Mara guides the mule from the reeds to a roofless customs hut overlooking the eastern road. Rain runs through the broken rafters, silvering the mud below.
Inside, rain-damaged ledgers sag on warped shelves beside a rusted seal press. Fresh ash clings to the cold hearth, and muddy tracks show officials fled recently.
Mara Venn
Keep low, little shadow. If the customs men return, they will ask why this hut still has visitors.
Mara sets the mule beneath the soundest corner and searches the scattered papers. One intact registry page lies beneath a fallen board, its ink blurred except for a mercenary authorization mark.
Mara Venn
That mark could carry us past the eastern road without questions. It could also tell your former company exactly where you ran.
Beyond the hut, the road divides around a flooded checkpoint. No watcher appears, but a distant horn sounds once toward the ford, where the searchers may still be waiting.
Mara Venn
The watchman remains behind at the sluice, and the sergeant is somewhere below the city. Here, we choose whether this page shields us or summons them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Obtain credible proof of lawful passage
“I search the hut for seals or records proving lawful passage. while I am doing it Mara started to take of her clothes suddenly”
FAILURE (Great Perception, rolled -3)
Goblan searches the hut methodically, checking warped shelves, loose boards, the hearth ash, and every drawer beneath the ruined counter. Mara suddenly strips off her soaked green coat and outer shirt, revealing a plain linen undershirt beneath.
Mara Venn
The rain has made the coat heavy enough to announce us. Do not stare, little shadow. Search the lining and the mule’s packs.
Goblan
The seal press is missing its crest, but its base carries a fresh impression.
Goblan finds three brittle passage slips beneath the coat’s discarded lining. Each bears an official border mark, but the dates are crossed out and the authorization names a dead customs officer.
Mara Venn
Useless for lawful passage. Those records would expose us, not protect us. Take the page with the mercenary mark and leave the rest.
As Goblan lifts the intact registry page, its damp fibers separate from the board. A second impression appears beneath it, showing the authorization was copied from a company seal, not issued by the customs house.
Mara Venn
Then the page proves only that someone forged permission here. We cannot pass as lawful travelers, but we know this checkpoint has been compromised.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach safety beyond the compromised checkpoint
+ New Item Acquired
Forged registry page
− Scene Quest Removed
Obtain credible proof of lawful passage
“I pocket the forged registry page and search the mule’s packs for another route. She started to get naked this time.”
SUCCESS (Fair Thievery, rolled -1)
Goblan pockets the forged registry page and moves to the mule’s packs. Behind him, Mara turns away beneath the broken rafters, pulling a dry travel wrap from the gear.
He searches by weight and stitching rather than disturbing every bundle. Beneath a saddle blanket, his fingers find a waxed leather tube tied behind the mule’s spare girth.
The tube contains a narrow charcoal route strip: a drainage causeway leaves the checkpoint, crosses beneath the eastern road, and rejoins the old pilgrim trail beyond the flooded ground.
Mara Venn
That gets us around the checkpoint. Keep it hidden. Anything bearing a border mark will draw eyes now.
As Goblan frees the strip, the spare girth buckle slips from its loop and strikes the stone floor. The sharp clink carries through the roofless hut toward the road.
Mara Venn
There is your cost, little shadow. We have the route, but whoever is listening knows this hut is occupied.
Mara secures the dry wrap, gathers the reins, and points toward a weed-choked culvert behind the customs hut. The hidden causeway begins there, beneath the rain.
+ New Item Acquired
Charcoal route strip
“Now she was naked and try to make me fall for herself with her naked body. Goblan understand she is the real threat but don't expose his thoughts”
FAILURE (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Mara uses her uncovered state as a deliberate distraction, closing the space between them beneath the broken rafters. The moment passes without lingering description, and Goblan keeps his face unreadable.
His attention does not leave her hands. When Mara reaches toward the waxed route strip, Goblan shifts the bundle aside as though protecting it from the rain.
Mara Venn
You watch the road, the packs, and every locked box. Must I compete with all of them for your attention?
Her fingers close on the forged registry page instead. Goblan lets the mistake stand, hiding his suspicion behind a quiet, practical inspection of the mule’s harness.
Mara Venn
This paper matters to you. More than the causeway, perhaps. More than trusting the woman who brought you here.
The attempt nearly works: Mara now holds the forged page, and Goblan has lost the clean chance to leave unnoticed. Yet her movement reveals a concealed hook beneath the saddle blanket, shaped for a key or narrow blade.
The culvert remains open behind her, and the route strip is still secured with the packs. Goblan can leave through the drainage causeway, or use the hidden hook as leverage before Mara realizes what he saw.
