Proudfoot reached through the bars, desperately patting her shoulder, helpless as to what to do.  "I'm sorry, Cersei, I don't know.  I just don't know."<br/><br/>*****<br/><br/>The next morning, Cersei had a surprise visitor: Guildmaster Orino himself.  The old man looked harried and tired, but he wasn't entirely callous.  "Carnivale, there's a recent development.  Your case has a lot of baggage attached to it: there's more than just Fallmorik's vengeance, there's a whole paranoia about the Guild as a whole and fear of magic involved, and it's blown way out of proportion.  It's not fair to you, but a lot of things that happen to us aren't particularly fair."  He sighed.  "Your work with the Council is a mitigating factor, and in fact, that's what I've come down here to discuss."<br/><br/>"The Guild and the Council have decided that now is an appropriate time to try and locate Arran Shieldbiter.  I'm sure you recall the incident in the mines recently with Wurra Stonesmasher.  We have recently developed a way to track a person through sympathetic magics, in a very general way, and as we have Shieldbiter's old amulet, we tried using it."<br/><br/>"It gave us a reading."<br/><br/>"Given the trouble Stonesmasher gave us, and the fact that Shieldbiter's amulet turned up actually IN Tarak, the Council considers him a threat, and wants that threat eliminated.  You've had experience dealing with the abomination that Stonesmasher became, and I'm told you're one of the finest wilderness survivalists in the city.  There are a few scouts and guides that compare, but none currently in town that we trust, and absolutely none with magical skills."<br/><br/>"We need you, Carnivale.  We need you to pick a team of your friends, those who can keep secrets and those who can perform a stealthy mission.  We need you to find Arran Shieldbiter and make sure he can't bother Tarak any longer.  And if you succeed, I will personally mitigate the consequences you will have to endure for your rash moment of temper."<br/><br/>The highest-ranking, most powerful Guild wizard in Tarak looked Cersei in the eye and asked "Will you help us?"