The riders halt beyond bowshot, black banners snapping above the white horizon. A lone woman in a salt-stained cloak leaves their line and walks toward the cracked pit, empty-handed.
The black iron chain lies taut across the salt crust. Beneath it, The Chained Figure strains against the sealed cracks while the Sellsword keeps his blade lowered, watching the approaching woman.
The Stranger
Shan. Step away from the chain, and no arrow will fly.
The Chained Figure
Shan. Step away from the chain.
The Sellsword
Captain Veyra. They said the warlord burned you before the eastern gate.
Captain Veyra
The warlord says many useful things. I survived the pyre, lost half my command, and learned what sleeps beneath this salt.
She stops at the edge of the pit. Behind her, the riders remain still. Her gaze moves from Shan's dark armor to the chain, then to the buried shape below.
Captain Veyra
I have not come to free it, nor to serve the man behind those banners. I came to keep both of you alive long enough to choose what happens next.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Captain Veyra's aid in escaping the warlord's reach
“I keep one hand near my blade and ask Veyra how she will get us past the riders.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +0)
Shan
How will you get us past the riders?
Veyra studies Shan's hand near the blade, then glances toward the black banners. The question gives her the shape of an agreement, but also confirms which armed fugitive stands before her.
Captain Veyra
By moving before their patience breaks. There is an old salt-cut east of here, narrow enough to hide three travelers from the riders on the ridge.
She kneels and draws the route in the crust with one finger, marking a crooked line toward a low rise. The Sellsword shifts his stance to see it, keeping his blade lowered.
Captain Veyra
I will lead you there. In return, the chained thing stays buried, and you leave the armor covered until we reach the cut. If you agree, we go now.
A gust tears salt dust across the marks. Veyra's route is clear, and the warlord's riders begin spreading along the horizon, searching for a path around the pit.
The Sellsword
Her way is sound. But the banners have seen Shan's armor. They will remember it.
The cost settles with the warning: the escape has a guide, but Shan's distinctive armor has become a mark the riders can carry into every settlement ahead.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the old salt-cut
“I cover my armor and follow Veyra toward the old salt-cut.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -2)
Shan pulls a salt-stained traveling cloak over the dark armor, tucking its hem beneath the clawed gunteels. The metal vanishes beneath rough cloth, though the claws remain hidden only by careful steps.
Therefore Veyra rises and moves east at a crouch, using the low crust ridges as cover. Shan follows, leaving the sealed pit and the taut black chain behind.
The Sellsword
Keep your heels light. Salt remembers every careless footfall.
A buried ridge catches Shan's covered greave. Metal grates against salt with a sharp scrape, and a sheet of crust breaks away behind him.
The riders halt along the horizon. One black banner angles toward the sound, forcing Veyra to cut down into a shallow channel instead of taking the straight path.
Captain Veyra
Down. The cut is close, but we reach it bent low, not running.
Shan reaches the old salt-cut with Veyra. Its narrow walls hide the three travelers from the ridge, but the scrape has cost them silence, and hoofbeats begin probing the flats above.
Quest Complete
Reach the old salt-cut
Quest Complete
Secure Captain Veyra's aid in escaping the warlord's reach
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Good→Great
+ New Item Acquired
Salt-stained traveling cloak
Escape the warlord's patrols
“Is the salt-cut truly beyond the warlord's patrols?”
NO, BUT (Unlikely, rolled 47)
No. The old salt-cut bends toward a patrol road, and hoofbeats already track the ridge above it. The passage offers cover, but it is not beyond the warlord's patrols.