“I seize the hidden hook and leave after play a little with her naked body for her trust.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +1)
Goblan’s hand closes around the concealed hook beneath the saddle blanket. He gives Mara a brief, knowing look, turning her attempted distraction back upon her without lingering.
Goblan
You will have to try harder than that to keep my attention, Mara.
Mara Venn
Careful, little shadow. Confidence becomes a poor disguise when it starts showing.
Mara reaches for the registry page, but Goblan slips the hook into his sleeve and steps away from the mule. The route strip remains secured among the packs.
Mara Venn
Taking my tools and my forged paper? You are becoming expensive company.
Goblan leaves through the weed-choked culvert, carrying the hidden hook and the route knowledge with him. Rain swallows his footsteps as the drainage causeway bends beneath the checkpoint.
Mara Venn
He is reckless, observant, and already gone before I decide whether to be angry.
+ New Item Acquired
Concealed hook
“While geting away Goblan shouts "I will fuck you later if you want but not now sorry" and get away with everything”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled -3)
Goblan
I will come back later if you want, but not now. Sorry.
Goblan slips into the drainage causeway with the concealed hook in his sleeve and the route knowledge secured in memory. Behind him, rain masks his first steps.
Mara Venn
Run, then, little shadow. But do not mistake escape for forgiveness.
The causeway narrows beneath the checkpoint. Goblan keeps low, following the charcoal route in his mind toward the old pilgrim trail beyond the flooded ground.
His retreat costs him silence: the hidden hook catches a stone and clatters sharply through the tunnel. Mara hears it, and the forged registry page remains in her hand.
Mara Venn
I know exactly what you took, Goblan. If that hook returns, perhaps the page does too.
Goblan emerges beyond the checkpoint, soaked and breathing hard but free. The hook, the route knowledge, and the advantage of distance are his as Mara’s voice fades behind him.
“I get away for the checkpoint "Love you babe see you later" said”
FAILURE (Superb Agility, rolled -3)
Goblan
Love you, babe. See you later.
Goblan slips into the drainage causeway, keeping low beneath the checkpoint. Rainwater streams around his boots as he follows the charcoal route toward the old pilgrim trail.
Mara Venn
Go, then, little shadow. I heard you. Do not make me regret letting you leave.
The passage bends beneath the flooded road, but a fallen iron grate blocks the far opening. Its bars are chained from the checkpoint side, and rising water begins filling the narrow channel.
Goblan
The causeway is blocked from this side.
Goblan tests the grate and finds the concealed hook can reach the chain, but each movement scrapes loudly against the stone. Behind him, the tunnel mouth darkens with runoff.
Mara Venn
Goblan? The road guards are moving. If you are still beneath them, stop hiding and find another way out.
The escape has carried Goblan into a flooding dead end, with the checkpoint above and the blocked grate ahead. The hook offers one risky opening, but silence is no longer possible.
“I use the hook to pull the grate chain”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled -1)
Goblan hooks the chain through the grate, braces his slim frame against the slick stone, and pulls. Iron shrieks as the lock tears free.
The grate swings outward into the runoff, opening the causeway to the old pilgrim trail. Water surges past Goblan’s boots toward the dark beyond.
Goblan
The chain is broken, and the trail is open.
Above, boots pound across the checkpoint boards. Lanternlight flashes through the grate as road guards shout, but the rising water drowns their words.
Mara Venn
Goblan, move! The guards are at the culvert, and I will not explain your disappearance twice.
Goblan slips through the opened grate and follows the charcoal route beneath the flooded road. Behind him, the broken iron bars swing shut under the current.
The causeway releases him beyond the checkpoint, where the old pilgrim trail climbs through dripping ash trees. Mara’s voice fades behind stone and rain.
“I signal Mara through the open culvert then I take my leave by myself through checkpoint”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +0)
Goblan pauses beneath the open culvert and raises two fingers toward the grate, then points down the trail. The signal tells Mara he is leaving alone.
Mara Venn
Understood, little shadow. Go before the guards search the watercourse.
Goblan turns from her voice and follows the charcoal route through the checkpoint’s drainage passage. Water rushes around his boots, carrying away the last traces of his passage.
Above, lanterns sweep across the culvert mouth. Goblan keeps to the shadow beneath the stonework and passes beneath the checkpoint unseen, leaving Mara and the guards behind.
Mara Venn
May the old road hide you. If you return, bring back my hook and a better apology.
The causeway opens beyond the checkpoint onto the old pilgrim trail. Goblan emerges alone among dripping ash trees, with the eastern road clear ahead and no pursuit at his heels.