The causeway rises like a narrow spine through the low North's harsh marshes. Mist drifts over black water, and the last daylight glints on wet reeds.
Beneath a weathered ransom post, a finely dressed noble is bound to the timber. The ropes creak as the captive twists against them.
Aldren Veyr
Help! By every mercy of the old gods, help me!
Fresh boot tracks score the mud beside the causeway, then vanish abruptly into the reeds. No voice answers from that green darkness.
Carved deep into the post, the kidnappers' demand catches the fading light: SURRENDER THE FAMILY NAME STRIPPED FROM ORIEN THANEBROKEN, OR THE HOSTAGE DIES AT MOONRISE.
Aldren Veyr
You there! If you can read, you know what they want. Cut these bonds, or carry word before the moon rises!
The marsh falls quiet around Orien. Far beyond the reeds, the pale moon begins to show above the cloudbank, measuring the shrinking time.
✓ Quest Accepted
Free the noble hostage
“Is there a blade or sharp stone nearby?”
YES (Likely, rolled 46)
At the causeway's edge, half-submerged in mud, a broken shard of black flint catches the moonlight. Its edge is keen enough to cut rope.
Aldren Veyr
There! By the reeds. A knife, or a stone, anything sharp will do.
The hostage strains toward the glint, but the ropes hold him fast. Mud sucks softly at the stone as marsh water creeps around it.
Aldren Veyr
Quickly, stranger. Moonrise is no empty threat.
Beyond the post, the reeds bow in a passing wind. No figure emerges, yet the fresh tracks remain dark and plain beside the path.
Orien Thanebroken
The shard lies within reach of the causeway, not the captive.
“Take the flint and cut the hostage free.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
Orien stoops at the causeway’s edge and lifts the black flint from the mud. Cold water slips around his boots as he turns toward the post.
He braces one rope against the timber and draws the sharp shard across its wet fibers. The binding parts beneath steady pressure, dropping loose into the reeds.
Aldren Veyr
Yes. That one. The second rope, quickly.
Orien cuts through the remaining knots. The noble pitches forward as the last coil gives way, catching himself against the post before sinking onto the muddy causeway.
Aldren Veyr
You have my thanks, stranger. Whoever set this snare expected obedience, not mercy.
The freed noble rubs his wrists and stares toward the dark reeds. Moonlight now crowns the marsh, silvering the abandoned ropes and the tracks beside them.
Aldren Veyr
We should leave before the ransomers return. Unless you mean to answer their demand another way.
Escort the noble to safety
Quest Complete
Free the noble hostage
+ New Item Acquired
Black flint shard