The silver clasp lies in the dirt between bootprints. The guards loosen around Bince, and the knot of onlookers starts to breathe again.
A guard staggers through the market gate, bent double and gasping. "Ilotha... has breached the estate perimeter!" he blares.
lord Kane Loridulus
Men, with me. Seal the grounds. Find her now.
Lord Kane’s face hardens. He snaps two sharp gestures, and his men pivot at once, breaking from Bince to the path toward the estate.
Bince
So that is it. Not me. Not this time.
Xene
A cleaner trail than ours, if the clasp is the bait.
From the milling crowd, a spice seller with ink-stained fingers steps half a pace forward, watching the dropped clasp and the rushing guards with narrow eyes.
The Spice Seller
I saw a hooded woman slip past the grain carts earlier. Fast hands. Quiet feet. Might be your Ilotha.
+ Story Quest Added
Find Ilotha
“I ask the spice seller about Ilotha”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +0)
Azera turns the spice seller’s warning into a direct question, and the market noise seems to hush around it.
The Spice Seller
Ilotha loves borrowed paths, borrowed names, borrowed guilt. But she cannot resist a marked thing. That clasp is hers, or tied to her somehow.
The Spice Seller
I sold pepper-salt to a serving boy at the estate this morn. He said a silver clasp was seen in a sleeve, then vanished from sight by the grain carts.
Bince
So the clasp is not mine. It points at her. Good. At last, something honest.
Xene
And now we know why the trail felt staged. A thief with a taste for drama leaves a brighter footprint than a frightened man ever could.
The Spice Seller
If you want Ilotha, look where the estate’s servants spill in and out. She favors the places no guard watches twice.
The seller folds back, glancing from Azera to the estate path, ready to say more if asked.
Quest Complete
Uncover what the silver clasp has to do with Bince
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Good→Great