his hand, indicating that this character was of no great importance. "A minor street thug," he explained.
"And he traveled with Wulfgar?"
"They were known associates, yes, and convicted together of the attempt upon Deudermont's life, along with a pair of pirates whose lives were not spared that day."
Callanan's wicked grin at Bardoun's remark was not lost on Drizzt, yet another confirmation to the dark elf of the barbarism that was Luskan's Prisoner's Carnival.
Drizzt and Catti-brie looked to each other again.
"Where can we find Morik?" the woman asked, her tone determined and offering no debate.
"In the gutter," Callanan answered. "Or the sewer, perhaps."
"You may try Half-Moon Street," Magistrate Bardoun added. "He has been known to frequent that area, particularly a tavern known as the Cutlass."
The name had a ring of familiarity to Drizzt, and he nodded as he remembered the place. He hadn't been there during his days with Deudermont, but well before that, he and Wulfgar had come through Luskan on their way to reclaim Mithral Hall. Together, they had gone into the Cutlass, where Wulfgar had started quite a brawl.
"That is where your friend Wulfgar made quite a reputation, as well," said Callanan.
Drizzt nodded, as did Catti-brie. "My thanks to you for the information," he said. "We will find our friend, I am sure." He bowed and started away, but stopped at the door as Bardoun called after him.
"If you do find Wulfgar, and in Luskan, do well by him and take him far, far away," the magistrate said. "Far away from here, and, for his own sake, far away from the rat, Morik the Rogue."
Drizzt turned and nodded, then left the room. He and Catti-brie went and got their own lodgings at a fine inn along one of the better avenues of Luskan, and spent the day walking about the city, reminiscing about old times and their previous journey through the city. The weather was fine for the season, with bright sun splashing about the leaves, beginning their autumnal color turn, and the city certainly had many places of great beauty. Together, then, walking and enjoying the sights and the weather, Drizzt and Catti-brie took no note of the gawks and the gasps, even the sight of several children running full speed away from the dark elf.
Drizzt couldn't be bothered by such things. Not with Catti-brie at his side.
The couple waited patiently for the fall of night, when they knew they had a better chance of finding someone like Morik the Rogue, and, it seemed, of finding someone like Wulfgar.
The Cutlass was not busy when the pair entered, soon after dusk, though it seemed to Drizzt as if a hundred sets of eyes had suddenly focused upon him, most notably, a glance both horrified and threatening from a skinny man seated at the bar, directly opposite the barkeep, whose rag stopped its movement completely as he, too, focused on the unexpected newcomer. When he had come into this place those years ago, Drizzt had remained off to the side, buried in the clamor and tumult of the busy, ill-lit tavern, his hood up and his head low.
Drizzt nodded to the barkeep and approached him directly. The skinny man gave a yelp and fell away, scrambling to the far end of the room.
"Greetings, good sir," Drizzt said to the barkeep. "I come here with no ill intentions, I assure you, despite the panic of your patron."
"Just Josi Puddles," the barkeep replied, though he, too, was obviously a bit shaken at the appearance of a dark elf in his establishment. "Don't pay him any attention." The man extended his hand, then retracted it quickly and wiped it on his apron before offering it again. "Arumn Gardpeck at your service."
"Drizzt Do'Urden," the drow replied, taking the hand in his own surprisingly strong grasp. "And my friend is Catti-brie."
Arumn looked at the pair curiously, his expression softening as if he came to truly recognize them.
"We seek someone," Drizzt started.
"Wulfgar," Arumn said with confidence, and he grinned at the wide-eyed expressions his response brought to the drow and the woman. "Aye, he told me of you. Both of you."
"Is he here?" Catti-brie asked.
"Been gone for a long time," the skinny man, Josi, said, daring to come forward. "Come back only once, to get Delly."
"Delly?"
"She worked here," Arumn explained. "Was always sweet on Wulfgar. He came back for her, and the three of them left Luskan - for Waterdeep, I'm guessing."
"Three?" Drizzt asked, thinking the third to be Morik.