Dust hangs in the weak daylight. The Old Apothecary keeps working at the counter, careful hands over the inhaler and vial, while Bluze stands guard beside the Boy. The cracked glass lid catches a pale glint on the floor.
The Old Apothecary
Not a common cure. Not a normal child, either. Whatever is in that vial, somebody went to a lot of trouble to keep it moving.
Jory
Bluze is still here. That makes the room feel less like a trap.
The old man eases back from his work and studies the Boy, then Bluze, his suspicion thinning into concern.
The Old Apothecary
Those people after you, they are not chasing a thief. They are chasing what you carry.
Jory
I know. That is why I kept running.
The apothecary snorts softly, then sets the vial down with exaggerated care. The boy leans a little closer to Bluze, breathing steadier now.
The Old Apothecary
Rest a minute. If you are willing, I want the whole story this time, from the start.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hear the whole story from the start
“It is the boy's story to tell”
SUCCESS (Superb Negotiation, rolled +0)
The old man gives the boy the room to speak. Dust drifts in the weak light as he folds his hands and waits, no longer looming over the counter.
The Old Apothecary
Start where it began. I want the whole shape of it, not the scraps.
Jory
It starts below. They found the vial before I did, and they would not let me leave with it.
He swallows, then keeps going, eyes fixed on the counter instead of the old man's face.
Jory
The people under the tunnels want it for a door. Not for me. Not for healing. For a door.
The apothecary goes still at that, one thumb rubbing over the edge of the cracked glass lid on the floor.
The Old Apothecary
Then you were not carrying contraband, you were carrying a lockpick for something buried.
The boy nods once, and the old man's suspicion gives way to something steadier, more thoughtful, as the room waits for the next part.
“I let him keep talking”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Bluze stays quiet, and the room lets the boy keep going. The apothecary does not interrupt this time, only shifts the cracked lid aside with two careful fingers.
Jory
I was with them before the tunnels. They called it work, until I saw what they were doing with people.
Jory
They kept records, samples, names. Mine was on a list before I ever touched the vial.
The Old Apothecary
So they were hunting a witness as much as a thief.
Jory
Yes. When I ran, they followed the vial, but they never stopped looking for me.
The old man’s expression tightens, not with fear now, but with a colder kind of recognition. Somewhere deeper in the storefront, a pipe gives a faint metallic tick, and the distant tunnel sound answers like a low breath.
The boy finally glances up at Bluze, fragile but steadier for having said it aloud. The apothecary waits, one hand resting near the bowl of supplies, giving the next part back to him.
“Eventually he made it to the arena i was held captive in shortly after my escape. That's when i joined his journey and started protecting him.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
The boy keeps talking, and Bluze stays there like a wall that breathes. The old apothecary listens with both hands busy, letting the story settle into the room instead of trying to cut it apart.
Jory
He found me after the escape, in the arena ruins. I thought I was done for.
Jory
Instead he got me out, and I stayed with him after that. I started covering him because somebody had to.
Bluze does not interrupt. The boy’s shoulders loosen a fraction when no one challenges him, and the apothecary’s eyes flick once toward Bluze, measuring the steady silence as much as the words.
The Old Apothecary
So that is the shape of it. Not a theft, not a whim, a chain of choices after the first wound.
Jory
Yeah. That is all of it.
The old man gives a slow nod, the kind that means he believes enough to act on it. The cracked lid lies by his boot, and somewhere far back in the tunnels, that faint sound moves once more through the pipes.
Quest Complete
Hear the whole story from the start
Skill Upgrade: Marksmanship Mediocre