The hotel where Qin Lun and others stayed in Silvermoon City was the famous "Golden Oak".
Golden Oak is located on the north bank of the Raven River, in the middle of an alley called Dancing Mask. There are comfortable guest rooms decorated as country houses, vanilla fern bonsai placed on the window sills, hard wood and clear-grained oak furniture are elegant and beautiful, and tables, chairs and benches painted with a layer of resin feel very good to the touch.
The windows of all the rooms in the hotel face the central courtyard, where there is a towering ancient oak tree, the huge tree canopy covers the entire courtyard in the shade, bright lanterns are hung on every branch in the sky, exactly corresponding to the On the tea table under the lamp, drinking a cup of morning tea or evening wine here has become an intoxicating enjoyment.
Because of Sienlia, the Goddess of Sprout, this place is beloved by druids, rangers, elves, and those who don't like to be disturbed or prefer peace and quiet. Although the price of drinking tea in the courtyard is relatively expensive, but because you can get the best service, there are still an endless stream of customers every day.
The environment of "Golden Oak" makes travelers feel as if they are sleeping in a safe and comfortable corner of the forest, and they have also prepared some reception rooms to receive guests who rent rooms upstairs. In addition, there is a good leisure bar on the basement floor of the hotel for travelers who want to chat.
However, Qin Lun and others chose to stay in this hotel, not because of its reputation, nor because they came here to enjoy a quiet life, but because they had other purposes.
Even in Silvermoon City, few people know that the golden oak tree is actually a secret stronghold of a guild organization. This organization is called "Hand of Light", and the name is very bright and upright, but it is actually a thieves' guild.
Unlike thieves organizations such as the Shadow Council and the Night Guild, the thieves of the Hand of Light seem to be quite different.
Most thieves organizations like the Shadow Order have a chaotic neutral or chaotic evil alignment. In addition to stealing, reconnaissance, intelligence and other work, they sometimes accept assassination hires, but the thieves camp of the Hand of Light is a rare chaotic kindness.
The profession of thief is not a disciplined profession, so there is no doubt that it is in the chaotic camp, but why is it chaotic good
Because the thieves of the Hand of Light do not accept any form of assassination work, although they also steal, but their targets are nobles and wealthy businessmen, they never attack the poor and poor, and sometimes even help beggars and vagabonds in the city.
Even if the thief misses and cannot escape, the thieves of the Hand of Light will not hurt anyone, and will only raise their hands in surrender. For this reason, they mostly just get fined by the authorities.
If any city government really insists on making things difficult for them, the arrested thieves will disappear from the cell without a trace on a certain night. Those skilled thieves in the trade union regard this kind of work of rescuing their companions as the most interesting. one of the challenges.
There is a saying inside the hand of light: "Standing in the dark, doing light things, our hands are the hands of light, and we just take the sheep by hand to transfer the gold coins in the pockets of vampires to where they should be. "
Look, what an ideal slogan!
The most glorious thing for the thieves of the Hand of Light is to become a legendary righteous thief who robs the rich and helps the poor in the city, and is passed on by word of mouth.
Since the theft of these thieves does not bring them income, what does the Hand of Light depend on for a living? This is another important job of theirs - selling information!
The Zhentarim Society is known as the Dark Intelligence Network. Although the strength of the Light Hands is not at the same level as the Zhentarim Society, they still call themselves the Light Intelligence Network. They are not afraid of being hostile by the Zhentarim Society. It can be said that they are very courageous soul.
Of course, unlike the Zhentarim, who can buy information as long as they pay for it, the Hand of Light is more strict about who they sell information to. They don't want the information that guild members have worked so hard to obtain to be used in evil ways.
Because of this, they lost a lot of financial resources. This is also the main reason why the Hand of Light has always been developing slowly and can only be limited to certain large cities, but cannot establish a stronghold in the whole of Faerun.
Also because of having so many enemies, the Hand of Light is somewhat similar to the Harper Alliance. They act very secretly, and it is difficult for people who don't know them to find the information base of the Hand of Light.
The reason why Qin Lun and others knew about this strange and unusual Thieves Guild was because of Lago's relationship. In the Land of the Dead, Qin Lun saved Lago once. Although the blood-piercing trio parted ways with Qin Lun and the others after leaving the troll's claws, Lago always felt that he owed Qin Lun a favor.
Therefore, the thieves handed over the token of the Hand of Light to Qin Lun so that they could get some help in Silvermoon City. The token owned by Lago used to belong to a member of the Hand of Light, and Lago helped him, so the thief gave the token to Lago.
The token is engraved with the contact addresses of some big cities, so that the person who owns it can get paid help from the Hand of Light.
Although Qin Lun and the others had the information source of the Harper Alliance at this time, with the character of the three of Qin Lun, they would not put all their eggs in one basket.
