Cactusthorn drops from the muddy tunnel into a neglected orchard behind the adobe estate. The lantern glow is faint here, blocked by leaning trunks and hanging dust. Somewhere beyond the trees, guards are still searching.
By a dry irrigation ditch, a lone scout sits with his back to a broken stone lip, watching the tunnel mouth. He does not reach for a weapon. He looks tired, and familiar with bad news.
The Scout
You picked a lively place to crawl out of. If you want out clean, don’t go over the west wall. They’ve got eyes there now.
Cactusthorn
The orchard is boxed in on two sides.
The Scout
The Abbot’s mark spreads fast. Men vanish, then come back listening for orders that are not theirs. I’ve seen it from Tucson to the old road south.
A distant shout crackles from the estate yard. The scout rises in one smooth motion, still calm, and points with two fingers toward a gap in the trees where the ditch bends low.
The Scout
If you are running, run low through that cut. If you are hunting, be careful who answers when you knock. The wrong man wears the right face these days.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the orchard route to freedom
“Run as fast as you can, towards the route to freedom and h3ad back towards the abbott. See what happened to jinjen.”
SUCCESS (Good Athletics, rolled -1)
Cactusthorn bursts through the orchard low and fast, branches whipping past his shoulders as he cuts for the ditch bend instead of the watched wall. Dust kicks up behind him, and the scout’s warning dies under the thud of his own sprint.
The route opens where the irrigation cut sinks into shadow. He clears the gap in one hard run, the way out finally under his feet, but the noise of his passing carries back toward the estate.
The Scout
That is the right cut. If you are going back to the shrine, go now. Their riders are already turning that way.
From the orchard edge, the scout lifts one hand toward the dark road beyond the trees, his face set with tired certainty. The warning lands plain, and the estate’s search noise gathers behind Cactusthorn like a net tightening.
The Scout
Jinen may still be breathing, or the Abbot’s men may be wearing his trail. Either way, the shrine road is the dangerous line.
Cactusthorn
The shrine road is active.
Cactusthorn reaches the bend in the ditch, the orchard giving way to open darkness ahead. His pace costs him a scrape along the knee, and the pouch at his side knocks once against his hip as he drives onward.
Quest Complete
Reach the orchard route to freedom