Maurice and the bride leave the hall road beneath cold daylight. Behind them, the ritual leader and his two retainers remain with the witnesses inside, while the great doors swing shut.
A man stumbles from the hedgerow ahead, an adult with a gaunt face, greying hair, and a torn green courier's coat darkened by blood. One sleeve hangs empty, and a snapped ducal chain rests at his throat.
Ser Aldric Venn
Wait. I am Ser Aldric Venn, a ducal investigator.
Ser Aldric Venn takes two unsteady steps toward them, then collapses beside the road. His fist opens, revealing a broken signet bearing the baron's household mark.
Ser Aldric Venn
The baron's seal is not merely for his hall. His siphoning rite was meant to prepare the bride for a larger bargain, already expected elsewhere.
the bride
Elsewhere? With whom? What bargain could require my patron's power?
The hedgerow shivers in the wind behind the fallen investigator. The road ahead lies empty, but Aldric's warning leaves the bride staring toward its distant bends.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who expects the bride in the larger bargain
“Does the broken signet identify where the larger bargain is expected?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 50)
The broken signet lies dull in Ser Ser Aldric Venn Venn’s palm. Its stamped mark is worn and incomplete, enough to prove the baron’s household, but not to name any destination.
the bride
Then it tells us who stands behind the bargain, not where it will be made.
Ser Aldric Venn
Aye. The break destroyed the reverse inscription. There is no road, manor, or city hidden in that piece.
Ser Aldric Venn lowers his hand, breathing hard. The snapped ducal chain rests against his torn coat, while the empty road offers no messenger, marker, or fresh trail.
the bride
The baron planned beyond his hall, and we have no place to follow yet.
Ser Aldric Venn
I carried the signet as proof, not as a map. Whoever expected the bargain will know the meeting place without needing this.
The wind moves through the hedgerow and lifts the bride’s torn ivory hem. The warning remains, but the broken seal yields no further direction.
“I look for any signs of a trap.”
NO, AND WORSE (Unlikely, rolled 90)
Maurice scans the road, hedgerow, and bare fields. No disturbed earth, hidden bowman, or waiting horse marks an ambush, but the silence beyond the bend is unnaturally complete.
Ser Aldric Venn
No trap here. That is worse. They expected me to reach the road alive.
A thin whistle rises from the distant bend, answered by another behind the hedgerow. Aldric’s face drains as he hears the pattern.
Ser Aldric Venn
Riders. Not pursuing us. Signallers. The baron’s men have closed the roads ahead and behind.
the bride
Then this road was left open deliberately. They want us moving toward the bargain.
The bride grips her torn ivory gown and looks toward the empty bend. Aldric struggles upright, but his knees buckle before he can stand.
Ser Aldric Venn
There is a third signal now. They know the bride left the hall.
“I ask Aldric who expects the bride”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +3)
Maurice Headsman
Aldric, who expects the bride?
Ser Aldric Venn
The warlord beyond the baron's reach. He is gathering patrons' power through intermediaries, and the bride is to be delivered to his men.
Aldric presses one hand to his wounded side and points toward the hedgerow. His voice steadies now that the hidden bargain has a name, if not a name of its own.
Ser Aldric Venn
The baron is only the hand. The warlord expects her at a waystation called Saint Orra's Cross, east beyond the bend.
the bride
Then the signals are herding us toward Saint Orra's Cross.
Ser Aldric Venn
Yes. But there is an old shepherd's track through the western fields. It avoids the road and reaches the chapel before their riders can close it.
Aldric slips the broken signet into Maurice's reach, then braces himself against the hedge. Behind them, the answering whistles fade, leaving the western track open and unguarded.
Reach Saint Orra's Cross
Quest Complete
Learn who expects the bride in the larger bargain
+ New Item Acquired
Broken signet