Episode 1: Pradesh

You and the other travelers stream through the Sandalwood Gate (#13) and enter Pradesh, the Jewel of the West. You are swept up in the throng of revelers cheering, singing, and chanting to the beat of drums and gongs. The festive mood is electric, and highly infectious. The flow of people leads southwest, towards the City Square fronting the Great Temple. The street threads through a courtyard and just as you enter, several horn blasts are sounded. A cheer goes up among the crowd, and the music turns more frenzied. Multicolored powders, hurled from the balconies, rain down on the dancing multitude, blanketing you in gaudy rainbow hues. This is a boon - in this chaos of color no one from Cysegr will recognize you.

You push on, and at every other corner the colorful ritual is repeated. At one crossing, a parade of colorfully arrayed elephants marches past, festooned with fluttering banners, bearing troupes of musicians. One of the elephants, probably the matriarch, peers at you curiously and nods sagely before turning south, leading the procession to the Great Temple of Gajenndra, whose elaborately carved towers rise above the nearby structures.

Moving on, you come upon an inner city wall running roughly east to west, pierced by an open gate that leads to the Temple District. Here, the crowds stop to gawk at several holy men seated atop narrow stone pillars that flank the gate. These ascetics have sworn to live out their lives thus, dispensing wisdom and blessings from on high. Supplicants offer them food and water in little baskets (and the hermits' waste is sent down in another basket). The stink wafting down from their waste and from their unwashed bodies is overwhelming. Best to move on quickly.

A procession walks by bearing a holy child in a gilded litter, her skin dyed gold and her cheeks pierced through and through by thin steel skewers. A beggar, his body covered with boils, shuffles forward, pleading, reaching out to the child goddess. The child turns her head towards the beggar, who gasps and stumbles backward with tears in his eyes. He is completely healed. The child turns again, and almost locks gazes with Rydler, but then her procession moves on, trailing incense smoke and lotus petals.

Aditya is happy to be home and is caught up in the festivities. At first it seems as if he's forgotten you have come to collect your pay but at length he hires a runner to send word to his aunt. "You'll have your gold by the end of the day." he promises. "In the meantime, welcome to Pradesh! Happy Dasai!"

Rydler
As yet unaware that Baracus and Erden have decided to follow you, you begin to notice several things about the golden child's procession as you follow in its wake: Though her entourage are dressed as Pradeshi monks many of them appear to be foreigners. The leader, a tall, blond, stern-looking, bearded fellow, makes no pretense and is dressed like a Kaspeathan noble. The palanquin looks suspiciously like a cage. Having crossed the Peacock Gate, the little procession weaves its way through the crowds, making its way south crossing the Temple District.

What do you do?

Baracus & Erden
As you enter the Temple District, it's no less crowded than the Marketplace but the festivities here are decidedly more devout: pilgrims make offerings to holy men and religious statuary, monks at meditation occupy tucked away alcoves relatively shielded from the hubbub, groups of scholars from the nearby Academy huddle around games of shatranj. Some of the shatranj players appear to be placing wagers, drawing angry looks from the pious. You can just see Rydler's back disappear around a corner.

What do you do?