The abandoned diner sits just off the back road, its windows filmed with dust. Maya leads the group through the kitchen, where overturned tables make a quiet shelter behind the counter.
Fin
Sit for a minute. I want to check the bite before we move again. New Hope's guards will notice if you hide how it looks.
Fin kneels beside Maya and carefully examines the covered injury, keeping her voice low. Sara watches the kitchen entrance while Robin slips through a swinging door toward the office.
Sara
They will ask when the bite happened, who witnessed it, and whether you had fever or confusion. Give them dates and witnesses, not a story they can pick apart.
Robin searches dusty drawers and a dead cash register in the office. She finds a diner ledger, several blank receipt slips, and a wall radio with its cord cut.
Robin
No working radio. But there is paper. We can write down the checkpoint, the treatment, and who saw you stay stable.
Sara
Decide what you can prove without exposing every secret. New Hope needs enough to open its gate, not enough to own your life.
“I ask Fin to document my stable condition”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +2)
Maya Gonzales
Fin, document that I’ve remained stable since the bite. Include the checkpoint, the treatment, and everyone who witnessed it.
Fin takes a blank receipt slip and the diner ledger to the counter. She writes the date, the checkpoint escape, Maya’s treatment, and the absence of fever or confusion.
Fin
I’ll sign this and state exactly what I observed. The wound was treated, you stayed conscious, and you showed no fever or confusion afterward.
Her handwriting is small but firm. She adds the names of the checkpoint witnesses she can identify, then leaves space for Robin and Sara to record what they personally saw.
Robin
I can document the escape and the fact that you were still yourself afterward. I won’t claim anything I didn’t witness.
Sara
That is useful evidence. Keep the original dry, and make a second copy for the gate guards.
Fin folds the completed statement inside the diner ledger and copies its essential details onto a second receipt slip. Both records are ready to show New Hope.
+ New Item Acquired
stability statement
+ New Item Acquired
duplicate stability statement
“Is Sara hiding a danger inside New Hope?”
NO, BUT (Even, rolled 60)
Fin finishes the duplicate and sets both slips beneath the diner ledger. Sara studies the writing, then glances toward the dusty front windows as distant footsteps pass outside.
Sara
I was refused at New Hope, but I never saw them conceal an outbreak or prepare an attack. Their danger is their policy, not something hidden inside the walls.
Fin
So the settlement is real, and the quarantine is real. That still leaves us a way to approach them prepared instead of guessing.
Sara taps the second receipt slip, then points west on the folded route map. Her expression stays guarded, but the answer gives the papers a clear purpose.
Sara
Use the public gate first. If they reject you, there is a livestock inspection station half a mile south with a working landline and a separate intake fence.
Robin
A second entrance and a phone? That is better than walking up to the main gate with one story and hoping they like it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave the diner together
“Is Sara hiding why New Hope refused her?”
YES, BUT (Even, rolled 50)
Sara keeps one hand on the second receipt slip. Her guarded expression tightens, and the footsteps outside fade toward the back road.
Sara
I left out one part. New Hope refused me after I refused their quarantine. They wanted my weapons, my pack, and three days behind a locked fence.
Fin
That changes how they will read your warning. They may hear it as resentment, not evidence.
Sara
It was resentment. I had no fever, no confusion, and no reason to surrender everything they could use against me.
She slides the duplicate back across the counter, but the original remains under her palm. The cost is immediate: New Hope's gate may recognize her and treat Maya's group as connected to her refusal.
Robin
Then we tell them before they ask. If they see us with you and think we hid it, the papers won't save anyone.
Sara
Fair. I will tell the gate exactly what happened. But I will not surrender my gear again, and I will not pretend their policy is safe.
“I ask Sara to walk openly with us while we head west toward New Hope.”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +1)
Maya Gonzales
Sara, walk openly with us while we head west toward New Hope.
Sara
All right. I will tell the gate we traveled together, and I will answer their questions myself.
Sara tucks the original statement into her pack and keeps the duplicate visible beneath her hand. She steps from the diner beside Maya instead of trailing behind.
Fin
Then we keep the account consistent. Maya leads, and we explain what each of us actually witnessed.
Robin
Good. No hiding, no sudden surprises, and no letting the guards decide we are a pack of liars.
Robin shoulders her school bag. Fin checks the road and takes the rear position while Sara walks in the open with Maya and Robin, facing west.
The group leaves the diner and follows the back road toward New Hope. The dusty windows fall behind them as daylight spreads across the empty roadside.
Quest Complete
Leave the diner together