The cog moans under the relentless pull of the tide. Cold Atlantic brine swirls around the knees of Haldan as he heaves a brine-soaked crate toward the shingle.
Ben
Leave the wood, Ben! If we lose the salt-pork to the surf, we starve long before we find that island!
Ben
The Black Guild is surely watching the horizon. We have no time for a crippled ship.
Ben
Just give me a second to clear the hatch, you stubborn goat!
Ben
The map is safe, but the weight of the water is working against my joints. We need to reach the cave entrance before the tide rises further.
A shadow flickers along the jagged cliff rim above them. A newcomer, draped in coarse grey wool, watches the struggle with cold, unblinking eyes.
Kaelen
You salvage little but your own funeral shroud, dwarves.
+ Scene Quest Added
Reach the cave entrance
“Hey, stranger. What's your name?”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +4)
Ben
My name is Ben. And you seem like the sort of traveler who knows these cliffs better than the sea knows its own currents. Why linger in the cold?
Kaelen
Names are cheap, Dwarf. Mine is Kaelen, and I linger because the tide brings more than just wreckage today. It brings the Black Guild's hounds, and they are already within earshot.
Ben
Hounds? You mean they've breached the cove?
Ben
Kaelen seems to have no love for the Guild. If they have the high ground, we are walking into a slaughter. I need to decide if we abandon the cargo to reach the cave, or stand our ground here in the surf.
Kaelen points a gloved finger toward the mist, where the faint, rhythmic sound of heavy boots crunching against wet shale echoes against the rocks.
+ Story Quest Added
Escape the Black Guild's hounds
“Examine where Kaelen is pointing at.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +1)
Ben
Kaelen does not look like someone who fears a few shadows, but those boots on the shale sound heavy and purposeful.
Ben
Show me where they are, Kaelen. If I am to die in this tide, I would prefer to see my killers first.
Kaelen
Peer past that jagged spire. See the glint of steel in the mist? They have already pinned the southern pass.
Ben
The glint is unmistakable. The Black Guild has tracked us faster than expected, and we are cut off from the easy path.
Ben
Ben, we cannot fight a dozen men in water up to our waists. We need to move now or we will be fish bait.
A sudden splash echoes behind the cog as the first of the Guild scouts emerges from the grey veil, crossbow raised and leveled directly at the dwarf.
+ Scene Quest Added
Evade the scouting party