The brewer’s cellar shudders as splintering wood and shouted orders thunder from the street above. Barrels tremble on their racks. Candlelight gutters across damp stone.
At the foot of the stairs, a wounded servant crouches beside a drain grate, one hand pressed to his side. A severe stranger in a dark inquisitor’s coat blocks his path.
The Inquisitor
Search every cask and corner. The carriage attacker carried the stolen ring below, and this man helped hide it.
The servant looks from the inquisitor to Emi. His other hand closes around a small brass key, hidden beneath his stained sleeve.
The Wounded Servant
My name is Pell. I did not steal the ring. Please, the drains are not an escape route, they are a way out of reach.
The inquisitor steps toward Pell, drawing a narrow blade. Behind them, the drain grate gives a sudden metallic rattle.
The Inquisitor
Pell, surrender the key. Emi, search him and choose quickly. Whatever is in those drains will not wait.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Pell from the inquisitor
“I help Pell reach the rattling drain grate.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +1)
Emi surges forward, catches Pell beneath the arm, and hauls him clear of the inquisitor's blade.
The Inquisitor
Stand aside!
The inquisitor's point skitters off Emi's raised shield. Pell stumbles, but Emi's strength carries him across the slick stones.
Pell
There, the grate. Please, keep them back.
Pell reaches the rattling drain grate and drops beside it, his brass key now visible in his trembling hand. Emi stands between him and the inquisitor.
The Inquisitor
You have chosen the fugitive's side. Move, or the cellar will become your prison.
The grate bucks beneath Pell's hand. From below comes a muffled scrape, followed by three deliberate knocks. Pell freezes with the key poised over the lock.
Quest Complete
Protect Pell from the inquisitor
“I hold the inquisitor back while Pell unlocks the grate”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled -1)
Emi plants her shield against the inquisitor's blade and drives forward, forcing them back across the slick stones.
The Inquisitor
You will regret making yourself my enemy.
The inquisitor gives ground. Emi's shield arm jolts as the sword scrapes over its rim, leaving a sharp bruise beneath her shoulder.
Pell
The key turns. Do not let them reach me.
With Emi holding the inquisitor away, Pell twists the brass key. The grate springs open, revealing a narrow stone passage descending beneath the cellar.
The opening releases a breath of cold air and the smell of river mud. Somewhere below, a hidden latch clicks into place.
Pell
They know the lower way is open now.
The Inquisitor
Pell, step away from that passage. Emi, lower your shield, and I may yet overlook this.
“I stand guard as Pell enters the passage, and then follows after him”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +0)
Emi holds the inquisitor at bay, her shield sealing the narrow approach while Pell slips through the opened grate.
Pell
The stones are firm. Come now, before they recover.
The inquisitor's blade skitters away from Emi's shield. Pell vanishes down the passage, brass key clenched in his fist.
Emi backs through the opening after him, keeping her shield between the passage and the furious inquisitor. Cold mist curls around her boots.
The Inquisitor
You have chosen a fugitive's path, Emi. The lower way will not hide you.
Emi reaches the passage floor. Behind her, the grate begins to swing down under its hidden latch, cutting the cellar's lamplight into a narrowing blade.
Pell
There is a fork ahead. I do not know which way leads out.
Two tunnels divide beneath the brewery, one carrying the river's cold breath, the other marked by faint bronze chimes from the dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the inquisitor
““Left or right?” I ask him”
Emi
Left or right?
Pell
Right, toward the chimes. I have heard that way leads out.
Quest Complete
Escape the inquisitor