Salt wind knifes into a hidden cove tavern cut into black stone. Lantern light shivers over wet boards, mercenaries, and a mast planted in the floor like a warning.
Tabitha steps in from the stairs below, and every head turns. At the center, the tavern keeper hangs bound to the mast, fingers trembling over a warped lute.
The Tavern Keeper
Listen close, all of you. This is the tale of Tabitha, knife in the dark, oathbreaker, grave-walker, thief of kin...
His melody skips and claws at the room. A few mercenaries grin. Others watch Tabitha with uneasy interest, waiting to see if the song becomes blood.
The Hulking Figure
Careful now. One more note and the keeper loses his tongue. You here to hush him, or to let the whole cove hear your name?
Tabitha
The blade is close enough to matter.
The hulking figure shifts the knife to the keeper’s throat, not pressing yet, just promising. The crowd tightens around the space, a circle with no easy exit.
✓ Quest Accepted
Save the tavern keeper
“I lunge at the hulking figure to knock the knife away.”
SUCCESS (Good Melee Combat, rolled +1)
Tabitha drives in low, shoulder first. The knife jerks sideways as her strike catches the hulking figure’s wrist.
The blade skitters off the mast with a harsh ring and drops from his hand.
The hulking figure stumbles back half a step, balance broken, more shocked than hurt.
The tavern keeper gasps and clamps both hands around the lute, staring at the gap between them.
The Hulking Figure
Enough. Back away, or I split him where he hangs.
But his empty hand is already reaching, trying to recover before the crowd decides who owns the room.
“I shield the tavern keeper”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +1)
Tabitha steps in front of the tavern keeper, taking the shove line on her shoulder instead of his chest.
The hulking figure’s reaching hand meets empty air, blocked by her body and the mast at her back.
The Hulking Figure
Move.
The tavern keeper keeps both arms wrapped around the lute, blinking up at Tabitha from behind her cover.
The Tavern Keeper
She’s between us now.
Around them, mercenary boots scrape closer, but the gap around the keeper holds for one strained breath.
The hulking figure resets his stance, empty hand lifting toward Tabitha as the room waits to see who she answers first.
“I talk down the hulking figure”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled -1)
Tabitha lowers her hand a fraction and speaks without heat, trying to take the edge off the room. The hulking figure does not step back, but his reach hesitates.
Tabitha
You do not need to do this. Let him go.
The Tavern Keeper
He used to laugh like that too, before the first debt came due.
The keeper’s voice is thin, but he keeps talking, eyes fixed on the mercenary as if naming him might shrink him. The hulking figure’s mouth twitches at the sound, anger briefly checked by memory.
The Hulking Figure
You hear that? He still thinks words matter.
Several mercenaries shift their weight, listening now instead of closing. The circle loosens by a handspan, though no one leaves.
The Tavern Keeper
Tabitha, if you can reach the knot, try the left side first. He always ties it wrong when he is rushed.
“Is the hulking figure afraid of the song?”
NO (Likely, rolled 78)
The hulking figure scoffs at the melody, his expression hardening as he dismisses the lyrics as nothing more than a desperate man's rambling. He remains unmoved by the song, his grip on the situation tightening once more.
“I untie the tavern keeper now”
SUCCESS (Good Thievery, rolled -1)
Tabitha slips the cord free with careful fingers. The last knot parts, and the tavern keeper sags as the bindings fall away.
He catches himself on the mast, breathing hard, while the loose rope coils at his feet.
The hulking figure turns too late, his control broken by the small sound of the knots giving way.
The Tavern Keeper
...My hands. At last.
A mercenary shifts in the loosened ring, and heads begin to turn toward Tabitha again.
The Hulking Figure
Careful now. That was the last kindness I was giving this room.
Quest Complete
Save the tavern keeper
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Fair→Good