A brief respite in the city was the prefect time for Raelen to purchase a new sword.  Having saved his funds for over a year, he spent nearly all of it on a blade called the Frost Tongue, having had enough of that “chaositech crap” that he had been using.  

Carric then persuaded the party that a follow-up to the prison was due; finding Fennic was his highest priority and the mysterious cell with vanishing prisoners awaited.  Renting a skiff, you rowed around to the secret prison entrance.  You killed some bugbear guards before the recently-installed bugbear chief recognized you from your previous visit, and he allowed you in to save further slaughter of his clan.

You arrived early enough that the holding cell was empty.  You waited nearby until two prisoners were brought to the cell and left within.  When the guards left, you entered the cell and took up watch alongside the still-bound prisoners.  Near mid-day an earth elemental rose up through the dirt floor, and scanned the room, somewhat confused.  The party hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, but then decided to attack.  Although you had hoped to render it unconscious, you realized that as an arcane construct that wasn’t possible, and so destroyed it.

The elemental left no tunnel to follow.  Raelen reached into his pack and pulled out a conjure minor elemental scroll you had long-ago gained as treasure.  Conjuring a small earth elemental of your own, you asked it to retrace the steps of the greater one.  There was no firm trail for it to follow, but it explored for a while and then returned, telling you the greater elemental had most likely travelled north a quarter-mile or so, under the Guildsman’s District.

With nothing further to follow-up on at the cell, you decided to see the warden.  An attempt to sneak in disguised as guards failed, and you were recognized.  A brief battle began and as you fought your way past the guards towards Warden Rom’s office, the warden himself intervened and stopped the fight.  He recognized you from your prior visit and began to parlay; he clearly would give up what he knew for a price (this man has obviously been bought many times).   More guards arrived on the periphery, including a hill giant, as the negotiations became tense.  Eventually, a deal was struck: for several hundred gold, you learned that a gnome with “unkempt white hair” visited the prison months ago to work out the prisoners-for-gold trade.  The gnome clearly had magical ability, and wanted prisoners who were not likely to be missed - those with no family or ties to the city.  The warden did not know (and didn’t seem to care) where they were taken.   You honored your part of the deal by leaving, and freed the two men from the cell on your way out.

Back in the city you decided to visit Captain Wibert to follow-up on the grave robbing in the Necropolis.  He showed you the bodies of six Balacazar thugs which had been killed by the Killravens in an audacious raid on a gambling hall.  They had clearly been killed by Dragon Pistol shots, though Captain Wibert did not know that.

As the sun set you made your way to the Necropolis to begin your stakeout.  The night began, and undead shambled in the distance around you, but nothing else.  Midnight passed, and then finally near dawn you saw three younger hoodlums approach.  All wore the rings of the Pale Dogs, the disorganized gang of the Warrens.  On being discovered, they immediately tried to flee.  One was killed in your ambush, but you captured the other two and interrogated them.  

They told you that the heads (and only heads) are collected and dropped in an abandoned well in Warrens, and that this whole arrangement had been set up by a “gnome with crazy white hair”.  For the second time in a day you had run into the bizarre plans of this unknown gnome.  You took from them the Flattened Stone that they used to locate the bodies.  Although six bodies were being buried, they intended to get only three heads, as evidenced by the trio of glowing dots on the stone.  You escorted the two survivors back to the Warrens, found the well they used as a drop point, and confiscated a small brass coffer that their payment magically appeared in when the job was done.

With the dawn, you returned to the Rosegate House in Oldtown.  Your plan was to rest for a few days and then return to the well in the Warrens to see if you could discover anything further.  Meanwhile, on a trip to your old home to retrieve any messages left for you, you found a note from Calliope Irongull, who again wishes to employ you to run another “errand” for her . . .