff old guard sergeant, and he demands that they dismount at once. He summons five spearmen from a nearby guardhouse and when they arrive he orders that your companions be taken to a gaol on the far side of the great bridge. You protest but the sergeant is adamant that they should spend a month there in isolation until the symptoms of the fever have disappeared. He assures you that they will be treated well, but they will not be permitted any visitors during their isolation. As they are escorted back across the bridge at spear’s length, they wave you farewell and urge you to continue your journey without them. You wait until they have disappeared from view and then you wheel your horse about and enter Bisutan alone.

Turn to 250.