The barn is dry, all old hay and splintered boards, a clean smell after the cellar’s wet rot. Doc Holliday eases down onto a straw bale, and the Yard outside the sheriff office goes quiet around him.
His Gun Lance comes off his shoulder with a heavy clatter. The metal settles beside him like a sleeping iron hound.
Caleb
He saved me. Or dragged me this far, at least.
Caleb sits a few paces off, dusty and pale, rubbing grit from his sleeves. He keeps watching Doc as if expecting the silence to break into judgment.
Caleb
I thought you were the doom of it all. Then the floor gave way, and you still pulled me out.
Outside, the last of the collapse settles with a soft, distant rumble. In here, the barn holds steady, warm enough to breathe easy.
Caleb
If you want water, there’s a bucket by the door. If you want the truth... I can try.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn the truth about the town's rot
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Caleb alive
“Check Caleb's wounds before we start digging into this town's rot.”
FAILURE (Legendary Health, rolled -4)
Doc kneels in the dry barn straw, big hands working careful over Caleb’s side. The torn shirt is wet, but the bleed has already slowed to a dark, sticky soak.
His fingers find bruises, grit, and a shallow cut, no mortal spill. Caleb sucks in a breath and stays upright, pale but conscious.
Doc Holliday
Alive. Shaken, but alive.
Caleb
It is not me they are after. It is what I know. The office floor, the cellar, the rot under both.
The words land harder than the dust. Caleb lifts a trembling hand, showing Doc a smear of black mud beneath his nails.
Caleb
That muck was on the beam before the collapse. Same stink as the alley by the livery, same as the well.
From outside, the sheriff yard gives a thin creak in the heat, and the barn door throws a narrow blade of light across Caleb’s lap.
Quest Complete
Keep Caleb alive