The Harper Alliance and Qin Lun have the same position in this incident, but this organization has very clear political goals and attempts. No matter from any point of view, it is obviously not a good choice to pin your hopes on them.
The business hours of the Hand of Light were late at night, and because there was only one token, Hill and Rand went out together. At this time, there is still about a week before the celebration in Silvermoon City. If the Zhentarim Society really has any conspiracy plans, I'm afraid they have already started to act.
Hill and Rand should take advantage of this opportunity to memorize the road network of Silvermoon City so that they can do things later.
As the last ray of sunlight hit the floor line, Qin Lun straightened his collar, quietly left his room, and came to the underground bar of the hotel.
"Give me a glass of ale." Qin Lun walked around the crowd and pushed a silver coin to the bartender who was cleaning the glass at the bar.
The silver coin Qin Lun gave was somewhat unique. On the front was a shining fist, and on the back were two crossed daggers.
"Okay, please wait a moment!" The middle-aged bartender glanced at Qin Lun and held down the silver coin calmly. When he raised his hand again, the silver coin had disappeared from the bar.
The bartender poured Qin Lun a glass of ale, then called a bartender, pointed at the bar, and walked towards the back door of the bar, as if wanting to take a rest.
Pushing open the back door of the bar, the bartender gave Qin Lun a vague wink, motioning him to follow. Qin Lun smiled slightly, raised his head and drank the beer, and followed the bartender out the door.
The back door of the bar leads to a wine cellar filled with oak barrels and rows of wooden wine racks. The bartender went around to a dark place in the wine cellar, reached out and pushed open a secret door.
"How is An Ke? Is he still at Baldur's Gate?" After Qin Lun entered, the middle-aged bartender asked him softly.
The Anke the bartender was talking about was obviously the member of the Hand of Light who gave Largo the token. Qin Lun's eyes flashed, he shrugged his shoulders, and didn't answer. He didn't know what happened to An Ke, and it was better not to express it than to arouse suspicion.
Seeing Qin Lun's appearance, the bartender just sighed, and stopped asking about the thief, and returned the silver coin to Qin Lun.
"What news do you want to know?"
"I would like to know if there is any unusual news about the grand ceremony to be held in the Supreme Palace a week later." Qin Lun asked thoughtfully.
"News from the Silver Moon Festival?" The bartender's eyes sharpened, and he looked at Qin Lun warily, "Why do you ask this?"
If it were another intelligence dealer, Qin Lun would never answer the other party's questions. But after learning about the situation of the Hand of Light organization, he knew that he had to answer this question, otherwise, the bartender would not tell him anything.
Thinking of this, Qin Lun said bluntly: "I got a piece of information from the Harper Alliance. The Zhentarim will want to destroy this Silver Moon Festival. The lords of the Silver Moon Council may be in danger..."
"Zhentarim Club?" The bartender's pupils shrank, and he leaned on his chin and fell into deep thought.
Qin Lun was not in a hurry, and silently waited for the other party to digest the news, and the dark room was suddenly silent.
After a while, the bartender finally said, "If your information is accurate, then we are ashamed, because the Hand of Light has not noticed any abnormalities in the city during this period of time."
Hearing what the bartender said, Qin Lun frowned tightly. Whether it is the Harper Alliance or the Zhentarim, they are obviously much stronger than the Hand of Light, but Silvermoon City is the home of the Hand of Light, and they are local snakes. If those two organizations were to carry out operations here, it would be impossible for the Hand of Light not to notice any abnormalities.
The thieves themselves belonged to one of the three religions, their tentacles spread all over the corners of the city, even if an outsider with an unfamiliar face entered their territory, it would arouse the vigilance of the Hand of Light. But now the bartender actually said that the Hand of Light didn't notice any abnormality, which is obviously a bit inconceivable.
"If you didn't hide anything, it means there are only two possibilities!" Qin Lun said with a gloomy face, staring at the bartender.
The bartender looked at Qin Lun's cold eyes, and his face turned livid, "I understand the two possibilities. If we are not lying, then either the Zhentarim Society has given up their plan to destroy the celebration. Or they have already given up It’s all set up, and now we’re just waiting for the start of the Silver Moon Festival!”
"Perhaps there was an abnormal situation in Silvermoon City earlier, but nothing happened in the end, and you ignored it." Qin Lun's mind was spinning rapidly, and he said in a deep voice, "Let me think about it, a month and a half Until two months ago, did anything unusual happen in Silvermoon City during this period?"
The time Zhentalin would spend looking for dead souls in the Land of the Dead happened to be when Elistin and the others were taken away by the trolls, almost a month and a half ago. And the time when the Zhentalin will look for the dead soul flower should be when they plan their conspiracy, that is, between one and a half months to two months.