Rain drums steadily on the lean-to. Beyond its ragged edge, the forest floor has become black muck, swallowing footprints and reflecting the gray sky.
Hobb crouches near Talya, checking her arms and shoulders for wounds without touching more than necessary. Satisfied, he turns to gather the abandoned packs and scattered blades.
Hobb
You are not bleeding. Good. I would rather not owe you a healer as well as the truth.
As Hobb reaches beneath his torn sleeve, a dark, branching mark shows along his forearm. It resembles ink beneath the skin, curling toward his wrist.
Hobb
The curse marked me when I was a child. I thought it was only a scar until the cellar seal answered my blood.
Hobb
I should have told her before we reached the farm. Perhaps then she would have known exactly what I was risking.
Hobb
When I touched the rune, it opened for me. Not fully, but enough. My employer knew that. He hired me because the seal recognizes what is inside me.
He finishes sorting the gear into two dry bundles and leaves one within Talya's reach. Then he sits beneath the lean-to, hands visible, while the rain softens the world around them.
Hobb
You can question me, send me away, or let me stay until morning. I will answer plainly this time.
“Your not the only cursed creature here. So don't feel to ashamed. May i see the mark. I ask holding out my hand”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +1)
Talya
You are not the only cursed creature here. Do not be ashamed. May I see the mark?
Talya extends one hand across the dry space between them, palm open. The gesture is an offer, but her steady posture leaves no room for evasion.
Hobb
There are others? Then perhaps I am not as alone as I thought.
Hobb studies her hand, then turns his marked forearm upward and places it within reach. The branching stain is clearer now, dark lines threading beneath his skin.
Hobb
It never hurt until the seal called to it. Since then, I have felt it listening whenever the earth begins to thump.
Hobb
She sees the curse and has not recoiled. Perhaps that is what mercy looks like.
Rain whispers beyond the shelter. Hobb leaves his arm offered between them, waiting for Talya to decide what the mark means.
Determine what Hobb's curse mark reveals about the entity