The tunnel mouth shudders with hurried boots. A redcoat and a redcoat reach the cove, following the copied estate cipher hidden in the decoy satchel rather than Arus’s trail.
Bessy’s fury flashes as she understands the trick: the stuffed bag carried a copied cipher, alerting the Baron’s surviving men. Deeper inside, the Sergeant remains trapped among the twisting passages.
Bessy
That cipher was bait, and they swallowed it whole. Carter’s route is still ahead, but these redcoats will tear open every hidden door to reach their sergeant.
A redcoat raises a lantern and peers into the black passage. A redcoat kicks aside a coil of rope, exposing fresh scuffs that lead toward the trapped Sergeant and the deeper route.
Redcoat 1
Sergeant! Answer us! Stand clear of the smugglers’ holes, or we will open every passage until we find you!
Bessy
If you want him alive, keep your boots out of my walls. The man you seek is farther in, and the way to Carter’s meeting place lies beyond him.
A muffled curse and the scrape of steel answer from below. The redcoats begin forcing the nearest barrier while Bessy shifts toward a concealed side door, leaving Arus one narrowing moment to preserve the trail to John Carter.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the cove’s secrecy from the pursuing redcoats
“This situation requires the careful application of authority rather than force. Having spent his life growing up around maritime culture and ship command hierarchies his entire memory of life, Arrus is no stranger to the correct sound of a perfectly issued militant command. I will stop the redcoat's where they stand with a loud halt command and tell them not to take another step, or they risk exposing themselves to the wrath of the Viscount for interfering in a front operation for official County business regulating the illicit trade of the coastal activities of Cornwall...”
SUCCESS (Good Intrigue, rolled +2)
Arus Gandon
Halt! Not another step. You are interfering with the Viscount’s front operation, conducted under official County authority against illicit coastal trade. Advance, and answer for it.
The command cracks through the tunnel with parade-ground precision. Both redcoats stop mid-stride, lanterns lifted, their boots frozen before the freshly forced barrier.
Redcoat 1
Viscount’s business, is it? We were sent for Sergeant Miller, and we heard steel below.
Redcoat 2
We will stand, then. But if our sergeant is harmed, your authority will not shield whoever did it.
Bessy lowers her hand from the concealed side door and watches the soldiers settle into wary stillness. Below, the trapped sergeant curses, but the redcoats make no move toward him.
Bessy
There, Arus. Your fine authority has bought us a breath. Spend it wisely before those two remember their courage.
The passage holds its uneasy silence. The redcoats remain halted, divided between rescuing their sergeant and obeying the official command, while the hidden side door waits behind Bessy.
“I will tell the redcoat he is woefully misinformed. Their Sergeant Miller is now in custody of an official Sheriff's inquiry into the regular history of illicit trade in Cornwall, given it's poignant significance to the conditions by which he came into his Majesty's service as Sheriff. I will commend him on following every available lead, as any good man of the law should, but that their next order of business is to enjoy a few drinks from Bessy's generous ale jugs as a reward for such diligent service of the Crown. I will then tell Bessy to let the men drink as much as their stomach's can hold and more rather than deny them any, and then I will pay her for several drinks in advance to begin their tab. Then I will follow the Sergeant down beneath the Alehouse's drinking hall into the tunnels as best I remember them, with a lit oil lantern and calmly shouted calls for Miller by name and beckon for him to come accept amnesty for his safety and protection by the Viscount. I'll swear”
SUCCESS (Superb Deception, rolled -1)
Arus Gandon
You are woefully misinformed. Sergeant Miller is in the custody of an official Sheriff’s inquiry into Cornwall’s illicit trade and his service’s origins. You followed every lead as good men of the law should, so enjoy Bessy’s generous ale as your reward.
Redcoat 1
If Sergeant Miller is held under the Sheriff’s authority, we will hear the charge from him. But a drink while we wait seems fair enough.
Arus Gandon
Bessy, let them drink as much as their stomachs can hold and more. I will pay several jugs in advance and begin their tab now.
Bessy’s guarded look turns calculating. She takes Arus’s payment, waves the redcoats toward the alehouse, and sets generous jugs before them while their suspicion dissolves into thirsty obedience.
Bessy
A handsome beginning to their account, Arus. I will keep their cups full while you collect your official prisoner below.
With a lit oil lantern raised, Arus slips beneath the drinking hall and follows the remembered turns. The redcoats’ voices fade overhead as the tunnels close around his steady footsteps.
Arus Gandon
Miller! Come forward and accept amnesty. The Viscount offers you safety and protection under the Sheriff’s authority. You are in custody, but you need not remain in danger.
Quest Complete
Protect the cove’s secrecy from the pursuing redcoats
Skill Upgrade: Intrigue Good→Great