"According to the information obtained from the Hand of Light, there were two city lords who opposed the founding of the country four months ago, and they were the lords of Aylward and Cuerva." Hill asked ponderingly, "Qin Lun, you Who do you think the Zhentarim will be targeting?"
Although the Zhentarim Society already has a way to infiltrate the Supreme Palace during the celebration, there may not be too many people who can infiltrate it. Apart from Angelo's pretender, there are at most a few peripheral waiters who cannot approach the core area of the banquet. Collision.
In this way, they may not be able to assassinate the lords of Aylward and Cuerva at the same time, but only choose one of them.
Aylward is a large city located in the southern part of the Eternal Wastes, very close to the High Forest. The race in the city is composed of humans, elves, half-elves, and halflings, and is surrounded by tall walls for protection.
The city is mainly engaged in commercial activities, and it became an ally with Silvermoon City during the war between the goblin tribes in the Eternal Waste. It's just that the city's governing body is the council of six elders, and the lord is held by the six elders in turn, and there is a serious power struggle inside.
In fact, these six elders basically support Aylward to join the future Silvermoon Federation, but under the struggle with each other, there will always be a few elders who have to choose to become the opposition in order to contend with political opponents, and now serve as the lord's council The elders are like that.
It is the general trend for Aylward to join the Silvermoon Federation, because the city has been surrounded by enemies since its establishment, and the surrounding environment is very harsh.
Its geographical location is in the plains, the roads extend in all directions, and the business activities are prosperous. Whether it is the goblins of the eternal wilderness or the giants of the wilderness, they are all eyeing them, coveting the richness of this city.
In addition, the Tulang tree people in the highest forest in the south of the city are still gradually pushing the border of the forest to the north, and Aylward is a stumbling block in front of them. The reason given by the trees was to drive the remnants of Hellgate Castle to the east, but in this way, conflicts would inevitably arise between the two sides.
On the one hand, the Tulangshu people hate city residents entering the High Forest with axes. On the other hand, the daily life of the citizens is also affected by the shadow of the forest, and the sunshine time in the southern urban area is very short.
As for Querva in this incident, the situation with Aylward is somewhat different. It's not a big city like Aylward, just a small woodland town.
Quelva is a minor ally of the Silvermoon Alliance, and its inhabitants consist of humans and half-elves. The city lives off brewing and logging, and people in the Silvermoon League used to joke that Cuelva had to stay in the League because it had the best woodland inn, the Snake Tavern!
"I think if there is a choice, the main target of the Zhentarim will be Aylward. After all, this city has a larger population and stronger strength, which can have a greater impact on the Silver Moon Alliance."
Qin Lun said without hesitation, "What's more, the elders' council model is too inefficient in administration. If the assassination of the lord occurs, it will probably be chaotic for a while, and the Zhentarim will delay the establishment of the Silver Moon Alliance. As for Quill Wa, the influence is much smaller. Although it can also play the role of shaking the tiger from the mountains, it should only be the second goal."
"Anyway, now that we have insight into the conspiracy, it will be very difficult for the Zhentarim's plan to succeed." Hill said with a smile, "What are we going to do with Angelo's body?"
"You don't need to test me, am I such an emotional person? In order not to startle the snake, my old friend may have to stay here for a while." Qin Lun gave the old god stick an angry look, and said in a deep voice.
"With the tight arrangement of the Zantarim Society this time, it's hard to imagine that they would leave such a big hole. Although they don't know why they left in a hurry and didn't even dispose of the corpse. But I believe that once the disposal is over They may turn around the matter at hand, after all, in their view, this stronghold has not been exposed yet."
"Hehe, it's best for you to think so! We are very lucky, but we may need the cooperation of the other party if we want to complete this task perfectly." Hill nodded with a smile, "A lineup with more than two legendary powerhouses can't be done by us alone. We can’t fight against it, and if we kill Zhentarim’s plan halfway, we won’t get too much world exploration.”
A smile appeared on the faces of Hill and Qin Lun, "Legendary strong man, what a beautiful word!"
Zhentarim will participate in the assassination plan this time, at least all of them are high-level or above. If they destroy the Zhentarim's plan in the middle, they will no longer carry out assassinations, and can only complete the task with a minimum degree of completion. However, if one of the high-level assassins of the Zhentarim Society, or even the legendary powerhouse, is left behind, then the final benefits of the mission will be maximized.
In this way, they need a group of helpers to block the legendary powerhouses of the Zhentarim so that they can be defeated one by one, and the lords and guards at the Silver Moon Festival are naturally the best cannon fodder.
As for whether the Silver Moon Alliance will cause heavy losses because of this, this is beyond the consideration of the apostles. All they had to do was to reveal the Zhentarim assassins at the last minute and destroy the actual effect of the plot to complete the mission.
