These guys have as much of an idea about what is going on as I do. They are clearly panicked by our presence. The short fat one looks like he might cry at any moment. The tall lanky bloke just looks pissed off… but he sounded pissed off before he entered the room, so I’m not sure if our presence is strictly speaking the source of his anger. His creepily thin lips are all pursed up… as though he is disgusted by our mere existence.

  The short one stinks of body odour. Like… really badly. It could be because he is incredibly nervous at the moment… but given how strong it is... I think it has had time to soak into his clothes… which suggests this is not an uncommon occurrence for him.

  Despite this… he isn’t the one with the smell that concerns me… the tall one… he smells of blood… and urine… female urine to be specific… this man unnerves me to no end.

  Damecus: “Do relax. I am here with a business proposition. I am Damecus of the Sawtooth Clan. My companion here is Dwynfel Vesidia. I assume you know of us.”

  A look of relief spread across the timid man’s face. The other man continued to look pissed off.

  Angry Man: “You are those… adventurers.”

  Timid Man: “The famous ones!”

  Angry Man: “Shut up, Timothy.”

  Timothy: “Sorry, Andy.”

  Andy: “And what kind of business do you think that we can assist you with?”

  Damecus blew a large quantity of smoke from his mouth.

  Damecus: “In a word… opium.”

  Andy: “And what makes you think we are in the opium business?”

  Damecus glanced around the room before sarcastically gesturing at all of the spaced-out people scattered around the room.

  Damecus: “Do not insult my intelligence.”

  Andy: “Point taken. But since when was a lizardman interested in business?”

  Okay… I kind of see where he is going with this… but why the hell am I here? Why couldn’t I just hide with Chloe… I feel so awkward, just stood in the middle of the room. I must look so confused and out of place.

  Damecus: “Oh, I have a keen interest in business.”

  Timothy: “He’s right, Andy. He’s the one sells that shalnack paste.”

  Andy: “What?”

  Timothy: “That shalnack paste. You remember? The stuff that protects you from the sun. The wife started buying it for our Josh. He’s not been burned since. I use it too. You must remember how I always used to get burnt sumink rotten every August… well, I don’t now.”

  Andy just looked profoundly irritated at the sound of Timothy’s voice the entire time he spoke.

  Andy: “Are you quite finished?”

  Timothy: “Yes… sorry.”

  Andy: “You have been here for years. Why are you suddenly interested in opium?”

  Damecus: “In my homeland, I used to grow something known as cannabis. I have tried to cultivate it here, but to no avail. So, I am in the market for something else to smoke. Not to an excessive extent you understand, I have no intention of becoming one of these wretches…”

  He gestured once more to the people sprawled out across the furniture.

  Damecus: “…that being said, I will need a regular supply. And given my business enterprises, I have the money to pay up front.”

  He threw a bag of coin on the table in front of him. The jangle of the coins hitting off each other certainly got the attention of the two men. Andy began to smile a rather sinister smile. Not sure if he meant it to be sinister… or whether his disturbingly thin lips just make it seem that way.

  Andy: “I believe that we may be able to come to some kind of arrangement.”

  He glanced at me and his face turned to one of confusion.

  Andy: “And what is his purpose here?”

  Damecus: “He is here to make use of your… other services.”

  Andy: “What other services?”

  Damecus: “When you spend as much time in the business world as I have of late, you find out that you can get pretty much anything for money… if you know the right people. My little friend requires a woman.”

  Andy: “Then why does he not go to a brothel, like everybody else?”

  Damecus: “The things that he wishes to do… well… they are not welcome in brothels. He requires a woman who… will not be speaking of what has occurred… who can be… disappeared.”

  This is the second time he’s done this… I am really not a fan of him making out like I am some kind of deranged sexual deviant for the purposes of tricking people.

  Damecus: “The thing is gentlemen… him… this society is not his nature. He is not human… he is not even a Bracken. He needs something that will allow him to be his true self without compromising his social standing. Actually, thinking about it… I think that makes him more human.”

  Andy: “That may be, but I doubt we can help him.”

  Damecus: “We are aware that what he requires would demand a bit more… monetary compensation. Goblin… show him your coin.”

  Huh… what? Oh, shit, yeah… I have the quest money… I have three bags worth of it. I nervously untied the three bags of coin from my waist and placed them on the table next to Damecus.’ I am really… really not comfortable with where this is going.

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  The sinister smile returned to Andy’s face.

  Andy: “Quite the industrious little goblin, aren’t you?”

  I nodded sheepishly.

  Andy: “Nervous little thing, isn’t he?”

  Damecus: “Believe me, you have no idea.”

  Timothy: “Isn’t he gay?”

  I gave a startled stare at Timothy.

  Andy: “What?”

  Timothy: “The little one, the goblin. I heard he was with that cat boy that wears the dresses.”

  Damecus: “Image, man. He has to maintain an image. He is a Grim… being outwardly homosexual allows him to move freely amongst the womenfolk without them fearing him. If they only knew what was going on in his depraved little head, then they would run for miles.”

