The skiff rides into darker, calmer water. Surf noise softens to a low wash, and the deck stops shuddering under each wave.
Bram crouches by the thwart, checking the hidden records once more. Dravin turns from the bow and studies Slaan in the lantern glow.
Dravin
You carried this through more blood and sand than most would survive. I need to know what it has cost you.
Bram goes still, one hand resting on the wood. He looks from Dravin to Slaan, guarded but listening.
Bram
Cost is part of the road. The question is whether the road was worth walking.
Dravin
If Slaan answers plainly, I can trust the shape of this alliance. If she does not, I must weigh her silence as carefully as her steel.
Cold wind slips over the skiff, but it feels clean now, almost peaceful. The three of them settle into the shared hush, with only the lantern flame and the water between them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Answer Dravin plainly
“"I know how you taught Master Kina my Lord. Hence I am asking you to grant us an audience with Lord Markul. " I choose my next words carefully. " We need to know how and why an agent of the chaos lord Kolaur wormed his way into the church of the all father." I pause "Morlock and his destroyer legion will be upon all of Aerynth. Living and undead alike."”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +2)
Slaan keeps her voice even over the hush of water, and the skiff seems to listen. Dravin does not interrupt.
Slaan
I know how you taught Master Kina, my lord. I ask you to grant us an audience with Lord Markul.
Slaan
We need to know how an agent of Kolaur wormed into the Church of the All Father.
Slaan
Morlock and his destroyer legion will come for all of Aerynth, living and undead alike.
Bram lifts his gaze from the thwart, the old guard in him giving way to a careful hope. Dravin’s expression hardens, then softens by a fraction.
Dravin
Then speak your truth to Markul directly. If Kolaur has placed a hand inside the Church, I would rather learn it from a survivor than from a grave.
Dravin
You have not merely carried proof, Slaan. You have carried a warning that changes the shape of this war.
The lantern flame steadies as the skiff glides on. Bram reaches across the thwart and sets the records where all three can see them, no longer like contraband, more like testimony.
Bram
Then we do this together. Say what must be said, and let Markul hear it plain.
Quest Complete
Answer Dravin plainly