Stone 34

Chapter 34
Zedd decides he needs a cane, and lucky for him, the innkeeper has some on display. Zedd buys one that's actually a sword-cane. We learn that Zedd's alias is Ruben Rybnik. I think that's supposed to be a joke, but I'm not sure.
There's a few pages of Zedd and the innkeeper, which are neither terrible nor particularly interesting. Zedd has two gold pieces left (note: we have no idea what kind of buying power that is), so he gets them changed for silver and copper. Interesting that Dickland operates on the Dungeons & Dragons monetary system; no crowns, rupees, pennies, drachmas or sheckels. No, everyone uses the same coins, which are apparently generic discs of metal.
Zedd idly uses his magic to place a curse on a drunken bar-patron, so that whenever he tries to speak to a serving girl he's been annoying, he hiccoughs instead. No indication as to whether this is permanent or not, or what right Zedd has to control this hapless guy with magic. When the guy hiccoughs, a bubble comes out of his mouth, which Zedd thinks is odd.
Blah blah blah, Zedd ends up talking with a man named Ahern who is apparently a teamster. After a lot of chatter, Zedd says he wants to hire Ahern to take he and Adie (or “Elda”) to Nicobarese. Ahern objects on the grounds that he doesn't want to travel through the mountains in winter, and besides there are rumors of civil war in Nicobarese. There are also rumors of trouble along the Galea/Kelton border, which would help if we knew where the border was. We eventually learn that Ahern was an arms runner, smuggling weapons into Galea during their war with D'Hara. He was givem a royal pass by Queen Cyrilla, granting him free passage though Galea. Isn't that nice for him. 
Anyway, the gist of this little side-trip – ten pages into the chapter – is that Ahern agrees to ferry Zedd and Adie to Nicobarese for twenty gold, and then to Aydindril for ten more. I'm not sure why the longer journey costs less, or why they're just going to “Nicobarese” - not any specific city or town in Nicobarese – but at this point I really don't care.
Oh, and Ahern tells Zedd he can't wear his goofy hat, ha ha.
Zedd uses magic to turn his pouches of silver coins into gold, since after all, it's not like gold and silver coins would have different devices on them, or different words or numbers. They're just blank discs of metal. \~/ And they're exactly the same size, too.
But, shock and horror, the pouch that should have twenty silver (now gold) in it, has eighteen gold and once coin made of wood! The other, that should have nineteen gold, has fifteen gold and two wood. Zedd pays Ahern his twenty in advance and worries about his magic going awry. 
And with that necessary business out of our way, the chapter ends.
Drinks: 1
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