"Sorry, old friend, I have to keep you waiting here for a few more days!" Qin Lun put away the flesh and blood puppet, put the tattered clothes back to their original positions, took a last look at Angelo's body, sighed, and turned around go outside.
"Sure enough, there are still subtle changes, isn't it just because of Elistine's relationship?"
What Qin Lun didn't see was Hill behind him, watching his back and frowning slightly. The shepherd's hidden temptation before was not that simple. In this world, he and Rand both sensitively noticed that Qin Lun was slightly different from before.
After the two came out of the cellar, they didn't tell Elisten and Idriya about Angelo's affairs, but simply said a few perfunctory words, dealt with the traces they left in the farmhouse, and the group of people entered again. Deep night.
…
After Qin Lun and the others left, around dawn, in the wilderness far from the farmhouse, several figures appeared faintly in the early morning mist.
There were almost ten of them, and the leading ones were covered with black veils, and they moved silently. At first glance, they could be seen as shadow people who had been walking in the dark world for many years.
These people did not talk or laugh among themselves, and their movements were concise and quick, and they disappeared into the farm house in a moment.
"Hey, no, I smell a strange smell." A certain black figure who walked into the cellar suddenly shouted in surprise.
"Could it be something like a mouse?" A companion beside him asked in surprise.
"Impossible. We didn't have much time to leave. The smell of blood was much stronger then than now. The secret door of the cellar was opened for at least a quarter of an hour before the smell dissipated so quickly." He yelled sharply, "Call Mosmir down, and use backtracking magic to check what happened here?"
"Boss, it can only last for so long." A thin black figure said wearily, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
In front of him was a blurry image exuding a magical halo, which was flickering unsteadily at this moment, and finally turned into bits of light and dissipated in the air.
However, this was enough. The dozen or so black figures surrounding the mirror had already seen clearly what happened several hours ago. Although the backtracking magic is extremely vague, and the appearance and appearance of the characters who broke into the cellar cannot be recognized at all, but at least it proves that this secret stronghold has been exposed.
"Damn it, I just left for a short while, those greedy gnolls really deserve to die..." A tall figure in the shadow slammed a fist on the wall of the cellar, shaking the entire cellar, while the other black Shadow fell into a terrible silence.
"We have been preparing for so long, are we going to give up at the last moment?" After a long while, a black figure hoarsely said, extremely unwilling.
"No, we can't give up. Silver Moon has put so much pressure on the organization during the alliance stage, and they must never be allowed to establish a unified federal state." The leader of the shadows said firmly.
"Don't forget the expectations of the leaders of the 'Inner Ring' for this mission, as well as the huge amount of resources invested by the organization. If we don't even try and just go back, then the consequences can be imagined..."
"But... leader, if the plan has been exposed, we can't do anything with the enchantment of the Supreme Palace. The chance of success in assassinating the lord of the Silver Moon Council head-on will not be higher than 10%." The black shadows said with some hesitation.
"Your Excellency Milot, please don't worry too much! According to the information you provided, the target of the 'Crow' disguise has a special identity. Although the status is very high, there are very few people in Silvermoon City who know him, and the intruder may not be His identity could be found in just a few days."
The person who spoke was one of the few young people in the shadows who did not cover their faces. This young man had slender eyebrows and phoenix eyes. Although his face was handsome, there was always a gloomy look on his face.
At this time, he smiled and pointed to the corpse to remind everyone, "Besides, judging from the blurred images of the intruders just now, they don't seem to be fully armed silver guards, maybe they are just some adventurers passing by the farm. They don't necessarily think When it comes to us, we may even regard the situation here as the work of jackals."
"Weiss is right. Our plan hasn't been fully exposed yet, so maybe we can take a gamble." The leader of the black shadow lifted his spirits, and looked at the young man with more gentle eyes. It was obvious that he admired this young man very much. A junior who joined the Zhentarim just a few months ago.
"Gambling? No, Your Excellency Milot, I never gamble, and I don't like this kind of game that relies on small chances to win." The young man named Weiss bowed, but with a hint of pride in his expression, "I just I don't think the plan is on the verge of failure, but I wouldn't bet that the plan hasn't been exposed at all."
"Oh? Weiss, what do you think..." the leader frowned slightly and asked cautiously.
"Since there is a flaw, let's add another backup plan!" Weiss smiled slightly and gradually lowered his voice.
After a long while, the shadows in the cellar finally dispersed and moved again, cleaned up all the blood and corpses in the cellar, and quickly left the farm, disappearing into the dawn light. Now that everything is ready, they don't need to stay in this potentially exposed stronghold anymore.