Shaddar is certain that either the Lords or the Mist of Darkness will be after him en masse quite soon. Because of this, he has no choice but to abandon the Jester and Hawk Meadhall as his center of operations. He plans to visit the drow Elders again and make them an offer they can’t refuse. Either they will follow him willingly or he will have Cutt clean up a lot of elf blood from his newly emptied underground palace...
It is unlikely that the Knights will be able to keep their masters in the dark about the ‘winds of change’ that have begun to blow through their city. Either news of the vile rumors Shaddar spread, the unrest he has caused, or this latest provocation of stealing their tribute will cause the Lords to act.
As for the Mist of Darkness? Well. He has no way of contacting them directly, but it is clear that their people have been watching some of his minions at the very least. But not him and his own personal activities. No, he has remained fairly well hidden and can avoid any competent minds that are seeking him out. Shaddar is quite certain that they have no idea that he left the city.
It is possible – quite possible, really – that one or both of these two power centers has already acted while he has been away, but he hopes not. His minions will not have been causing any more trouble and thus they will have left no further clues. Should the constables return to the meadhall, Shaddar is confident the Hawke can handle them satisfactorily. But the number and power his enemies will soon be bringing up against him makes the meadhall a poor choice for future defense and a definite hindrance to working from the shadows. Yes. It’s time for him and his minions to disappear now that the hive has been thoroughly kicked over.
They crest a small hillock and coming back into view of the flickering lights of Big City interrupts Shaddar’s ruminations. He can see in the moonlight that there are now guards at the gate where nine days ago it was abandoned. Interesting.
Almost as soon as they come into sight of the walls, Shaddar can feel the link to another thrall. Loolipo is nearby! He gives the order to slow their small caravan of three wagons and sends a mental command for her to come to him and report.
It does not take her long to reach him. Shaddar’s curiosity is aroused as he realizes from her thoughts that it was not merely good fortune that she was so near the gate. Loolipo has been waiting for him outside the city walls for four days.
“Oh, master! I’m so glad you have arrived!” she pants, breathing heavily from her run up to the wagon, “Many events have occurred while you have been away!”
Shaddar makes a gesture for her to continue.
“We had to… ah… rearrange things slightly,” Loolipo begins, clearly worried that Shaddar will be upset.
“The only thing that is upsetting me right now is your reluctance to give me a clear and honest report, slave,” Shaddar broadcasts mentally. Loolipo recoils as if she has been physically slapped and begins speaking quickly.
“Yes, master! The day after you left, seven days ago that would be, the meadhall was attacked.”
“By whom?”
“Constable Snook, master.”
This is a surprise. Shaddar had discounted that fellow completely. Apparently he underestimated the man’s ardor and deductive skill.
Shaddar glances over his thrall and doesn’t see any injuries. “So. Did our forces win?” he asks.
“Uh… We escaped?” Loolipo answers, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Some of the hobgoblins didn’t make it. Constable Snook brought over 150 men! Constables, Heroes, and Knights!”
“How did they know, I wonder?” Shaddar asks aloud.
“Well, Snook called out to us before they attacked, to demand our surrender. He said then that he knew we were inside. He said that they were able to heal the constable that you allowed to live on our first day here and he told them what you looked like and what you did. Snook recognized you from the man’s description, so they came in force.”
Shaddar nods. This was always a possibility. No matter. “What were our losses? Who escaped besides yourself?”
“Well, Hawke tried to trick them with some fancy talk, but it didn’t work. What it did give us was a little bit of time. We sent the hobgoblins out to create a diversion and Hawke had an escape tunnel into the sewers in the cellar. He took as many as could run, some of the gold and gems, and we fled. Hawke made sure to take the blind man, Vicacili – I hope that was acceptable?”
“Vicacili is Hawke’s property,” Shaddar says with annoyance at the tangent, “He can do with his property as it pleases him. Never mind that! What transpired next?”
“Well, Cutt threw a fit and ran up to his lab. We thought for sure he’d been caught, but he came down to the cellar with sacks of reagents and a whole load of rubber stoppers that he claimed were irreplaceable. Took forever, he did.”
“That sounds like him.”
“Well, we came to find out, a few minutes later that that wasn’t all he had been up to in that lab of his.”
“What do you mean?” Shaddar asks.
Loolipo gurgles for a moment in what Shaddar recognizes as laughter, then she answers, “He blew it up, master!”
“What?”
“The meadhall! Cutt lit a fuse and blew the place sky-high! He had piles of that gnomish blow-up powder mixed and he set it all off! From what we’ve heard it was full of constables and Heroes when it went up, too. Whole city has been in shock from the bloodbath. Word from the town rumor-mill is that we are all dead, too, of course. That sounded fine to Hawke and to us so we’ve been lying low ever since. Hawke took us to a burned-out housing district and we’ve been staying in there.”
Shaddar is quite pleased by this.
“What an evil, vindictive, little gnome,” he thinks with approval, “and Hawke has lived up to my expectations as well. Superb.”
“Hawke was pretty upset about his place being turned into a crater at first,” Loolipo confesses, “But he seems to have gotten over it. Mostly.”
Shaddar motions towards the city gate. “If the authorities believe we are dead, why are the gates manned?”
The kuo-toa shrugs and bubbles uncertainly. “Don’t know. I hear they are still trying to ‘round up the rest of the gang’, but it makes no sense to me. Lots of big patrols still roaming about. I’ve been waiting outside the walls for you to make sure you didn’t have any trouble finding our new hideout.”
“Ah,” Shaddar thinks, “It is very likely that the authority figures of Big City can’t believe that such a small force of rogues was responsible for such widespread trouble. Either that or they are not as certain that we are all dead as they are telling the populace.”
“That’s not all, master,” Loolipo says nervously with a wet, popping sound.
“Yes?”
“Two days ago there was a horrible roaring that came from the city center and it seemed to go on and on! The sound was very frightening. Very frightening. Hawke said it was one of the Lords of the city – that the Lords of the city were angry. People have been super-jittery ever since then – everyone is afraid. I’ve even seen men in full plate riding around on patrol. This really seemed to bother Hawke when I told him.”
“Knights,” Shaddar thinks, “The direct representatives of the Lords of the City. On patrol? Hmmm…”
“I don’t know how we’re going to get all of this past those two guards,” Loolipo mutters.
Shaddar chuckles. “Watch how simple it will be.” He turns to Kug. “General? I will handle the gate guards. A few minutes after I leave, move towards the gate at a steady pace so I can time my actions.”
“Yes, master,” Kug replies.
Shaddar pulls his black cloak up over his head to mask his face in shadows and walks briskly down towards the gate. It will not do to leave overt clues to his enemies that he has been outside of the city or when he returned, so he doesn’t plan on killing these humans. Not at all.
Judging his pace perfectly, Shaddar leans on his magic staff as if it was a walking stick just as the guards notice him and the oncoming wagons.
“Who goes–“ one of them starts to bellow, but he is cut off by a powerful blast from Shaddar’s mind. Seeing both fellow’s faces go slack and their halberds hit the road, Shaddar hurries forward and moves the two insensible humans to one side.
He plants a mental suggestion into their stunned minds that they grew weary and fell asleep on duty and then hops back into the wagon as the entire convoy rumbles uncontested into Big City.
Chapter 1 < Chapter 46 Chapter 48 >
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