The man blinks again and shakes his head. "Jus' since las' night."
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"A'ight, A'ight." says the drunk, "Jus' don' cut me!"
Kelne finds the apartment mostly intact. Anything of value appears to have been taken, but the place is not ransacked. There is no blood, or any other indication of a struggle.
The man stirs and opens his eyes. When he sees Amunyet with her scimitar drawn, he sits up and scoots back. "No!" he says, fear in his eyes.
Larur's apartment looks fairly undisturbed. Some valuables may have been taken, but it is not ransacked. Sure enough there is a filthy man (not Larur) snoring loudly in Larur's bed, empty wine bottles strewn around him.
As eager as ever, Zindit agrees. "Yes, yes ma-am." She opens the door and sneaks in. Soon she comes back out again. "There is a man in there sleeping. I think he is drunk."
After leaving Smeed and his pet, you arrive at Larur's house and find the door is closed but not locked.
"Ya, Ya. And tell Saul he can keep the money. I don't want no more trouble."
The baboon comes back to consciousness meaner than ever. Fortunately it is restrained by the collar and chain and can only slaver and snarl at you.
Zindit doesn't see anything out of the ordinary on her tour of the building. Smeed sighs. "Gah, how man times I havta say it? I don't know nothin'. But I'll tell ya what. If you let me go and leave, Saul can keep the 2 bills he owes me."
"I don't know nothin' more." Smeed insists. "Why don't you ask Saul?"
"Lotsa people has reason to kill me. Saul too, from what I hear." Smeed looks defiantly at Kelne. "Now I already told ya, I don't know nothin' about what happened to Larur." He glances at the cloak. "Anyone coulda left that out there." "Now either kill me, or get the hell outta here."
"So whaddya want with me? Like I said, I aint seen Larur."
"Smeed calms down a bit. "Saul sent you to kill me? Why is easy, he thinks he won't have to pay. But it won't do no good. It's not me he owes."
Smeed begins to wake up. When he sees the scimitar at his throat he doesn't move, but unleashes a burst of profanity then says "What do you want with me?"
In the first room there is a chain attached to the wall with a collar at the other end, presumably for restraining the baboon.
The room appears to be a reception room where Smeed conducts his business. There is a desk and a few chairs, but not much of interest and nothing of value.
Zindit doesn't hear anything that sounds like anyone coming. The baboon has stopped bleeding but is still unconscious.
Zavos finishes his song, and just as Smeed is raising his scimtar to slash at Kelne again, his eyes close and he drops to the ground, snoring loudly.
While Zavos is singing, Smeed reaches Kelne. Although he looked ungainly at first, his strike with the scimitar is expertly delivered, cutting Kelne . .
The spell appears to have no effect since Smeed keeps coming down the stairs, on foot.
The poor baboon, skewered by Zavos's rapier, falls to the ground. Shortly after that a voice yells "Otsk!" from the top of the stairs, and a stream of loud profanity ensues. Zindit sees Smeed charging down the stairs waving a scimitar.
Kelne hits the baboon with his sword, then Tessirda delivers a kick to its head, and gets bit in return . The animal is badly wounded now, but still fighting.
Zindit's well-aimed knife throw hits the baboon squarely. It screeches in pain and rage, but does not break its charge at Kelne. It reaches Kelne and sinks its fangs into his legs .
Zindit is across the room at the archway to the next room, which contains another door and a stairway leading to the second floor. There is still no sign of Smeed. Kelne is 10 feet inside the room and the baboon is coming at him from the left. The rest are at the door or outside.
As soon as Kelne takes a couple of steps into the room, the baboon looks up and sees him. It lets out a loud screech, baring large fangs, then bounds straight towards him.
Zindit very quietly opens the door and peeks inside. She sees a large room with piles of straw covering the floor. Fifteen feet away in front and to the left, idly picking lice off itself, sits a baboon. It does not notice Zindit or the open door. An archway leading to another room is 15 feet straight ahead. There is no sign of Smeed.
Zindit successfully picks the lock.
There is no reply.
After about a minute of Zavos hammering on the door, the panel slides open again. Smeed's watery eyes peer out and when he sees who is at the door he quickly closes the panel. A muffled "Get the f*%$ lost!" comes from inside.
After a little rummaging through the junk, Zindit finds a bloodstained green cloak. It looks just like the one Larur wore every day at the Gold Goblin.
Kelne and Zindit: You go through an alleyway to the back side of Smeed's flat. You see no sign of Smeed, but his apartment has a back door. Near the back door is a pile of empty barrels, old crates and other assorted pieces of garbage. The others: You canvass the neighbors for information, and hear much of what you already know, that Smeed is a disreputable moneylender and generally an unsavory and disgusting creature. Nobody remembers seeing anybody matching Larur's description the night before. However, you do learn one interesting thing: Smeed is in fact an agent for Boss Croat, one of Riddleport's major crime bosses, and it is Croat's money that Smeed lends.
Smeed's flat on Rat Street is one of many in a row of tenements. On either side of the block a street a street crosses Rat street. The rest of the places on the block are much like Smeed's, some have businesses on the first floor, most are just residences.
The panel remains shut and there is no reply.
"Larur that foppy dwarf? He dint bring me no payment last night." "Now If ya ain't gonna pay, get lost." The panel slides shut.
The plate slides open again. "Not much to discuss. The vig is 100, just slide er on through."
A small metal plate in the door slides open and two beady eyes peer out. They look at Tessirda and the plate quickly sides shut again. "I know who you are"!" a voice says from the other side of the door. "Tell Saul what he owes me is gonna double if he sends his thugs here again!"
You follow Saul's directions to Lymas Smeed's place and find yourselves before a a townhouse carmmed in amongst apartments on Rat Street in a run-down part of Riddleport. A sign above the front door a stack of gold coins and reads "Rat Street Loans- by appointment only".
Kelne: Spoiler: You are sure Saul is not telling the whole story.
"He went alone. Now go!"
"Enough talk." Saul says "Go find Larur. Please."
On Wealday of your second week at the Gold Goblin, Bojask approaches Kelne and says Saul would like to meet with all of you in his office. When you arrive there, you find him in a very worried state, nervously pacing back and forth. "I am very worried about Larur," he says "I sent him on an errand last night and he has not returned. When he didn't show up for work this morning I sent someone to his apartment to check on him, but he is not there. In fact, the door was open and his apartment appears to have been burglarized." He pauses for a moment, with a look of distaste on his face. "I am reluctant to, to admit it, but I had to secure some of the financing to start this business from a moneylender, one Lymas Smeed. The errand I sent Larur on was to deliver a payment to him, and I fear that his disappearance has something to do with it." "Will you go out and see if you can find some sign of what happened to him? I will give you directions to Larur's apartment and Smeed's flat."
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