Warlock! Something is Rotten in Grim Biskerstaf...

"I sent one running, and all. Well, not running. I sent one hobbling, more like."

He says, as he chases the dwarf down.

"Reckon they knew we were together. Fella made a threat on my insides. To stay out of it. Whatever ‘it’ is. Couldn’t let that go unpunished."

He says, as they reach the alley that the dwarf turned down!

"One thing at a time, eh?"

Inside the Manky Mermaid

Soon enough, Jelir D’Almed has taken his leave from the bar, Banio has recovered each one of his silver coins, and the crowd has returned to their mugs and cups, their revelry and debauchery. The mood is joyous despite the recent fighting, and spirits are high as teeth and toes are collected or swept aside. There is no sign of Trusova's assaulters as a fiddler leaps upon a table to strike up a tune, and it's not long before most of the crowd is signing.

They sent the coin man out to collect, me boys
Sent the coin man out to collect!
So now quick gather round put them treasures in the ground
Or you'll be filled with regret!*

"That were some display!" Banio hears as he ponders his next move. His way is blocked by a strumpet, a pug-nosed woman with sandy curls, a gap-toothed smile, and a plump, inviting bosom that heaves with each exaggerated breath the girl takes. She leans in close to be heard above the signing. "'Cept now you look lonely. Want some company, mister? Surely you do. I'm good company, you know."

Across the room, Foghorn is being drawn up out of his seat by two of the grinning sisters, who pull the man towards a spot where furniture is being cleared for dancing.

Outside the Manky Mermaid

As the pair ruins up the cobblestone street, they reach the alley the dwarf darted into and see...

Trusova is pretty sure she could catch the dragon-loving thief in a straight race, but between her aching ribs and his head start, she can't quite close the gap.

The Streets of Grim Biskerstaf

Arriving at the crooked alley Rausimod disappeared into, Trusova and Wolke both hurry into the foul-smelling space despite there being no sign of the surprisingly fast-moving dwarf. Still, there are only so many ways out of the alley, so both know there's still a chance to catch up with him...

"Slippery little bugger has to be here somewhere!"

Trusova declines to push her luck. She knew a Warden who used to say "fortune favours the bold" but he died two winters ago leading a charge on a goblin murder hole.

For all she knew, the dwarf was in cahoots with the bandits. Maybe that's how they knew where to find her? Couldn't prove it, but it was just her and Lambert now. Stumbling near-blind after him seemed like inviting trouble.

She'll slow up and take the corner cautiously, then ask some passerbys about the fleeing dwarf using her authoritative Warden voice. It sounded like her regular voice draped in a thin veil of politeness, with undertones ofu violence for non-compliance. She'll call Lambert over if she learns anything.

Banio squints up at the lass who has approached his table. What he can make out of her past her bosom suggests that she's the sort of working girl who would condescend to traffic with a greasy little thing like himself. A better class of whore would avoid him; a worse would be chased from the Mermaid lest she spread the blight.

"And what will your company set me back, fishwife?" Banio says. "You didn't come over here for my good looks and charming personality; you've seen my money, and that isn't much."

The Dark Alleys of Grim Biskerstaf

"That way," the legless beggar Trusova has found says, pointing down a narrow alley that winds its way southward. "Mutterin' to hisself the whole time he was, likes a madman!"

Signaling for Lambert to come with, the road warden hurries down the crooked, foul-smelling passage. Rats and roaches scatter as the pair passes, but quickly enough they come to the end and see Dredge lying before them. Dredge -- where the poorest of the city's poor make their homes, amidst the rat's warren of old wharfs and half-sunken bridges, beside and above all the open sewers flowing straight out of the city into the Vessen. Whereas the buildings in the Docks district are stout and often have stone foundations at least, the structures in Dredge are old and dilapidated to a one, ancient shacks that have been repaired and repaired over the years with whatever the miserable occupants of the place can find. Mudlarks, pox-ridden beggars, the mentally infirm -- these are the folk that inhabit Dredge, and for the most part they are left alone. No lamps light what pass for streets in Dredge, and the city watch rarely makes rounds.

