The lazy head warden suddenly became active. He brought the group to a heavy stone door at the side. In front of the door there were thick metal bars serving as a physical barrier as well as a white light serving as magical barrier. Getting through the door without the right methods? Extremely difficult.
Gesturing the party to stand some distance away the head warden whispered a code and the barrier disappeared. Next, he retrieved a key, turned it within the lock, and the metal bars were retracted into the ground.
"You can come now."
Amidst a loud grinding noise, the head warden pushed open the door. A mouldy smell immediately wafted out. All the guards kept their distance, even joking quietly:
"Sometimes I wonder whether the heavy fortifications are supposed to lock away criminals or the smell."
"Shhh! Don't let the head warden hear you or you will be on cleaning duty."
Luckily, Head Warden Lirro didn't care about the guards right now. He waved at the players and stepped into the staircase. Liam and his friends quickly followed, holding their hands in front of their noses. Along the walls orange crystal offered some light, creating a dim atmosphere.
"Let me out! I'm innocent!"
"I will never tell you anything!"
"Haha, order faction dogs, do you think this dungeon can hold me?!"
Cries echoed from the walls. Some were mad, some despairing. Some obviously came from demons of the chaos faction. Just from this one could tell that the people imprisoned down here were of a different calibre than the petty thieves upstairs.
It didn't take long for the group to reach the bottom of the stairs. They were immediately welcomed by the stern gazes of a bunch of guards standing straight, looking quite a bit more disciplined than those upstairs.
Lirro didn't want the players to look around too much. He led them down the corridor and took a turn to the right. They entered a long hallway with nothing but heavy wooden doors, each only with a small hole to observe the cells behind them. Screams and banging noises could be heard.
Lirro hastily walked past, stopping in front of cell number fourteen. With a few quick moves the door was unlocked, swinging open, revealing the simple cell behind. The friends peeked inside and saw a black-robed, thin figure sitting on a stone bed, their brown beard and hair growing wildly. Around their ankles were metallic shackles glowing with bluish runes, able to interrupt the casting of magic.
"This is the man you wanted to see, Autumn. Although he is under control, it is still better not to enter the cell. Everyone imprisoned down here is dangerous."
As the friends nodded, they saw Autumn suddenly perking up upon the mentioning of his name. He raised his head and stared at them with his bloodshot eyes. Everyone instantly became tense. But Autumn reacted differently than what everyone expected as he suddenly yelled in his hoarse voice:
"Are you here? Finally! Finally! Hahaha! Please, I tell you everything I know. Just let me out of here! How long has it been? Half a year? One year? I almost thought everyone forgot about me! Please, ask me anything! I, Autumn, don't deserve to rot in a cell!"
Everyone was taken aback as Autumn spoke with tears in his eyes. The friends glanced at Lirro, who explained meekly:
"We were too busy to interrogate him at first. And then… well, we kinda forgot."
A mix of laughter and tears could be heard from Autumn, almost unable to believe his ears. Silver Blade had a sympathetic expression as she stepped forth and spoke in a soothing voice:
"Don't worry. Calm down. We are here to interrogate you, ok? Just tell us everything you know about your teacher's plan this time."
"Yes. Haha! Teacher? Does someone like him even deserve to be called teacher? Oh, I was so blind. But now I see clearly. Cantar Jourtale, what a vile person! Oh, how happy I was when he called me his favourite student! But he knew exactly what he was doing. How to manipulate me. I have done many stupid things for him. But in the end, I was simply discarded. Dumped into a cold jail cell, left to rot."
Autumn's emotions were chaotic. It took a few seconds until he managed to reign them in.
"You want me to talk about Cantar's plan? Haha, how would I know? I am so stupid. I did his bidding without questioning. There is only one thing I can tell you. One time I was stuck in my study of magic. Thus, I visited Cantar's manor late at night. To my surprise just as I arrived a black carriage left the manor.
Cantar has a unique spell to mark and track objects. I often had to use it when I did those shady dealings for him. But that night, said carriage was also marked this way. Yet I am sure this carriage didn't belong to him. I suspect it belongs to one of Cantar's partners."
"Great! Can you track that carriage?"
"No… a special key is needed. And Cantar always made sure to retrieve it once I was done with a job."
"So we still need to find Cantar. Do you have any idea where he could be?", asked Silver Blade with a frown.
"I do have a guess! Cantar had many connections to important personages of the order faction, as well as other influential figures outside the kingdom. However, the only one whom I could imagine that would dare to shelter him at the moment would be Lady Essenour."
"Who is this? Never heard of her."
"Lady Essenour is the widow of Marquis Essenour, part of the nobility of the Dutchy of Galebend, which borders the Southern Light Kingdom to the west."
Silver Blade nodded lightly as a map of Crunaboul unfurled in her head. Only Balm and Radiant Shield remained clueless. They didn't have much knowledge about locations they hadn't been to before.
"I guess we have a clue now. Let's look for this Lady Essenour."
"Mhm. Should we ask anything else?"
The friends pondered for a moment. They asked a few more questions but didn't receive any new information. Finally, they decided that they were done with the interrogation.
"Got what you needed? Alright, I'll lead you out.", spoke Lirro tiredly. Even when others were doing the interrogation he felt it was quite stressful. After all, he had to stare menacingly at the prisoner the whole time. If they escaped it would be his responsibility. Thus, he was glad that the adventurers were finally done.
With a bang the door was closed again.
"What?! Hey! Hey!!! Don't leave me here! Warden!!"
Immediately frantic cries could be heard from inside. The friends felt chills run down their spines. Balm glanced at the head warden and couldn't help but ask:
"Don't you want to let him out? He answered our questions."
"So what? Is it that easy? Didn't you hear him admit to his crimes? He personally said how he was part of Cantar Jourtale's shady dealings. Although he did it on someone else's biddings this can't absolve him of his crimes. No, this man will remain in his cell until a judge decides otherwise!"
Balm thought about it for a moment before nodding. What the head warden said actually made a lot of sense. Thus, she and her friends didn't continue with the topic. They followed the head warden and soon left the dungeons.
Their quest updated, instructing them to report to Therim. A short conversation followed. The powerful mage stated that it would look bad if he as a guardian intervened in another nation's matters without solid evidence. It could be seen as an abuse of power. Thus, he asked the friends to investigate further. Find Cantar and if necessary inform Therim afterwards.
With a new quest in tow the group quickly left the tower and headed for the teleporter. The capital cities of most nations were among the locations one could teleport to even without visiting before. However, to everyone's surprise the City of a Thousand Gales didn't appear on the list. Even Liam felt it was unexpected.
Without a teleporter the friends could only travel by themselves. They left Brobrity and mounted their flying mounts. Making use of [Dive] they rushed, full speed towards the west. Forests, cities, and villages were left behind. The Southern Light Kingdom occupied a large territory. But flying mounts were made to traverse even the deepest regions of Crunaboul. Their speed was unmatched. It only took about twenty minutes, and the group approached the kingdom's western border.
Suddenly a drizzle set in. The flying mounts protected their riders with an invisible shield, but the friends were startled, nonetheless. It was quite rare for the weather to change in the game. Even deep in the Eastern Mountains the radiant sun shone brightly. At most there would be a few scattered snowflakes. However, as the friends came closer to the Dutchy of Galebend they were welcomed by dark clouds and pouring rain.
An uncomfortable feeling engulfed everyone as they reached the capital city which appeared quietly beneath the incessant rain.