The table is clear now, the last ace gone, the cards spread in a neat new hand. Around it, the inn settles into a low hush while thunder mutters beyond the walls.
Horgar
Aye, no more tricks. Look here, ranger.
He leans close over a stained napkin, drawing a crooked canyon line with a stub of charcoal, then tapping a narrow break in the cliff.
Horgar
This path keeps to the stone teeth and skips the worst of the storm. If you mean to reach your father’s old lands, this is the way to do it.
The Young Half-Orc
And if he points true, you’ll want to move before the sky breaks open.
The napkin map shows the canyon folding east, then vanishing behind a ridge marked with a rough storm sigil. It is a real lead, and it points Jae straight toward the road his father once knew.
Horgar
Take it, Stormland. Better a risky trail than a dead end under lightning.
✓ Quest Accepted
Follow the canyon path to the ancestral homeland
✓ Quest Accepted
Survive the storm
“Does the storm sigil on the map indicate a known shelter along the path?”
NO (Likely, rolled 74)
Jae traces the rough storm sigil on the napkin, but the mark is merely a warning of the weather, not a sign of any sanctuary. The map offers no promise of shelter along the treacherous path ahead.
“I ask about the canyon path ahead, is there any crevices to tuck into along the way, if the storm should turn worse”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -3)
Jae. Stormland
Jae looks up from the napkin and asks if the canyon path has any crevices or tucked places to shelter in when the storm worsens.
Horgar
Aye. Two, if the old trail still holds. One’s a split shelf under a black tooth of stone, the other a narrow cleft where the wind screams over your head instead of through your bones.
The Young Half-Orc
The shelf is safer, if you reach it before dusk. The cleft keeps you dry, but it traps loose rock. A hard rain can bring the ceiling down.
The dwarf taps the napkin with a thick finger, marking the shelf, then drags the tip onward to a bend that bends away from the worst of the wind. The half-orc leans in, following the line with careful eyes.
Horgar
Take the left wall when the canyon narrows, not the center. The path there is ugly, but it stays below the gusts. If you hear pebbles skittering above you, stop fast and press in tight.
The Young Half-Orc
And if you make the shelf by nightfall, there’s a dry pocket behind it. Small, but enough for one traveler and a fire no bigger than a candle flame.
Outside, thunder mutters beyond the inn windows. Inside, the two men wait on Jae’s next move, the map held open between them like an invitation.
“Is the shelf safer than the cleft?”
EXCEPTIONAL YES (VeryLikely, rolled 2)
Horgar
I should mention, the shelf is not just safer from the rockfall. It is a known sanctuary for the mountain folk, blessed by the old stone-singers to remain bone-dry even in the fiercest of the northern gales.
The Young Half-Orc
He speaks true. I have seen the shelf hold firm when the rest of the canyon was being scoured clean by the wind. It is the only place I would trust with my own life in a storm like this.
Horgar
My name is Horgar, by the way. If you reach that shelf, you will find more than just shelter. There is a cache of dry kindling left by those who came before, enough to keep the cold at bay until the sky clears.
Jae. Stormland
The shelf is far more reliable than the cleft, offering both protection and resources.
“I prepare to leave before the storm worsens, and grab some food for fang and myself, till we can hunt for more when it's safer to do so”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)