David Clarkson steps out of the alley into the market noise, and the First Inquisitor is already there by the archway, still as a grave marker. In his hand, he holds the torn strip of cloth David left on the nail.
The Inquisitor raises the cloth between two fingers, calm as a judge. His eyes say he has waited for this exact step, this exact breath.
First Inquisitor
You were meant to reach for the latch.
First Inquisitor
We knew where the papers lay. We wanted to see who would touch them first.
His free hand lifts, pointing past the archway, past the guild hall, to the empty space where the trap began. The market goes on around them, but the lane feels suddenly sealed shut.
The Tannery Hand
He was led into it. All of it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get past the First Inquisitor
“I turn and sprint back into the crowded market to lose him in the chaos.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +2)
David Clarkson whips around and bolts into the market stream. A basket seller jerks back, a boy stumbles aside, and bodies swallow him at once.
The First Inquisitor does not rush. He only turns his head, measuring the moving crowd as if it were already arranged for him.
First Inquisitor
There, then. Run into the hands that will point you out.
David slips between a sack cart and a cheese stall, his staff low at his side. The torn sleeve flashes once in the press, then vanishes among cloaks and aprons.
The Tannery Hand
Left side. Keep low.
From the alley mouth, the tannery hand stays half-hidden, eyes wide, one arm lifted in an instinctive warning. Above, at the window, the woman’s posture remains oddly relaxed as she watches the hunt change shape.
Ahead, the market opens into a knot of lanes and stalls. Behind him, the Inquisitor’s calm voice follows through the noise, inviting, not hurrying.
“I slip into the crowd and let him pass”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
David slips into a gap between wool cloaks and a barrow of onions. The crowd closes, shoulders brushing, and the Inquisitor loses his clean line of sight.
First Inquisitor
No need to run so hard. I only want the one who touches what is not his.
The words drift over heads and hats, but the market keeps moving. A peddler turns, blocking the lane for a heartbeat, and David is gone into the knot of bodies.
The Tannery Hand
Now. He’s behind the spice stall.
From the alley mouth, the tannery hand stays half in shadow, still watching. Above, the woman at the window leans with that same odd calm, as if the chase interests her more than its outcome.
The torn strip in the Inquisitor’s fist lifts once, then drops as he turns to scan faces instead of chasing a shape. David reaches the far side of the market knot, where two lanes split and the crush thins.
Quest Complete
Get past the First Inquisitor
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb