Seth wakes on a straw mattress in a cramped inn room, the morning light thin and dusty. Beyond the wall, the market below bristles with carts, voices, and the slap of shutters.
On the small table beside him sits a vial of thick black liquid. Beside it lies a parchment note, the words hello old friend stark against the paper.
From the street, a bell tolls three times. The sound is soft, but it lands like a warning.
Seth
The note is addressed to no one and to someone at once.
A knock comes at the door, polite and measured. The latch shivers once under a careful hand.
The Innkeeper
Friend, are you awake? There is a man below asking after you.
Through the shutter gap, Seth catches a glimpse of the market square and, beyond it, the faint white line of the ghostly train threading through the city.
The Innkeeper
He says he knows your name. Shall I send him up?
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who the man below is
“Does the man below look like he belongs to the ghostly train?”
YES (Even, rolled 23)
Seth
The man stands perfectly still, his clothes shimmering with the same unnatural, pale light as the train cars.
The stranger in the square does not move with the crowd, his silhouette blurring at the edges like a reflection in disturbed water.
“I ask the innkeeper about him”
SUCCESS (Fair Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Seth pulls back from the shutter and asks the innkeeper about the still man below.
The Innkeeper
I know him by sight, not by name. He comes when the square is busiest, stands there like he owns the stones, then vanishes before the bells change.
The innkeeper shifts the door chain in one hand, glancing at the gap in the shutters as if the market can hear them through the wall.
The Innkeeper
He asked after you first. Not your trade, not your lodging, just Seth. That is a bad sort of knowing.
Seth
He knows my name.
The Innkeeper
If you mean to keep your feet in this city, you should not go down to him alone.
Below, the market noise rises and falls in a single uneasy swell, while the pale figure remains fixed in place, waiting for the answer the room has not yet given.
“I ask who sent him”
SUCCESS (Fair Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Seth
Who sent him?
The Innkeeper
No one that I saw. But he is not acting alone.
The innkeeper loosens their grip on the chain and glances toward the stairwell, as if expecting someone else to answer from below.
The Innkeeper
Men like that do not drift into a market and stand waiting by chance. Someone points them here.
The Innkeeper
Or someone far worse does.
Outside, the square swells with a louder burst of talk, then dips. Through the shutter slit, the pale figure remains motionless, turned toward the inn as if listening.
The Innkeeper
If he called your name, then the question is not who sent him. It is who in this city knows you well enough to use him.
“I ask the innkeeper who knows me here”
SUCCESS (Fair Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Seth
Who here knows me well enough to send him?
The Innkeeper
Not by sight, I think. By rumor, more likely. Someone in this city has heard your name spoken before you ever set foot in my door.
The innkeeper lowers their hand from the chain and studies Seth with a careful, weighing look, as if measuring how much trouble a single name can carry.
The Innkeeper
If I had to guess, I would say the market knows more than the room. Stallholders notice strangers. Porters hear scraps. A man like that does not choose a window on instinct.
Below, the square keeps moving in broken bursts, but the pale figure stays fixed in place, waiting beneath the bright slit of daylight.
The Innkeeper
I cannot name your sender yet. But I can tell you this, whoever points a watcher at a guest is either worried, or already certain.
“I go to the market and confront him”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)