The tavern door opens, admitting a blade of cold autumn light. A composed woman steps through in travel-stained russet and gold, her gaze settling on the map.
Mara Vell
Keep your hands where I can see them. I am Mara Vell, royal courier of Reria, and I came for answers, not a quarrel.
She touches the small metal crest at her throat. Its falling-leaf design matches the mark stamped into the map. Around the room, whispers collapse into silence.
Ashkeeper
That crest should not be here.
Mara Vell
Reria sent no one to search for Floren. If anyone told you otherwise, they carried a false warrant or served a private purpose.
The Ashkeeper goes utterly still beside the table, one gloved hand hovering near the map without touching it. Mara stops just beyond arm's reach.
Mara Vell
I will not seize it. Show me only enough to prove whether the road beneath the kingdom is truly marked there.
“I freeze, one hand still clutching the map but not hiding it away. My gaze shifts to face the woman, expression calm but wary. "I have no objections sharing this map. However, I must inquire why you seek such a forbidden path. You do not carry the scent of Fae."”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Floren
I have no objections to sharing this map. However, why do you seek such a forbidden path? You do not carry the scent of Fae.
The question settles between the three of you. Your hand keeps the map displayed, and the tavern's silence makes Mara's answer belong to every listening ear.
Mara Vell
Because I carried messages for the court when the seal failed. I saw the fields turn silver beneath autumn leaves, and I heard the sealed road answer from below.
Mara Vell
I am mortal, yes. That is precisely why I was chosen. Fae magic bends around your kind, but mortal witnesses remember what the court would rather call a mistake.
Ashkeeper
She speaks of the failure without dressing it in courtly names.
Mara Vell
I seek the path to learn what the seal rejected, and whether Reria's silence has protected the kingdom or merely delayed its ruin.
Mara lowers her hand from the crest and meets your gaze without reaching for the map. Her guarded composure softens into something like exhausted honesty.
Mara Vell
Show me the hidden road, Prince Floren. Then tell me what you remember of the day the Calamity escaped your seal.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what the seal rejected
“After several moments of contemplation, I slowly nod and hand over the map. Choosing not to speak just yet, and instead let the woman inspect the map.”
After several quiet moments, Floren nods and extends the map. Mara accepts it carefully, unfolding the hidden road across the table while the tavern watches in silence.
Mara Vell
There. The old underways. You have carried this alone longer than anyone should.
“I say nothing at first, pondering how long it has been since anyone has said such a thing. Finally, I speak up in a low whisper "..Is it truly wise to let all these passerby overhear such a thing? I sense tension rising."”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +0)
Floren lets the silence linger, weighing the rare kindness in Mara's words. Around the table, tankards stop moving and low conversations thin away.
Floren
Is it truly wise to let these passersby overhear such things? I sense the tension rising.
His whisper reaches Mara, but the hush carries it farther than intended. A nearby patron turns, and the tavern's attention tightens around the royal crest.
Mara Vell
No. It is not wise. But secrecy has already cost Reria enough.
Ashkeeper
Then stop naming the hidden road where every ear can follow. Someone here is listening for a prince, not a courier.
Mara folds one corner of the map over the road, shielding it from the room. The cost is plain: the tavern now suspects both the map and Floren's identity.
Mara Vell
Floren, will you speak with me somewhere these witnesses cannot turn your name into a summons?
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Floren's return out of Reria's hands
“I offer a brief nod before swiftly turning around and beginning a calm but brisk gait towards the stairs leading to the inn rooms above. Intending to lead the woman into the room I had rented under a false name”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled -1)
Floren
The stair rises behind the tavern's listening silence.
Floren gives Mara a brief nod, turns, and takes the stairs at a calm, brisk pace. The room parts around him without a word.
Mara gathers the folded map beneath her cloak and follows. Her heel catches a stair edge, striking the wood with a sharp crack that carries through the tavern.
Ashkeeper
Too late for quiet. Someone has gone to fetch the watch.
Floren reaches the rented room under his false name. Mara slips inside after him, and the door closes on the tavern's watchful faces.
Mara Vell
Your room is private for the moment. But I am a royal courier, Floren. Reria already knows its banished prince has returned.
Below, hurried footsteps enter the tavern, followed by the scrape of a chair and a muffled order. The room's privacy has become a narrow shelter, not a secret.
− Scene Quest Removed
Keep Floren's return out of Reria's hands
“With a muttered curse in the language of my kin, I compose myself and barricade the door. All while whispering even lower "You mentioned the truths Reria's courts have silenced. What is it you seek?"”
FAILURE (Mediocre Strength, rolled +0)
Floren
By the old leaves, keep your voice beneath the floorboards. You mentioned truths Reria's courts have silenced. What is it you seek?
Floren drags the room's small table toward the door and braces it beneath the latch. The wood catches, slips, and cracks against the floor.
The door stays shut, but the table has jammed crookedly, leaving a narrow gap and no solid barricade. Beneath the window, a loose shutter swings against the wall, revealing the sloped tavern awning beyond.
Mara Vell
I seek the truth of the failure, not a culprit to parade before the court. I saw the seal reject something, and Reria buried the account.
Mara kneels beside the crooked table and presses one eye toward the gap. Shadows move across the stair landing below, while the awning offers a second way out.
Mara Vell
The door will not hold a determined watch. The window may take us to the next roof, but only if you choose it before they reach this floor.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the tavern before the watch reaches the room
“I move to stand on the windowsill, wings stirring underneath my cloak. I speak in a hurried whisper "I am capable of flight, but mortals are not. Yet I cannot simply leave you here..."”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +0)
Floren steps onto the windowsill, balancing above the sloped awning as his hidden wings stir beneath the cloak.
Floren
I am capable of flight, but mortals are not. Yet I cannot simply leave you here...
The cloak lifts in the draft, revealing a flicker of orange beneath it. Below, the stair shadows halt.
Mara Vell
Then do not leave me. Take the map, and I will follow by the awning.
Mara rises from her crouch and draws the folded map from beneath her cloak, keeping it close instead of offering it across the room.
A fist strikes the door below the latch. The crooked table shudders, and a voice calls up the stairwell, demanding the prince surrender.
Mara Vell
They know who is here now. Choose quickly, Floren, before the next blow opens this door.