The Messenger
If I call the guard now, maybe this becomes someone else’s problem.
He raises the lantern toward the crawlspace, peering into the blue-dark seam, trying to steady his shaking hand.
Behind him, Enanita closes the distance without a sound. The faint pulse from the wall seam washes over her and the worn boards beneath his boots.
Enanita
The packet is still there, and the guard is looking the wrong way.
The Messenger
Who is there? Answer me, or I call the watch!
He starts to turn, but his lantern jerks low as something unseen near his back steals his balance. His breath catches, and the call for help dies in his throat.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the unknown voice guarding the shaft
“I creep closer to the shaft to listen for the voice.”
SUCCESS (Great Stealth, rolled +0)
Enanita slides closer to the shaft, her boots finding the narrowest seams in the stone. The whispered voice below sharpens into a guard's mutter, tense and low.
She pauses at the crawlspace opening, still as dust. The blue-marked note lies in view near the ledge, and the lantern below throws restless light over the wall.
The Messenger
No, no, not here... if they hear me, I am finished.
A faint blue pulse slips through the seam in the wall, answering the note like a hidden signal.
The Messenger
Who is there? Show yourself, or stay away from the shaft!
The messenger's breathing catches from somewhere below, close enough now for Enanita to tell he is guarding the passage, not the room.
The Messenger
If you mean me no harm, say it now. Otherwise I am calling the alarm.
“I slip into the crawlspace”
SUCCESS (Great Stealth, rolled -1)
Enanita folds into the crawlspace without a scrape, the stone swallowing her boots and shoulders in one quiet motion.
The blue pulse washes over the cramped passage, and the messenger's shadow shifts below, still hunting the spot she just vacated.
Inside the wall, the air turns damp and sharp with old mortar. A thin sliver of light shows the ledger's blue-marked seal tucked farther along the hidden route.
Enanita
The seam runs deeper than the service nook.
The Messenger
Who is in there? Show me your hands, now!
Enanita stays silent, already past the opening and out of his reach. Ahead, the crawlspace bends toward a grate, and something metallic glints beside it.
“I creep toward the glint beside the grate”
SUCCESS (Great Stealth, rolled -2)
Enanita slips to the bend without a whisper, the crawlspace narrowing around her shoulders.
The metal glint is a small hook pinned beside the grate, catching the blue pulse in quick flashes.
She reaches it and finds a slim key ring tucked under the hook, wrapped in oiled cloth.
Beyond the grate, a second seam answers the blue light, and the hidden passage breathes colder air into the wall.
The Messenger
Whoever you are, stop there! I hear you moving.
His voice wavers from the opening behind her, louder now, but still too far to grab.
The cloth slips free in Enanita's hand, and the key ring rests with the ledger route, waiting by the grate.
+ New Item Acquired
Key ring
“I slip through the glowing passage”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Enanita presses the key ring to the glowing seam. The line in the wall parts with a soft click, and a narrow panel loosens under her fingers.
Cold air spills out. She slips through the hidden opening with the cloth and key ring tucked close, vanishing from the crawlspace in one smooth motion.
The Messenger
No, wait... who is there?
His voice scrapes the passage behind her, distant now, while the old wall settles back into place with a muted thud.
Inside, the passage is tighter and darker, but the blue pulse runs along the stones ahead like a path only she can read.
At the bend, a sliver of brass is set into the masonry, stamped with a ledger mark and dusted with age.
The hidden way opens before her, silent and waiting, as the messenger's footsteps begin to shift somewhere behind the sealed wall.