The Golden Tankard goes still as the door slams wide. Cold air knifes in with a captain in Tranis’s colors, one hand on his sword, eyes fixed on Battista. Behind him, the escape route feels suddenly narrow.
Kaelen
Easy. I am not here for the drinkers. I want the papers, and I know they are here.
The patrons hold their breath. Vey shifts at Battista’s side, ready but not lunging. The captain’s stare never leaves Battista’s belt, as if he can smell the packet there.
Kaelen
You have been watched since the first seal broke. Give me the documents, and this room keeps its roof.
Battista
He knows too much already.
The captain takes one careful step in, blocking the doorway without fully closing it, a man measuring whether words or steel will win first.
Kaelen
Battista, I do not serve Tranis for free. I serve order. Decide quickly.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the Golden Tankard
“Tranis serves lies and deceit. You cannot serve order and Tranis. You should decide where you truly serve.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +2)
Battista
Tranis serves lies and deceit. You cannot serve order and Tranis. Decide where you truly serve.
The captain’s hard stare loosens by a fraction. His sword hand stills at his side, and the room seems to hear his breathing shift.
Kaelen
Order is what I am paid to keep. But lies... yes. Tranis feeds on them.
Vey watches him closely, ready for either steel or surrender. The captain’s gaze flicks once to Battista’s belt, then away, as if the packet has become a weight he can feel from across the room.
Kaelen
That seal mark on the papers, the one from the caravan lists, I have seen it before. Not on a debtor’s ledger. On a dead man’s warning.
The Barkeep
By the hearth... please, not here. If this turns loud, none of us are paid enough for it.
Kaelen
If I turn my cloak, I need to know whose side catches me. Battista, who else in this room would stand when Tranis calls for blood?
“My crew here is loyal. We help those in need. We seek justice or revenge where it is due. If you walk in justice against the wicked we will be at your side.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +0)
Battista lets the silence hold. The captain hears the weight in it, then in the room, then in his own breathing. Vey stays still at Battista’s shoulder, watching the choice happen.
Battista
My crew stands with the needy. We answer injustice where it is due. Walk with justice against the wicked, and we stand at your side.
Kaelen
...That is the first honest offer I have heard from a man in Tranis’s shadow.
The captain lowers his chin and opens his sword hand fully. The crest on his cloak catches the hearthlight as he turns it half aside, not away from the room, but away from loyalty.
The Barkeep
Good. Keep it quiet, all of you. I would like my floorboards to remain unbloodied tonight.
Kaelen
Then hear me plainly. Tranis is not order. He is a knife with a seal on it. If you truly mean justice, I will listen.
Vey relaxes by a fraction, the packet of documents still hidden somewhere under Battista’s control, and the captain waits now for direction instead of giving command.
“I plan to expose Tranis. I am certain he poisoned his father in law to take the estates. He has ruled unjustly since he framed and murdered my father.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled -1)
Vey watches Battista’s words land like a key in a stubborn lock. The captain’s face changes, and the room seems to breathe again.
Kaelen
Then I am with you. Tranis’s seal will not shield poison, murder, or theft forever.
He reaches into his belt pouch and sets a waxed token on the table, a guard’s tally marked with a thin black smudge, like the missing caravan mark.
Vey
That mark... I have seen it before. On the lists that vanished from Tranis’s stores.
The barkeep exhales once, too sharply, and wipes at a spill with shaking fingers. The tavern stills around the three of them, listening.
Kaelen
We do not leave by the front. I know a service door and a patrol change. Use it, and I will call your evidence into daylight.
The captain’s hand hovers over the table, then closes into a fist beside Battista’s route out. His loyalty is no longer hidden, but it has cost him the certainty in his voice.
+ New Item Acquired
waxed guard token
“Take heart my new friend. The Goddess will reward you for the honor you have proven today.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled -2)
Battista lets the silence settle, then gives the captain a steady look. The words land cleanly, not as flattery, but as recognition.
Battista
Take heart, my new friend. The Goddess will reward the honor you show today.
Kaelen
Honor... yes. I have had enough of Tranis’s rot.
A faint tremor leaves the captain’s jaw. The black-smudged token sits between them like a verdict, and his hand curls away from it as if from heat.
Kaelen
Then let it be seen. I will bear the shame of my colors if I must, so long as I help end his lies.
Vey
That’s the kind of fracture we needed.
The barkeep’s shoulders ease a fraction, though one cup slips in his grip and clacks softly against the table. Outside, the tavern stays shut in its own breathless hush, while Battista’s allies quietly become more real.
“Good. Then it is agreed. We are allies in this. Captain, how do you recommend we should proceed.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled -1)
Battista
Then it is agreed. We are allies in this. Captain, how do you recommend we proceed?
Kaelen
Use the service door. It opens to the alley behind the inn, and from there you can lose the street watch before they learn my face has turned.
Vey
If the alley runs true, we can reach the lower ward and vanish into the crowd. Safer than waiting for Tranis’s men to notice the missing token.
The Barkeep
I can keep the front hall busy for a few breaths. Long enough, if you are quick.
Kaelen
There is one more thing. The caravan list mark, the black smudge on that token, it matches the seal on the store ledger. That is where his accounting breaks first.
Vey
So the lie is anchored in the books, not just the road.
Battista hears the plan settle into place as the captain points out the side passage and the barkeep braces to hold the room. The token, the documents, and the mark all seem to lean toward the same hidden door in Tranis’s fraud.
“leave through the service door.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)