  Andy: “Happy now, Timothy?”

  Timothy: “Umm… not really… no.”

  Andy: “Well, be quiet anyway and go open the basement. I believe that our new clients here may wish to inspect the merchandise.”

  Timothy: “Okay.”

  Timothy led us to the other room where he proceeded to move the rug and open the hatch down into the basement. I really don’t like this basement. I mean… most basements are a bit sinister, but this one is highly unnerving… of course I may just view it that way because I know what is down here.

  We were shown the opium storage room first. I assume to reassure Damecus that they could provide him with a steady supply. Then they showed us to the room with the women in the cages.

  Andy clearly took a sick sort of pleasure in showing them to us. Banging on the cages, ordering them to stand by the bars so that I could get a better look at them. The man sickens me.

  Andy: “Well then, have yourself a good look. Feel free to have a bit of a feel. But not too much. Save something until our little exchange is finished.”

  Umm… shit… I’m supposed to be making this convincing… oh gods… I feel so horrible… I need to look like this whole situation doesn’t make me physically sick… oh gods… forgive me.

  I refuse to touch either of them… I’m sorry… but I’m not doing that… pretending to inspect them is bad enough. I am not okay with this plan… I am not okay with this plan.

  Andy: “Taking his time, isn’t he?”

  Damecus: “Hurry up, goblin! We have not got all day. Just pick one.”

  Dwynfel: “Umm… the blonde one.”

  Damecus: “Ha, I knew it. He has a thing for blondes.”

  I absolutely do not have a thing for blondes. I just picked her because she was the one I was standing in front of at the time.

  Damecus: “How much are we talking for the girl? If the prices are good enough, we could even get both. You’d love that wouldn’t you, goblin? Think of all the fun you could have with two. Hahaha.”

  I am so uncomfortable right now that my stomach is churning… if I don’t throw up soon then it will likely come out of the other end.

  Andy: “These commodities are rather on the pricey side. I imagine that one is all he will be able to afford.”

  Damecus: “Shame. He’ll just have the blonde then.”

  Andy: “A fine choice. Broke her in myself. Took a long time too… she used to be quite the screamer… takes time to beat that out of them.”

  Okay… now I want to go back to Damecus’ original plan… I just want to kill him… now.

  Damecus: “So who do we hand the gold to? No offence, but you are clearly the monkey, not the organ grinder.”

  Andy: “Don’t worry, all financial transactions are fine to go through me.”

  Damecus: “Regardless, I am a businessman myself. I would rather deal with your senior. It will be better for you that way. Then nobody can accuse you of skimming a little off the top later down the line.”

  Andy: “I would never defraud the boss like that.”

  Damecus: “I am sure you would not. But people in this business can get quite… paranoid. Best protect yourself by making sure that nobody can ever accuse you of such things.”

  Andy gave Damecus a suspicious look… as though considering everything that Damecus had just said. Unfortunately, it would seem that he decided to stick to his original stance.

  Andy: “I think I will stick to the current system, thank you. It has worked fine for us so far.”

  Damecus: “Fair enough. But I fear you may come to regret it. Give the man his coin, goblin. Then we can be on our way.”

  Dwynfel: “I left the coin pouches on the table upstairs.”

  Damecus: “Fuck’s sake, goblin. Did I not tell you to always keep track of your money!”

  Dwynfel: “You told me to put it on the table.”

  Damecus: “Yes… to show him… I did not mean for you to leave it there. Any of those opium fiends could have had it by now.”

  Dwynfel: “I’m sorry.”

  Damecus: “Look, if you gents would be so kind as to unlock her cage for him, I shall go and retrieve his money… fuck’s sake.”

  Andy gestured towards Timothy and Timothy pulled a set of keys from his pocket and went to unlock the blonde woman’s cage. Damecus went towards the door, but stopped as he reached it. He started opening and closing the door and inspecting the wood.

  Damecus: “This house is an ancient shithole, but the doors down here are new…”

  Andy: “Didn’t want anybody escaping. The old doors were rotten and falling apart.”

  Damecus: “That makes sense. However, I fear you may have some woodworm in this door. If you bring new wood into a house that’s already infested, it is going to spread to the new wood pretty quickly and your new doors will rot in no time.”

  Andy: “Really?”

  Damecus: “Definitely, come and have a look here. You can see the markings.”

  Andy moved towards the now closed door and started inspecting the wood.

  Damecus: “Dwynfel… we tried it her way…”

  Dwynfel: “What?”

  Damecus grabbed Andy’s head and repeatedly smashed it off the door… his eyebrow split open immediately… blood was pouring down his face and he fell to the floor; I noticed that his nose was broken… he was missing several teeth and he clearly had a skull fracture. Timothy jumped out of his skin, dropping the keys on the floor. Damecus looked up at the pair of us.

  Damecus: “Oh dear… he fell.”