The three drunks hold their ground with fists lowered, forming a ragged half-circle around Zev and the marked elf. The tavern settles into wary silence.
The Innkeeper
Plainly, then. What prophecy brought you here, and what first sign are we meant to fear?
The Marked Elf
The Ashen Crown returns beneath a roof where the dead have already entered. Its first sign is not coming. It is here.
The marked elf’s silver brow-mark glints as he scans the beams, hearth, and overturned tables. The drunks imitate him, searching with mounting suspicion rather than relief.
The Nearest Drunk
There is your dead omen, standing in front of us. Perhaps the prophecy followed the corpse instead.
The Marked Elf
No. Look above the hearth. The first sign has already cast its shadow, though no fire burns there.
Every face turns toward the blackened stone. Above the cold hearth, soot gathers in a narrow crown-like ring, its edges faintly silver beneath the grime.
The Innkeeper
Nobody touch it. Bone-knight, elf, and all of you, tell me what that mark means before this tavern becomes the second sign.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prove the prophecy's first sign to the tavern