The alley behind the Annex stays dim, then a sweep of light cuts across the brick and catches the figure at the mouth of the passage. Dallas Fontaine is still by the sedan, Murderbone braced beside him, while the unconscious Adelaide Wren slumps in the backseat. The stamped scrap lies in the footwell, wet and half-crumpled.
The newcomer steps into the beam, and the shape clicks into place. It is the same contact from the slip, the one who offered cooperation before and vanished into the dark.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
You found the office. Good. Don’t force the door, it’ll trip a silent alarm.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
Bell had it wired. I know the bypass, and I brought the key.
They lift a heavy iron key between two fingers, rain-matted coat slick with alley water, eyes fixed on Dallas as another light sweep crawls past the far wall.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
If you want Bell alive long enough to answer for this, you move when I say.
Murderbone growls low, reading the stranger’s nerves. Dallas has the freight office in reach at last, but the path inside just turned into a trap with a key in its lock.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find Bell at the freight office under Pier Nine
✓ Quest Accepted
Extract final truths from Voss
“I strangle wren again until she is no more”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled -3)
Dallas moves in without a word. The sedan rocks once as his hand clamps Adelaide Wren by the throat, then the rest of her fight drains out in a single slackening motion.
Her head drops against the seat. Her hand slips from the cushion, fingers open, and the alley goes still except for the distant sweep of light across brick.
Murderbone surges closer to the open door, hackles high, watching for any sign she stirs again.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
Jesus... Dallas, stop. She is dead.
The stranger does not advance, but the iron key lowers in their grip. Their relief is gone, replaced by a hard, careful stare at Dallas and the body in the backseat.
The stamped scrap stays in the footwell, wet under the interior light. Beyond the alley mouth, the sweeping beam returns, slower this time, as if searching.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
We do this now, or someone else takes that office first.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the freight office key and bypass code
“Grab the key and bypass code from the stranger's hand.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -2)
Dallas snaps the iron key from the stranger’s hand in one clean motion. A folded slip comes with it, and he has both before the other can flinch.
The stranger jerks back empty-handed, jaw tight, eyes fixed on Dallas’s grip. The alley beam washes over the brick, then slides away again.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
That’s it. Freight office key and bypass code. Don’t lose either.
Murderbone pushes his nose between Dallas and the open door, low and bristling, while the sedan’s interior light glints off the wet stamped scrap in the footwell.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
Too late to doubt me now.
The stranger lifts one hand, backing toward the alley mouth as the sweeping light pauses, then comes back slower, searching the brick and the car.
The Unknown Figure in Hallway
If Bell is still alive, we move now.
Quest Complete
Get the freight office key and bypass code
+ New Item Acquired
Iron key