A month of calm has settled over Phandelver, and the Hall of Welcome hums softly in the background of a crowded tavern. Nhal slips through the noise and stops at Slaan's table, a flickering shard of map light in hand.
Nhal lays the fragment flat between Slaan and Mara. The scrap shows the town's outskirts, but one ink line runs wrong, like it was drawn over something hidden.
Nhal
I found this beyond the outer stones. It was tucked where the ground had been disturbed. I think it points to a buried way.
Mara leans in at once, her gaze sharp and wary. Slaan catches the faint tremor in Nhal's glow, the nervousness they are trying hard to keep still.
Mara
If it is a way, someone hid it for a reason. Show me the edge that was covered.
Slaan
The line bends toward the north road, just past the last field.
Nhal points with a careful finger, then looks from Mara to Slaan, as if asking which of them will say yes first. The tavern's candlelight catches on the map's torn seam, and the hidden route seems to wait.
✓ Quest Accepted
Follow Nhal’s buried way
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what lies beneath the disturbed ground
“" you want to go , don't you hun" I say with a grin”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +2)
Slaan’s grin lands soft in the candlelight, and the tavern noise seems to thin around the little table. Nhal’s glow steadies as they look at her, then at the torn map, then back again.
Slaan
You want to go, don’t you, hun?
Nhal
They do not answer at once, but their fingers tighten on the map fragment. Want curls through their silence, cautious and unmistakable.
Mara
If we follow it, we follow it together. I will not let her walk into old stone alone.
Nhal lets out a small, breathless laugh, the kind that sounds like relief finally remembering how to speak. They slide the fragment toward Slaan.
Nhal
Yes. I want to see what is under it. Not to be swallowed by it, just... to know.
Outside the tavern windows, rain taps the shutters in a fine, persistent whisper. Inside, the hidden line on the map sits open between them, waiting for the first step.
“" when do you want to go nhal?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Slaan
When do you want to go, Nhal?
Slaan’s question settles between the candles, gentle but plain. The table goes still around it.
Nhal
Soon. Not this second, but soon. I do not want the trail to cool.
Mara
Then we leave at first light. No dawdling, no sudden heroics.
Nhal
If Slaan comes now, I can trust the asking. If she waits, the path may blur again.
Nhal folds the map fragment once, then sets it beside Slaan’s hand like a shared promise. Their shoulders ease, but their gaze stays fixed on the hidden line.
Nhal
I can show you the place beneath the road. If you still want it.
“I leave with Nhal at first light”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)