Yes friend, Larus is his name. He was living here two days ago. Do you have any idea where he may be. Cal says following along with Usharis line of questioning.
Ushari's soft words seem to calm the vagrant.
No dwarf miss.. I just foun' this place with the door open and all trashed an I stayed here
Now that he has proof of Larus' disappearance, Urza is more serious about the situation. He makes a thorough search of the apartment looking for clues for Larus' whereabouts.
Perception check- take 20= 23
And how long ago did you find this place?"
The drunkard tries to stand up and falls again on his ass.
Dunno, yesterday I think... The place was all trashed, I just wanned a place to sleep, ya know?
Urza: Even tough the place seems trashed, you see no signs of struggle or violence.
"It looks like he left in a hurry or the place was ransacked after he left. We should go talk to this Smeed guy. See if he's seen Larus."
"I agree. Let's go pay Smeed a visit." Lecian pulls out and counts ten silver coins, hands them to the vagrant, then heads out.
Ushari smiles at the vagrant, and says, "I hope you feel better, thanks for your help."
|
"I'm thinking that Smeed might also be looking for Larus, given the state of his house. Still.. hmm. Are Dwarves rare around here? Think we could talk to some dwarven groups around here that might have helped him?" Nails ponders for a moment more. "Or heck, we could get Squick looking around for any sign of him."
Yes, Smeeds probably the next choice, Calinder says as he starts back out then as he reaches the street Hang on a minute, I have an idea.
He heads over to a small group of kids on a sidestreet. Holding up 2 gp he calls to them Hey you kids, you wouldn't happen to have seen anything strange happening around here the last couple of days?
The vagrant can't believe the fortune that fell on his lap. He bows to Calinder so deeply he almost falls over. Thank you milord! Thank you! That mach silver will last for a couple of weeks of good food. Or a couple of nights of hard liquor.
-------------------
Some of the kids from you informant network come through. When describing the bald dwarf, a street kid saw him. He was going through a dark alley to his appartment and a big man with a black scarf wrapped around his face stabbed him several times with a strange curved daggger, then dragged the body. The kid didn't dare follow him.
The kid shows you, and a thorough search reveals some bloodstains against a wooden barrel in the place the kid says it happened.
Ushari will search for further clues, or a trail leading away from the bloodstains.
"Oh no..."
Well that doesn't sound good at all Cal says as he starts helping Ushari try to follow a blood trail.
Even tough Cal is not an expert tracker, with enough care and attention he can clearly see that there are marks that could indicate a body being drawn to the dirt to the end of the alley. There you find a LOT more blood and it appears the body was carried away, you see bootrpints of a medium size humanoid. At the alley's opening, the tracks get confused on the mud and dirt of the crowded street.
Ushari pales as she realizes what happened to the dwarf, most likely.
"We should be careful, his killers may be nearby."
"He may not be dead yet. If they were just after the money, they could have taken it and left his body. But they took the trouble of taking him somewhere. Maybe whoever took him wanted information too. Saul said Smeed works for Kleg Zincher. I'm thinking Mr Smeed has some explaining to do." Urza starts off to Smeed's place.
"I fear we may not have much time to linger around and see if anyone saw what happened. We should go straight to Smeed's house." Ushari follows Urza towards Smeed's house.
At this point the trail runs cold for me, seems like our only option is to try Smeed, Cal says obviously dissapointed at his failure to follow the trail and worried about Larus.
It would take an expert tracker to make something of the mess of the muddy city street. A short walk from there you can find the loanshark's house.
Leeward district is where most of Riddleport's shops and business are located, but you notice that Smeed's house is on the most run-down and slummier part of the district.
You are standing on Rat Street, in front of a two-story building, it seems old and in a bad state of repair it's surrounded by low class apartments and left of it you see the beginning of a small dark alley.
The wooden sign of the door says: "Rat Street Loans - by appointment only"
"So, do we do this easy or do we do this rough?"
"I like this woman."
Ushari chimes in, We shouldn't rush to judgemnt on this guy, but let's give him enough rope so he can hang himself."
Good idea, if we can catch him in a lie would be best. So what we know is Larus dissapeared 2 days ago in a struggle and was knifed several times in the alley by a large man with a black scarf covering his features. If we tell Smeed we're just following up to make sure Larus paid his debt and not let on that he's missing then we may get some kind of reaction from him, Cal muses trying to come up with some kind of plan.
Ushari winks at Calinder and replies, "You should let me do the talking then."
"Actually, we are looking to find out what happened to Larus After he paid the debt. We are coming to Smeed because he was the last to see him."
"If you're going to try being diplomatic with Smeed, then now's as good a time as any to start." Lecian stands off to the side of the entrance and draws back the string on his crossbow.
Right, right, sorry Urza I forgot. Well, we don't want to keep the man waiting now do we. With that Calinder ambles up to the building and opens the door and heads inside, holding the door open politely for everyone else.
"Ladies first right?" Ushari waits for Nails to go first.
Cal, the door is locked. Heavy wood, iron shod.
"Hmm, sounds like he doesn't want any company now."
Ushari presses her ear against the door and motions for silence.
Lecian remains still.
Perturbed at the locked door Cal briefly listens then knocks loudly. If theres no answer after a time he has a quick scout around the building for another way in. Well thats odd, bit hard to pay your debt when you can't get in, he mumbles.
Urza fidgets anxiously.
Nothing to be heard behind the front door.
Calinder steps away and sees some movement in the top floor, behind a barred small window. Going through the damp and narrow alley he follows the side wall of the building. The old construction has a 30ft front, with one window on the front, it's 60ft long and seems to have a small door that opens into a back alley. Several crates of junk are piled besides the backdoor and there is a pile of straw and animal dung about 5ft high, stinking to high heavens. Two even smaller windows open to the back of the alley from the second floor.
There's someone on the top floor Cal says as he spots them. After scouting the area he tries opening the back door then lets everyone know about what he's found.
"So, which way Calinder?" Ushari says with an impish grin. "Through the front door or up the wall?"
The backdoor seems a lot less sturdy than the front one, but it's firmly locked too.
Looks like the backs our best option, any chance we could do this without damaging the door he says as he gets ready to put his shoulder to it.
As you examine the door you notice something that looks like a bloodstained rag sticking out of one of the crates piled besides it.
Ushari realizes she doesn't know how to pick the lock, and grins sheepishly at the rest of the party.
As she turns her head, she notices something in the crates. She takes a closer look...
Muscle it is then, Cal says as he shoulder charges the door.
Lecian pats Calinder on the shoulder with Diviner's Fortune.