Miyamoto Mifune hits the alley in a rush of cold air, the temple mark on his wrist pulsing bright enough to paint the walls red. Behind him, the tavern door bangs open again. The Emissary spills out after him, pale and breathing hard.
The Emissary
Run if you must, but the mark gives you away. They will find you.
Heavy boots drum nearer from the temple district. The sound bounces between the narrow lanes, multiplying. The alley forks ahead, one path climbing toward the market roofs, the other sinking into a blind, trash-choked bend.
Miyamoto Mifune
The left path is higher. The right path is tighter.
The Emissary glances back once at the tavern, then back at Mifune, trapped between fear of the hunters and fear of him. He points sharply toward the rooftops.
The Emissary
Up. The streets are too open. If you stay low, they will box you in.
The first armored silhouettes appear at the far mouth of the alley, lantern-light flashing on helms and spearpoints. Mifune stands between the forked ways, his glowing wrist marking him for every eye in the dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the temple trackers
“Climb towards the temple roofs.”
SUCCESS (Great Athletics, rolled -2)
Miyamoto Mifune springs for the nearest ladder, boots slapping wet stone as he climbs hard. The glow on his wrist flashes against the shingles, and the hunters below shout at the sight.
He reaches the eaves in one surge and hauls himself onto the roofline. Clay tiles scrape under his feet, and one slips free, crashing into the alley below.
The Emissary
He is up there, to the roofs! Split them off!
The temple hunters halt their straight advance and fan into the alley mouth, spears angling upward. Lantern light climbs the walls in jittering stripes.
Temple Hunters
Take the higher way! Cut him off at the crosswalk!
Mifune gains the roof in full, but the broken tile clatter gives away his route. A sharp shard cuts his palm as he steadies himself.
Ahead, the roofline narrows toward a dark ridge and the city opens below him. Behind, the hunters begin climbing after him, and the first ones are already above the alley.
“Wait for them to climb and kill them as they come up.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Weapons, rolled +1)
Miyamoto Mifune waits, motionless in the slate-dark roofline, as boots scrape the ladder below. The first hunter’s head rises into view, then his shoulders, then the haft of his spear.
Mifune drops in a single clean blur. His blade flashes once, and the man falls back off the rungs without a cry.
A second hunter reaches the lip and leans into the kill. Mifune meets him at the edge, steel crossing steel, and the man loses his grip.
Below, the alley erupts in shouted confusion. The Emissary stares up, pale and rigid, while the commander’s body lies still at the threshold behind him.
One more hunter lunges up from the ladder, only to find the roof edge empty where Mifune stood a breath ago. He staggers, off balance, and the tiles betray him.
The nearest rooftop lane opens ahead of Mifune, and the hunters at the alley mouth now break their neat line. Their pursuit is delayed, but the city ahead remains a maze of choices.
“Lose the Temple hunters by going to other roofs”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)