Frieda reaches the small exit chamber, and daylight leaks in cold and gray through the arch. The bar on the side door rattles once, then stills. A shape detaches from the dark behind her.
Sir Eleutherius
Do not take the river path. It is watched.
He steps into the moonlit edge of the chamber, armor dulled by dust and shadow, one hand open to show he means no sudden blow. Behind him, the crypt passage feels narrower than before, as if the monastery itself is listening.
Sir Eleutherius
Men of the Bishop wait below the bank. If you carry the ledger out there, they take it before dawn.
The warning lands cleanly. The witnesses and the sealed packet are still with Frieda, but the route to the river is broken. Sir Eleutherius holds the chamber mouth, giving her a brief, dangerous choice of another way forward.
Sir Eleutherius
There is a track above the crypt wall, rough, but hidden. It leads toward the road to the Inquisitor.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bypass the watched river path
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the Inquisitor with the ledger and witnesses
“"We just spoke to the Inquisitor. Is he not with us?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +4)
Frieda
If he is with us, then he has a strange way of showing it.
Sir Eleutherius
He is with the truth, which is the harder company. The road below is not safe, and he knows it.
Sir Eleutherius
He said no word of the river, only that the court must have the ledger before the Bishop seals the lies.
The knight's voice softens as he speaks, and the tension in the chamber loosens by a thread. Daylight shows the iron hook beside the arch, the rough track beyond, and the damp stone underfoot.
Sir Eleutherius
He waits above the crypt wall with a lantern boy and one of the witnesses. If you take the higher path, you take them all with you.
Frieda
He has already chosen a better road.
Sir Eleutherius gives a short nod toward the hidden track, and the chamber's mouth is clear at last. The blocked river path is left behind without a struggle.
Quest Complete
Bypass the watched river path