Lorrin Elcryss pushes through the heavy oak doors and the inn explodes into chaos.
Chairs lie overturned, mugs spill across the boards, and frightened patrons huddle in the corners as a wandering swordsman drives forward through the uproar.
The Bard
Wait, please, I am only singing what I saw!
The swordsman lunges at the bard, blade flashing low to silence him.
The tune carries names, places, and the shape of Lorrin's recent trail.
At Lorrin's cloak, the tucked map trembles. Its blank skin blooms with faint glowing ink, line by line, answering the song.
The Swordsman
You. Doorway. Now. If you heard that song, you know why I cannot let it finish.
He turns, blade rising toward Lorrin, and the final note hangs like a warning before the next verse can fall.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hear the song about Lorrin Elcryss
“I shout for the bard to keep singing while I hold the line.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +3)
Lorrin plants himself between the swordsman and the bard, bow low and ready, a living wall in the cramped space.
Lorrin Elcryss
Keep singing.
The order lands cleanly. The bard draws a shaking breath and forces the melody onward, voice thin but steady enough to carry.
The Bard
The road turns east by the old stones... to the place beneath the black hill...
At those words, the glowing ink in Lorrin's tucked map brightens and resolves into a clear route, then a marked hollow at the hill's base. Several patrons stare straight at it.
The Swordsman
No.
He checks his rush, blade hovering short of Lorrin's chest, caught between the bard's voice and the room's sudden attention. The inn falls tense and silent around the revealed mark.
Quest Complete
Hear the song about Lorrin Elcryss
“I ask the swordsman why he wants him silent”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Lorrin Elcryss
Why do you want him silent?
The Swordsman
Because that song is a trail to a grave, and graves invite thieves, fools, and worse.
His answer cuts through the hush. The blade lowers a handspan, not in peace, but in calculation.
The Bard
I only sang what was paid for. I did not know it would point here.
The map's bright ink holds steady in Lorrin's cloak, plain enough now for every staring patron to read the shape of the revealed route.
The Swordsman
Then decide, ranger. Hide it, or let the whole room know where the hill opens.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reveal the map's secrets through song
“Command the bard to sing the next verse of the map's route.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Lorrin points toward the bard with a small, sharp motion of his bow, and the room falls quiet around the gesture. The bard swallows, then squares himself and draws breath for the next verse.
The Bard
Right. The next line, then... if the song is going to betray me, it might as well do it clearly.
He sings, and the ink in Lorrin's cloak answers at once, flaring brighter than a hearthbrand. Fine lines spread across the map, branching from the black hill into a ravine marked by a dead oak and a split stone arch.
A woman near the fire gasps. Someone at the back whispers the name of the ravine aloud, as if the map has dragged the place into the room with it.
The Swordsman
So that's the route. Damn it.
The bard's voice catches on the last note, and a bead of sweat drops onto the table, smearing a trace of ale across the glowing edge.
The route is out in the open now, but the swordsman's blade comes up again as he measures the crowd, and the patrons keep staring, waiting to see who moves first.
Quest Complete
Reveal the map's secrets through song