It seems an unlikely place for the Dragon cultist to call home, so the dwarf is possibly using Dredge to throw off pursuit, or he's moving through it to reach somewhere else. Being a local, Wolke has two ideas: the Undertunnels, the vast sewer complex that reportedly sprawls beneath the city, or the old ruined tower some distance west of Southgate. Biskerstaf's defenses were stout in decades and centuries past, but they have fallen into disrepair. Part of the red stone wall near the tower collapsed into the river long ago, and the section connecting the largely intact defensive structure to Southgate is crumbling down more and more with each passing year.

Inside the Manky Mermaid

"It's enough, from what I seen," the trollop says with a slightly charming grin. She moves to sit in Banio's lap, straddling him before leaning in close to answer his question. "Four of them silvers for a handy, more if you... want more. I got a room in the back if we needs it."

Trusova looks upon the aptly-named Dredge with revulsion. Just when you thought she'd seen the worst of Grim Biskerstaf, the old city would find a way to sink lower. But she doesn't dwell on it; they had work to do.

"This is your turf - what's our best play here?" She wondered if the obvious answer was calling the whole thing off and regrouping at the Manky Mermaid. Surely Banio had talked his way out of the trouble with the Hissainians by now.

Foghorn dances with the sisters for a bit. Looks like Banio's found some company too. But the fisherman plans to call it a night soon. He wants to head back out on the boat early tomorrow.

"Never knew a dwarf that goes up when going down is an option. He’ll be in the under tunnels, I reckon. Dirty things!"

Banio grunts when the woman, who is larger than Banio himself, settles in his lap. He's no saint, and the offer tempts him, but the price is like a splash of cold water on the little man's jowls.

"A dear sum for the service, I think," Phelbt retorts, sounding a little winded. "I have a hand of my own, fishwife. In any case, I'm waiting for news from the docks."

Banio tries to lean around the woman's looming bosom and get a look at the door. He paid his little spy well to sniff out what the Hissainians might be up to in Grim Biskerstaf, and hopes for a profitable return.

Dredge
The smell of Dredge is atrocious as Lambert and Trusova head for the open sewers that dump into the dank, murky channels that cross through and beneath so much of the slum. The road warden is tall and armed, and so doesn't invite much interfering from the residents as she strides with purpose. The wooden planks of the walkways are slick with slime of various sorts, and footing is poor as the pair moves beneath the pale light of the rising moon.

There's no sign of the dwarf himself when they reach three main, vaulted tunnels that carry refuse and worse from the middle of the city. But there are tracks on one of the narrow ledges used by sewermen when blockages have to be cleared -- fresh footprints that indeed may well have come from Rausimod's sturdy boots. They lead into the right-most tunnel, and into the pitch black.

The Manky Mermaid
Frowning a bit at the man's reaction, and at his seemingly being distracted by the front door, the girl so dominating Banio's lap leans to the side to block the man's view. One of her hands goes to the straining laces on her bodice, and she toys with pulling the knot loose.

"But I gots other things you don't, good sir, and that's a right fair amount. Won't be long before them Hissan sailors come calling, and they'll have silver aplenty! You want some nasty, slovenly trull puttin' 'er hands on you, well then the Dredge is close by..."

Near the entrance, past the stomping, clapping, and cavorting dancers (which includes Captain Foghorn!), there's no sign yet of dirty little Molly Moppet.

"Three then," the pug-nosed girl says quietly before she leans in close and whispers what else the coins would include.

"How badly do you want that coin?" Lambert asks the warden.

Trusova shrugs. "I need it, but it won't do me no good if I'm dead. Fortunately, Banio did a little extra fishing on the docks."

She pulls out one of the Hissian coins from her boot and shows it to Lambert, and then places it back.

"There's six more. We'll have to negotiate a share of it, but it does take the sting off a bit."

"I say to the hells with the greedy dwarf, let's head back to the Manky Mermaid. Put this night behind us."

"Right, piss on this then. But if I ever see…" and then he stops up short, cups his hands to his mouth and shouts into the tunnel.

"… if I ever see that stunty little shit again, he’ll be a head shorter, believe me."