Enemy Clans
The Forstu and the Eastridge are unfriendly or enemy clans.
Forstu
The inheritors of the title "damn lowlanders" the Forstu control most of the best farmland lower down the valley south and west of the Westhill Tula. They are not the clan who took over what was once Westhill land before the False Imarja, but they supplanted that dissolved clan and now, as far as the Westhill are concerned, squat on land that was once theirs. Happily a neutral clan, the Orkings, provide a buffer along most of the Westhill western border, and by Hexarch command, no clan may place a toll over any Earth Road in Esrolia. However, Westhill clans people are wise to avoid any so-called inn on the southern slopes of the valley on Forstu lands, where overcharging, poor food and worse hospitality is the least they can expect.
The Forstu are rich from fishing, farming, milling and cows, and make a tempting raiding target. Part of the Arkat's Hold tribal confederation, though their warriors are soft they are not shy about calling on tribal levies who are much tougher and often use foreign magic. Erna Reedwriter, law speaker for the Forstu, routinely brings suit at tribal moots against those who have raided the Forstu, often winning harsh judgements.
Eastridge
Unlike the rich and fat Forstu, the Eastridge clan is too much like the Westhill for them to get along. Both are similar in styles of farming, herding and preferred grazing. In particular, both lay claim to the same high pastures for summer graze, and both claim that the other stole secrets of sacred places high in the mountain pastures where it is possible to enter into the Middle Air on the clouds.
Grandmother: Kilmera. Her daughter, Merle is a weaponthane.
Visk is a shaman from the Eastridge, renowned as an evil fucker.
A generation ago, attempts were made by the Grandmothers to end the near-feuding between the clans and some marriages were made. But none of them lasted and the children of those unions were a source of trouble for years.
Worse, the only rideable shortcut through the southern Skyreach Mountains into Sartar passes through the middle of the Eastridge tula, and it isn't an Esrolian Earth Road so they block it at their whim.
Would this help?
Does the clan know enough about either the Forstu or the Eastridge clans in order to appear as though the characters represent one of them when they take on the raiding mission? Of course they do not want to appear to be members of the Westhill tribe while raiding the merchants, but one or the other group (Forstu or Eastridge).
Now that the cloth merchant raid is over, what actions, if any, do the characters want to take vs these "damn lowlanders". Despite the Forstu law speaker's suits, is raiding the Forstu approved by Corisand? Can we at least spy on them and look for prime opportunities for addressing the ancient wrong they perpetrated on us by taking over that land from those who took it from the Westhill clan in the first place?
As Imarjan gains proficiency in his new spirit tradition, he will look for spirits and ways that can prove useful against these specific neighbors. Hide in Shadow, Frighten Interloper, Banish Spirit, Ward off Spirit Face, etc.