Roland is awakened in the night by a repeated knocking at his window. Blearily opening the shutters, he encounters an overlarge crow with red eyes, clutching a leather pouch in its talons. It sets the pouch down and says, in a scratchy voice, "Sir Furcas thanks your for your first shipment, small as it may be, and offers you payment. He asks that you ready additional goods as previously discussed. Farewell." It then flies off into the moonlit dark.
The pouch is small and light. It contains a single dark red gemstone, perhaps a ruby or garnet.
Come the morning, Claire Bloodblade barges into Roland's chambers. "Cellar's empty," she says. Indeed, the Keep's cellars have been stripped bare in the night of their usual supply of grain, tubers, dried meat, cheeses, water, beer, and wine. Fortunately, this is separate from the hamlet's granary and other storage areas, and there are no reports of other thefts in Rouvière. But Roland has no breakfast, and the disappearance may prove awkward to explain.
Does Roland conceal the disappearance of the Keep's stores (presumably into Furcas's pockets)? How does he go about restocking, and does he procure any additional supplies in accordance with his devil's bargain?