The concealed grate settles behind Posh, leaving the gathered thieves and their merchant’s goods behind in the den. She enters the Crooked Bell’s narrow service hall alone, beneath low candlelight.
Shelves line the stone walls, crowded with ledgers, wax-sealed boxes, and curiosities wrapped in oilskin. A middle-aged woman bellkeeper stands behind a narrow oak desk, her gray braid tucked beneath a brown cap.
the bellkeeper
Token.
The bellkeeper silently examines the brass three-eyed crow, turning it beneath the candle flame. Satisfied, she pulls a cord, and a muted bell answers somewhere above.
A cloaked archivist descends from a cramped stairwell, a slender elderly elf man with ash-gray skin, white eyebrows, and a deep green mantle fastened by bone clasps.
the cloaked archivist
The Widow’s Index is not shown to every curious collector. Still, your token carries an invitation, and I know where the catalogue is kept.
the cloaked archivist
Before I grant access, identify the kind of undead artifact you seek. A relic of bone, soul, blood, memory, or something less easily named?
✓ Quest Accepted
Gain access to the Widow’s Index
✓ Quest Accepted
Acquire an undead artifact
““Bone please, I like bones. Oh by the way, a nice young fellow gave me this token, green hood, has a penchant for taking things from merchants. Does he perchance have a name he goes by that I may know?””
FAILURE (Great Reasoning, rolled -4)
““Bone please, I like bones. Oh by the way, a nice young fellow gave me this token, green hood, has a penchant for taking things from merchants. Does he perchance have a name he goes by that I may know?””
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Posh
Bone, please. I like bones. Oh, and a nice young fellow gave me this token, green hood, fond of taking things from merchants. Does he have a name I might know?
The archivist studies Posh over steepled fingers, while the bellkeeper’s expression remains carefully blank. Candlelight glints along the bone clasps of his green mantle.
the cloaked archivist
Bone relics, then. Ossuary keys, saintly remains, marrow charms, and the stranger instruments made from older skeletons. The Index has several entries.
the cloaked archivist
As for your young benefactor, the green hood is Dain Vell. In respectable ledgers he is a broker of recovered property. In honest conversation, he is a thief.
He draws a narrow ledger from beneath the desk and opens it with a dry whisper of parchment. Several bone-white tabs protrude between its dark pages.
the cloaked archivist
Dain has used the three-eyed crow for years, though he gives tokens only to useful curiosities. Mention his name at the Index, and the catalogue’s bone entries will be marked for your attention.
““Dain did mention he’d meet me here after he and his friends got their goods sorted””
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +2)
Posh
Dain did say he would meet me here after he and his friends finished sorting the goods.
The cloaked archivist’s fingers pause above the open ledger. Behind the oak desk, the bellkeeper glances toward the service hall, listening to the muted bell’s fading resonance.
the cloaked archivist
Then your information accords with his invitation. Dain knows this house, and he knows better than to make a guest wait without notice.
the bellkeeper
He has not entered through the rear door. If his sorting is finished, he is either delayed or using another entrance.
The cloaked archivist turns two bone-white tabs aside and reveals a smaller notation beneath them, written in cramped violet ink. A fresh mark sits beside Dain’s name.
the cloaked archivist
There. His expected arrival is recorded for tonight. You may wait in the catalogue room, where the bone entries can be shown to you.
the cloaked archivist
If Dain comes, he will find you already admitted. That should satisfy both his courtesy and your curiosity.
Quest Complete
Gain access to the Widow’s Index
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb