The cellar door groans wider, and lantern-light spills over damp clay, stacked turnips, and the half-orc’s lowered blade.
Elowen
Why are you dragging a blood-feud into my stores?
Elowen steps down the last rung, chin high, her free hand tight on the stair rail. The light catches the stranger’s chains in the back corner.
The Half-Orc Outcast
He wronged my kin. I meant to make him answer, not loot your cellar.
The half-orc keeps his stance between the stranger and the door, but his grip shifts, less eager now that the elder is here.
Elowen
Then answer me cleanly, both of you. Did this begin outside my walls, or in my village?
Her lantern lifts higher, throwing Darago and the others into sharp, uneasy relief as the whole room waits for the first truth to land.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the captive stranger
✓ Quest Accepted
Explain your presence to the stranger
“Look around”
SUCCESS (Fair Perception, rolled +1)
Darago lets his gaze slip over the cellar instead of the faces, taking in the packed earth, the damp seams in the wall, the turnip stack, and the chain anchor sunk low near the back corner. The hooks are old, but the ring is fresh, set fast into newer wood. His cloak brushes a crate, and a loose chip of bark snaps underfoot.
Darago
The wall by the chain is newer than the rest.
Elowen’s lantern steadies on the stranger, then drifts to the half-orc’s boots. The half-orc notices the movement and shifts his weight, putting one shoulder between the elder and the captive.
Elowen
You chained him in my cellar, and you brought blood into my stores.
The Half-Orc Outcast
He sold my kin. I did not come to raid you, elder. I came for justice.
The stranger stays silent, but his chin lifts a fraction at the accusation. The lantern flame wavers, and the room’s small sounds sharpen, Elowen’s breath, the chain’s faint creak, Darago’s own ruined footing.
“I yell hey to the person talking to the orc”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled -1)
Darago cups his hands and calls out, sharp and clear, toward the elder on the steps. The words crack through the cellar like a pebble dropped into still water.
Darago
Hey. You there.
Elowen
I am here. Speak plain, child.
Elowen turns her lantern toward Darago instead of the half-orc, and the stranger finally looks at him too. The half-orc’s jaw tightens at the shift.
The Half-Orc Outcast
Do not drag the boy into this. He asked questions, that is all.
Elowen
Questions are not chains. Not yet.
Darago’s shout costs him the calm in his throat, and the cellar answers with a sting of dust at the back of his lungs. Even so, the attention he wanted lands on him.
The Stranger
If you mean me, speak your piece. I would hear it before he decides for both of us.
“I was just going to say can't we decide something regarding this person s life already I for one dont think they deserve to die so let's think of something”
SUCCESS (Poor Persuasion, rolled +3)
Darago
Let us decide this now. He does not need to die. There has to be another way.
Darago lowers his hands from his shout and speaks into the hush, small voice but steady enough to carry. The cellar seems to lean in around the words.
Elowen
A child with more mercy than the men in my cellar. Good. Then say what way you mean.
The Half-Orc Outcast
Hmph. If there is another way, it had better not leave his lies untouched.
The Stranger
I sold no kin. I sold grain, and I sold time, and both came dear to me. If he means my guilt, let him name it plain.
Elowen’s lantern hand steadies, and her gaze moves from Darago to the half-orc, then to the chain in the wall. The half-orc’s blade dips a fraction, not in surrender, but in thought.
Elowen
Then we do not spill blood in my root-cellar. We speak of proof, debt, and consequence. Stranger, you answer for what you have done. Darago, stay close and keep listening.
Quest Complete
Protect the captive stranger
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Fair→Good