The tavern door bursts inward in a shower of splinters. Lantern light swings wild over spilled ale and startled faces as city watch boots hammer the floorboards.
The Thug ducks behind the bar, ducking the blame with him. Gamb'lynn Junior stands exposed in the center of the room, the map clenched in her hand like a live coal.
The Sergeant
Parchment on the floor. Now. You will hand over what you stole.
Two guards spread to either side, cutting off the door. The sergeant keeps his finger leveled at her, but his gaze flicks once to the bar, wary of whoever just vanished there.
The Thug
If they search the bar, I am finished.
Between the watch at the door and the thug behind the counter, the map turns from prize to proof. One move now decides whether Gamb'lynn Junior slips away with the treasure trail, or loses it in a public snatch.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the tavern with the map
“I shove the map into my boot and bolt for the kitchen door.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
Gamb'lynn Junior slips the map down into her boot in one quick motion, then lunges for the side passage.
Her heel skids on spilled ale, but she catches herself on the wall and keeps moving. The scrape rings out loud enough to earn a shout from the watch.
The Sergeant
After her! She has the map!
The sergeant starts after her, but the narrow kitchen door yaws open ahead, half-hidden in steam and clatter.
Behind the bar, the thug stays frozen, eyes fixed on the entrance as the guards surge past his hiding place.
The Thug
If they do not catch her, they will look here next.
Gamb'lynn Junior reaches the threshold, the boot hidden and the tavern’s noise crashing at her back, while the kitchen waits dark and cramped ahead.
“I slip through the kitchen and keep moving”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +1)
Gamb'lynn Junior ducks into the kitchen in a low, swift line, bootsteps swallowed by steam and clatter.
A scullery shelf rattles as she brushes past, but she keeps her balance and does not stop.
The kitchen opens around her in cramped flashes, copper pans, soot, and a rear corridor angling away from the tavern noise.
Behind her, the watch shouts lose their clean edge as the doorframe and steam swallow the chase.
The Thug stays at the bar, half-hidden, his eyes still fixed on the entrance, waiting for the guards to notice him next.
Gamb'lynn Junior reaches the corridor mouth with the map secure in her boot, but the back passage turns dark ahead.
“Is there a way out through the kitchen?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 58)
The rear corridor ends abruptly in a solid, windowless stone wall, offering no exit to the city streets beyond.
“I look for another way out”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +1)
Gamb'lynn Junior runs her fingers over the masonry, then stoops to the flagstones. A seam catches the light, hidden under grit and steam-wet dust.
Gamb'lynn Junior
A cut line. That is not part of the wall.
She brushes away the dirt, and a narrow iron ring appears, set flush beside the wall where a loosened tile has shifted.
The ring lifts with a soft scrape, and one slab gives under her touch, rocking inward on its hinge.
The Sergeant
She is at the wall. Get in there now!
Steam surges past her shoulders as the hidden panel opens just enough for a slim body to slip through, while bootsteps hammer closer in the corridor behind.
Beyond the gap, the escape route drops into darkness, and the choice is no longer where to search, but whether to take it.
“I slip through the hidden panel”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled -1)
Gamb'lynn Junior folds herself into the gap, shoulders scraping stone as she slips through. The panel swings wider behind her, and the Sergeant’s shout cuts off in the steam.
Her boot clips the lower edge of the opening. Something inside the panel bites at the leather, and a faint tug follows as she drops into the dark beyond.
She lands in a cramped passage of cold stone and old damp, map still hidden, breath caught for half a beat. Behind her, the hidden slab thuds back toward its frame.
The Sergeant
Search the kitchen. She went through here!
His boots hammer above and behind the wall, louder now, while the narrow passage swallows the light from the tavern.
Ahead, the darkness bends toward a lower way, and somewhere farther off, water drips in the black.
“I keep moving toward the alleyway”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +2)
Gamb'lynn Junior keeps low and moves on, fingertips grazing the slick wall for balance. The passage narrows, then opens to a slit of night ahead.
She slips through the last bend and reaches the alleyway, the tavern now shut away behind stone.
Cold air hits her face. Above, a single window glows over damp cobbles and stacked crates.
Behind the sealed panel, the Sergeant’s voice mutes to a distant bark, swallowed by masonry.
The Thug
If they find that passage, they find me too.
A muffled shuffle stirs somewhere back in the tavern wall, but the alley stays empty in front of her.
Gamb'lynn Junior is out, map hidden, with the city waiting in the dark.
Quest Complete
Escape the tavern with the map
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great