The wandering poet complained, but still helped erase the traces. They restored the scene until it looked as though nothing had happened, put the door back in place, and left the butcher's home.
Much the same thing happened at the other two Subspace Passages. One had no one living nearby, so nothing came of it.
The situation at the City Lord's Mansion was more complicated, with more people present. The leaking Fel Energy nearly caused a massacre, but Night Hawk stopped it before it began.
Late that night, the Night Hawk leaders returned to the woods one after another and exchanged reports.
"We found the Mousehole. It matches the intelligence: three branches. One leads to a small grove. One leads to the Spider Cave, but the Dark Elves inside have already left. The last is a rat tunnel. The Ratfolk are still digging and haven't been discovered."
The Night Hawk who had gone to Meteorite Town said, "The town is clean. You can't find so much as a rat. The town chief, his family, and the servants know nothing. The locations of the three Subspace Passages match the intelligence."
Both teams' reports were as expected. The Ratfolk weren't stupid enough to sit beside the Subspace Passages and watch them.
After hearing them out, the man said, "Proceed in your assigned groups. Team one, infiltrate the Mousehole and bury Elemental Runes at every fork. Team two, place Subspace Bombs at the three Subspace Passages."
The two teams set out. The man stood at the edge of the woods, gazing toward Meteorite Town in the night.
He looked idle, but he was the anchor of the entire operation.
As long as he was there, even if a Ratfolk army suddenly poured out of a Subspace Passage, it would not stop them from