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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1944268" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 295Night came quickly to Cauldron, as the sun vanished below the artificial horizon of the city’s walls and the cold evening breeze down off the mountains urged people into homes and taverns to escape the deepening dark.  With all of the troubles facing the people of the town in the last year, the night had taken on a sinister cast for many honest folk, and the omnipresent clomp of booted feet and the clank of armor from the patrols of the Watch did little to instill a sense of security.  While there was no curfew in place at the moment, strictly speaking, the streets quickly became all but deserted after the setting of the sun, and even those who left the taverns and inns late did not linger, walking quickly home to close and bar their doors to await the return of the dawn. But this night, there were at least a few folk who were out and about, engaged in a business that was of the sort to end in blood and violence.  In a dark alleyway just off Lava Avenue, Dannel eased out of the deep shadows just long enough to peer up and down the street, before sliding noiselessly back into cover. “Where is that girl?” Arun muttered. “I cannot wait anymore,” Fario said, starting to get up.  Beorna grabbed him by the shoulder, and pressed him back down, a bit more roughly than perhaps was absolutely necessary. “Charging in isn’t going to help your friend, and it may get him killed,” she said.  “She’s right,” Dannel said. “They’ll be on the lookout for a rescue.”“They’re... torturing him,” Fario said, desperation thick in his voice. “Meerthan is still giving you information through the link?” Arun asked.  The half-elf nodded, his suffering clear in his expression. “You people are being loud enough to wake the dead, let alone the Watch,” Mole hissed, materializing in the mouth of the alley.  “What did you find?” Arun asked. “The place is like a fortress,” she said.  “Volcanic rock for walls, solid all the way around.  “They’ve bricked up all the first floor windows, and the ones on the second story are all sealed with reinforced shutters... and not the kind you buy at the hardware store, either.”“We don’t have time to waste...” Fario began. “We’ll find a way in,” Dannel said.  “Well, it would be easier if we had Shensen, she could create an opening right in the wall...” Mole suggested. “Meerthan sent another messenger to find her, but she wasn’t at the grove,” Fario said.  “We’ll have to make do, then,” Beorna said.  “What’s the best approach, Mole?  The least likely to be watched.”“There weren’t any windows on the back side.  There’s not much back there, just an old stableyard, sheltered from the street.  If there was a back entrance, they’ve sealed it.  No other exits at all, save for the front doors.”“All right,” Arun said.  “Take us there.”Mole led them on a wide loop around their destination, an abandoned inn that had been transformed into a safe house for the Last Laugh.  The Last Laugh was the city’s largest thieves’ guild, and while the companions had long suspected their involvement with the city’s troubles, they hadn’t had any solid evidence of an organized link.  Until now, it seemed.  Mole and Zenna had had a run-in with the guild shortly after they’d arrived in Cauldron, where they’d saved the cleric Ruphos Laro from a beating at the hands of several Last Laugh thugs.  They’d first met Fario Ellegoth and Fellian Shard a short time after that encounter.  The two half-elves had joined them in investigating the disappearance of several orphans from the Lantern Street Orphanage.  What they’d found in a complex deep under the city was a slaving operation run by a half-troll warrior named Kazmojen.  They’d managed to defeat Kazmojen and his allies, but Ruphos was slain by the slaver.  That wasn’t all they’d found on that trip, and the memory was something that still haunted them. During the confrontation with Kazmojen, a monstrous aberration had appeared: a terrible beholder.  Fortunately the creature had not lingered, taking one of the children before vanishing back from wherever it had come.  The child, a wisp of a boy named Terrem, had been returned to the orphanage a few days later, without any memory of what had happened.  After that, the companions had lost track of Fario and Fellian.  The two half-elves were members of a loose organization called the Striders of Shaundakul, followers of the deity of wanderings and adventure.  Shensen, too, was associated with them, and the companions knew that the Striders had been working behind the scenes to try to uncover the source of the troubles confronting Cauldron.  Fario had explained that he and Fellian were linked by a magical telepathic link to a wizard named Meerthan Eliothlorn, the leader of their operation here in Cauldron.  Fellian had been staking out the house of a noblewoman that they’d suspected of participation in the conspiracy behind the troubles infecting the city, when he’d been captured by agents of the Last Laugh.  Through the mental link, Meerthan had known immediately of the capture, and he’d quickly alerted Fario to seek out aid.And so, here they were. “Okay, careful, don’t make any loud noises,” Mole said, as she led them down a narrow alley that opened onto the back of the courtyard behind the Last Laugh safehouse.  “If you can help it,” she added, with a glance back at Hodge.  “Fellian saw ten beds in the common room on the second floor,” Fario reported.  “There were at least that many rogues in the place, plus a halfling that had the look of a wizard, and...” he faltered for a moment, “and a woman... she’s the one leading the... interrogation.”“Hold it together, man,” Hodge grumbled.  “We’ll get yer boy outta there.”“So, what’s the plan?” Dannel said.  Beorna’s answer came as she slid one of her swords from its sheath; the black adamantine blade shone dully in the faint moonlight.</blockquote>

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