Where the Rats Run

Boom Pearlman stood in the shadows of Curio Court, welcome relief from the hot sun that brought the smells up from below streets. You could even smell the sea, when the wind blew from Dockside. He was beginning to loose patience with the beggar sat trying vainly to polish his black leather boots with an old bit of rag.

"Enough, boot boy, Your rag is cleaner now than before, and my boots stained with gods know what!" It was then that Boom noticed the rag was really rather plush. Red satin braided with gold under all that grime and festering filth. And a badge there too, in gold thread. He snatched it from the gnarled hands of the beggar, who seemed not to care.

A quick wash in the slop bucket and, yes, he could see now. An embroidered gold badge of office, or something similar. The crest of the house of Karu Gan, late of Dalhaven, now of Solis?. And how come an old beggar had this, worth a few coin just for the gold, and possibly more to the right person for the knowledge it contained.

Pearlman followed after the beggar, down by the Grey Lady Arch and into the Dive beyond. A twist and a turn later, the beggar was gone. No trace, not even on the wind. Pearlman cursed.

"To the Hells with you, stench bringer, damn you to....." it dawned on him "to the sewers!."

Within moments Boom Pearlman was standing at the entrance to a dark and fetid cut, half hidden by dilapidated buildings and rotting garbage. Half hidden, but most definately an entrance to the ways below streets. A pair of beady eyes watched as Pearlman carefully made his way into the dank and the dark. The place of beggars and thieves. The den of the outcast and the rogue, the places where the Rats Run.