The next morning, Arram washed himself and put on fresh clothes and headed back to the inn where he had spent the prior evening drinking with the trader to seek him out and beg for more time to complete the order again. When he asked around, no one seemed to know the man. The innkeeper confirmed his growing suspicion that the trader had not actually been staying at the inn. Arram spent the rest of the day asking around the city, looking for the trader, starting to suspect that the trader may have been somehow involved in the theft at his forge. At the end of the day, he wandered back to his empty forge to find a group of burly men lurking around outside.
“Can I help you?” Arram asked, approaching warily.
The sleazy man that he had gotten the loan from stepped out from the doorway into the forge. “Ah, Master Abrecan, what a pleasure to see you. At least, I hope it will be a pleasure. Your loan repayment is due today.”
Arram’s heart sank. “Someone broke into my forge and stole everything, even my tools. If I can just have a little time, and if I could borrow a little more coin, I would be able to get back on my feet and start over. Please.”
The man tsked at Arram. “What do you think this is? A charity? No, we intend to collect the full amount owed to us, one way or another.”
“Full amount? What about the payments?”
The man shook his head as the rest of the group started to circle around Arram. “Payments? Our contract was for the full amount due if you missed a payment, and as it looks, you won’t be making payments any time soon. So, how about you just come along quietly with us and you won’t have to spend the night picking up your teeth with broken fingers.”
A look of confusion crossed Arram’s face. “Come with you? Why would I do that?”
The man gave Arram a dark grin, “Like I said, I intend to get my money back one way or the other, even if it means selling you to recover my losses. And I think I have just the customer in mind.”