Rain hammers the river landing. The net still swings loose overhead, and the flood water claws at the stones. Goblan scrambles from the bridge shadow just as a massive figure steps into the lantern glow.
Rusted plate armor fills the mud-slick bank. The hulking newcomer stands where the watchman vanished, lantern in one gauntleted hand, visor turned straight at Goblan.
The Mercenary Sergeant
There you are. I knew that shape anywhere.
The Mercenary Sergeant
Thought you could vanish into a city and stay buried, deserter?
Goblan
He knows me. That means the company is close.
The lantern light finds the river foam, the broken net, and the place where the captain went under. The sergeant does not draw steel. He only shifts his stance, blocking the path to the street.
The Mercenary Sergeant
Drop the knives, Goblan. We can do this the clean way, or the hard way.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the mercenary sergeant
“"I won the tournament fair and square please leave me alone" I said then started to run for back alleys”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -2)
Goblan
I won fair and square. Leave me alone.
Goblan turns on his heel and bolts for the back alleys, boots skidding on wet stone as he slips past the lantern glow.
The Mercenary Sergeant
Fair or not, you are still mine.
The sergeant starts after him, then checks himself, keeping the street in sight instead of charging the riverbank.
Goblan vanishes into the narrow dark between leaning walls, rain and shadow swallowing his shape.
The Mercenary Sergeant
Run, then. I will know which alley you choose.
Behind Goblan, the river hammers the stones, and the sergeant remains by the landing, blocking the easy road while the city listens in the dark.
“I get inside maze-like back alleys and they cannot come from my back”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled -1)
Goblan folds into the alley maze, taking the first bend, then the second, until the street behind him snaps out of view. Rainwater beads on the walls and the city becomes a tight black tunnel of stone, cloth lines, and shuttered doors.
He kills his speed, slips through a gap beside a leaning cart, and lets the darkness swallow the shape of him. The alley forks again, and he is already past the place where an easy chase would track.
Goblan
I lose him in here.
A lantern glow brushes the mouth of the nearest turn, then drifts away. The sergeant’s boots do not enter the maze. Instead, his voice carries from the open landing, calm and sharp.
The Mercenary Sergeant
Run clever, deserter. This city has corners, and I have patience.
Goblan reaches a dead end of stacked barrels, finds a dangling drain chain, and uses it to climb over a low wall into a service lane the sergeant cannot see from the river.
From the lane beyond, a breath of lantern-light catches a glimpse of the red cord on the watchman’s arm, far off and moving away, a warning that the net is still being cast somewhere in the city.
Quest Complete
Escape the mercenary sergeant
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb