Under the alley’s dim lanterns, Mira flattens the damp record against a crate. Nhal keeps the grey cloth hidden beneath her cloak. Kynes holds the grave-marked packet while footsteps search the street beyond.
Mira
Here. This correction was made after the cargo was logged. The dead were meant for the north road, but someone redirected them south.
Her finger follows the ink through three abbreviated waypoints. The final mark is not Lantern Yard, nor Baldur’s Gate. It is the road to Warlock’s Crypt.
Nhal
The cloth bears the same route-sign. It is not merely proof of the network. It is an invitation to pass through it.
Mira
And the packet names the intended recipient. Not a place, Kynes. You. The Gray Glove is moving cargo along this road to draw you toward its master.
A boot scrapes stone at the alley mouth. Corven is close, searching the escape route. Mira folds the record and points south, where the hidden road and the marked cargo now form one trail.
“"Mira, pleasure to me you, and if you want to continue to be my contact in buldars gate and keep you post, whatever that my be. Please return to the Coopers storefront" I say listening to the boots”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Kynes
Mira, it is a pleasure to meet you. If you wish to remain my contact in Baldur’s Gate and keep me posted, please return to the cooper’s storefront.
Mira studies Kynes for one measured breath, then folds the route record against her chest. The searching boots scrape closer, but her decision is already made.
Mira
Done. The storefront is safer than these alleys, and I can listen there without drawing notice. I will send word through the cooper’s tally marks.
She slips the damp record inside her coat and steps toward the northern side passage, keeping her shoulders loose and her pace ordinary.
Nhal
The cloth stays with me. If Corven searches the storefront, Mira can truthfully say nothing about it.
Mira gives Nhal a brief, wary nod. Then a man’s voice carries from the alley mouth, calling for Corven’s escorts to search the southern exit.
Mira
Go south only if you mean to follow that road. I will make the north route look like my escape.
“I summon a shadow crow. " Locate and track corven" and I share what he looks like when i befuddled him.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +4)
Mira vanishes into the northern passage as Kynes turns his attention to the alley mouth. The searchers' voices fade behind stone and fog.
Kynes
Shadow crow, locate and track Corven. I give you his face as I befuddled him.
Kynes opens his palm. A small crow of folded shadow gathers above it, its wings forming from smoke-dark feathers.
The image of Corven settles into the bird's sight. The crow snaps its head toward the southern alley, then launches without a sound.
Shadow Crow
Found. The grey-gloved courier-master moves east, toward the old road beyond the city walls.
The crow circles back once, leaving a thread of shadow pointing toward the eastern road. Its passing reveals more than Corven's trail: a second path branches north toward Warlock's Crypt, marked by the same grave-dust scent as the packet.
Nhal
That is our lead. Corven is moving, but the chain's destination lies north.
“" indeed, but aren't you curious on why I was named ?" I give her a look of a father asking a obvious question.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -2)
Kynes
Indeed, but aren't you curious why I was named?
Kynes turns from the eastern trail and gives Nhal the look of a father waiting for an obvious answer.
Nhal
I am. I simply thought you preferred people to wonder.
The Shadow Crow's distant outline falters. One smoke-dark feather tears loose and dissolves over the road, a small price for carrying its master's attention this far.
Nhal
Kynes was not a random name. It was chosen to sound ordinary above ground, while still carrying the old cadence below it. Your family wanted a name that could pass through hostile doors without announcing what stood behind it.
Nhal
But names are not cages. You kept yours when the Archive asked for everything else. That is why it matters now. You named yourself by refusing to be renamed.
The crow settles on a roofline, its tracking complete but its shape thinner. Nhal studies Kynes quietly, leaving the explanation between them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Slip away from Corven’s current search
“" possibly, the one set of memories the archive still holds and will not let go is of my early childhood and my family." I pause " I also kept something of Bren since every iterations regardless of my name." I stop and look at Nhal fatherly, " that's why we're going to ask him. And if I am right, Slaan and Bren are a step in the shadows from him. I mean you have a rouge assassin, my wife , Bren. And a mage assassin, your companion, Slaan. We're good.," I smile.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Kynes
Possibly the Archive still holds one set of memories and refuses to release them: my early childhood and my family. I also kept something of Bren through every iteration, regardless of my name.
Kynes pauses, then turns fully toward Nhal, his staff resting at his side. The alley remains clear behind him, Mira's route carrying the party beyond Corven's search.
Kynes
That's why we're going to ask him. If I'm right, Slaan and Bren are a step in the shadows from him.
Nhal
You mean the one tied to those memories. The person who can tell you whether the Archive preserved history, or preserved someone.
Kynes
You have a rogue assassin, my wife Bren, and a mage assassin, your companion Slaan. We're good.
Kynes smiles at Nhal with quiet, fatherly certainty. Her amusement softens into recognition, while the grey cloth stays concealed beneath her cloak and the northern road waits beyond the alley.
Nhal
Then ask him. But when we reach Warlock's Crypt, let me hear the answer too. Your name has already survived being taken from you.
Quest Complete
Slip away from Corven’s current search
“I ask the crow mentally for an update on corven as I start walking in his last know location. With Nhal following close behind.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -1)
Kynes sends the thought along the bond. The Shadow Crow answers with a sharp impression of Corven moving east, leaving the old road beneath the city behind.
Kynes starts toward the alley mouth and the eastern road. Nhal follows close, keeping the grey cloth hidden beneath her cloak.
Nhal
The crow found him. Corven is no longer searching the alleys.
The Shadow Crow glides from the roofline to a weathered signpost, then points its beak east. Its remaining shadow-feathers ripple toward the road.
By the time Kynes reaches the road, the crow gives him the last clear image: Corven passing beneath an old stone marker, heading toward the northern branch for Warlock's Crypt.
Nhal
There. The road divides ahead. Do we follow Corven east, or take the crypt road north?
“" it doesn't matter really, Warlock's Crypt is a 3 week walk. We can catch him, question him, decide what to do with him and still have plenty of wiggle room to head north." I tell Nhal”
Kynes
It doesn't matter really. Warlock's Crypt is three weeks away. We can catch him, question him, decide what to do, and still have plenty of time to head north.
Nhal
Then we follow his trail east first. The crypt road can wait.