Something is bothering you. You are in no hurry to enter the house. You carefully examine the area.

It would seem that everything is as usual. But something seems strange to you. Your perception seems to notice something wrong in the environment.

Approaching a distance of about ten meters to the entrance to Etario's house, you notice something strange...

You look around.

Too many footprints in the mud near the house...

You manage to notice that the tracks lead to a neighboring house. Through the shutters of a slightly open window you notice the silhouettes of many persons.

The realization of the worst case scenario immediately appears in your mind: "Fucking city guards! It's an ambush!"

You were almost tricked into coming to a place where the city guards were waiting to ambush you.

A group of city guards are watching the moneylender's house and are only waiting for you to enter the building. If you hadn't noticed anything suspicious, you probably would have been easily captured inside the building. And the building itself would be surrounded by an additional detachment of city guards.

The guy who told you that you need to come here was not actually sent by the moneylender Etario. He was sent by the city guards. This guy was a traitor.

It was only thanks to your keen attentiveness that you managed to notice the city guards before you entered the moneylender's house.

You turn around and quickly walk away from the house.

However, not all so simple…

You notice that three nondescript passers-by are quickly following you.

It would seem that there is nothing strange. But if you look carefully, you can see that these passers-by are somewhat similar to each other.

Muscular figures; walking style; attentive glances in your direction; posture that is typical for soldiers... Or for representatives of the city guard...

This is surveillance. Representatives of the city guard are pursuing you. You need to break away from your pursuers at any cost.

Moreover, you cannot go to the place where you live - the risk of bringing pursuers with you is too great...

You start running through the dirty streets of the slum South Gate Quarter.

A natural consequence: the three pursuers also switch from walking to running.

You strain your strength, trying to run as fast as possible...

However, after a minute of running, your pursuers are not far behind...

Obviously, these are strong and resilient guys.

You hear these guys running closer and closer to you, and you realize that you need to find a way to quickly break away from these pursuers. You turn into a narrow alley, hoping to lose your pursuers in the maze of slums.

As you turn the corner, you see a group of dirty, ragged children playing in the street.

You need to improvise...

As you run, you throw one silver coin to a group of children.

You shout, “The three men who are running after me will give you even more money if you play with them!”

You continue to run quickly through the dirty streets of the slums.

The sounds of commotion and confusion behind you indicate that a group of street children have detained your pursuers.

You take several turns, making your way through narrow streets.

As a result, after ten minutes you were able to break away from the representatives of the city guard who were pursuing you.

You are breathing heavily.

You think: “I expected to get another lucrative order from Etario. But instead I was almost ambushed by the city guards... A little more and I would have ended up in prison..."

But the need for money has not disappeared.

You still need money.

Therefore, you decide to use another way to contact your employer, the moneylender Etario.

This is an emergency way. But the current situation leaves you no other choice.

You carefully make your way into the Sandy Coast Quarter.

You go to one of the small trading shops, which is located in the port quarter of the city.

This store has no sign. Store looks poor and unremarkable. You need the owner of this store. An old human woman named Ingrid the Lisping. She sells fish. In addition, there is a fact of her biography that is unknown to most residents of the city: she buys stolen goods from the gang of Merryman. Etario also told you that through this woman trader you can get contact with representatives of the gang. But this method of communication should only be used in emergency situations.

The current situation falls precisely under the category of “emergency”.

Perhaps Ingrid knows a way by which you can contact your employer, themoneylender Etario.

You walk into a shopping store and see old woman Ingrid behind the counter. She looks at you with watery eyes and nods in recognition.

“Oh, do you want to buy fish?” she says in an old woman’s lisping voice.

You say a conventional phrase, which is a sign that you are a member of gang of the Merryman.

Looking straight into this woman’s dull old lady eyes, you say: “Yes. I need fresh trout. I prefer to make trout soup. Trout soup is the best food!”

The old woman's gaze becomes wary.

She says, groaning: “Let's go to the interior of the trading store. I'll show you the best trout..."

You follow the old woman to the back of the store, where you see several large tanks filled with squirming fish.

But you and the old woman pass by.

It's not fish at all that you need.