The Green Leaf Inn sits heavy with stale ale and pipe smoke, its hearth throwing a low gold across rough tables. Talon Vekadrin is already in the room when the hush settles, a thief among drinkers who have learned to lower their voices.
Across from him, Maddie Potholder watches over her mug without touching it. Her exotic features catch the firelight, and her mouth stays set like she is counting coins that are not yet on the table.
Maddie Potholder
Your name is sour luck in this ward, Talon. The price on your head is climbing again.
Near the bar, Helena the server pauses with a tray held too tight in both hands. She keeps glancing at the door, where the street light leaks in thin and gray.
Helena
If the captain comes in tonight, I do not want to be the one holding his first tankard.
At the next table, two patrons pretend at dice while watching Talon over their cups. One of them mutters, then falls silent when Maddie turns her head.
Maddie Potholder
There is talk in the ward, and one spoke your face as if he had seen it fresh on a notice board. Tell me if you have brought trouble here, or if you mean to buy it off.
The tavern stays unnaturally still. Then a hard knock lands on the door, once, then again, and the room seems to hold its breath.
✓ Quest Accepted
Avoid being confronted at the Green Leaf Inn
“Meet me in the hideout Talon tells Maddie as he gets up and slips his way to the back wall. He sneaks through the pantry, and out the back door”
SUCCESS (Superb Stealth, rolled +1)
Maddie Potholder
You chose your timing badly, Talon. Go, then. If trouble follows, it will find fewer eyes on my floor.
Talon rises in one smooth motion, chair legs whispering over the boards. He gives the table just enough of a pause to look ordinary, then angles away from the front room without hurrying.
The two dice players break their stare a heartbeat too late. Their shoulders tighten as he passes, but neither man stands. The hush in the tavern loosens into nervous murmurs.
Helena
Not me. Please not me.
At the back, Talon slips through the pantry door with the ease of practice. Shelves, sacks, and the sour smell of onions swallow him at once.
He crosses the cramped dark, finds the rear latch, and eases the back door open to the alley. Cold night air cuts through the spice and smoke behind him.
Outside, a hard knock thuds again at the front of the inn, louder now, while inside the room stays on edge but does not turn into a challenge. Maddie and the others hold their ground, waiting to see whether the door brings a guard or a customer.
Quest Complete
Avoid being confronted at the Green Leaf Inn