Just after the harbour bell, Oju reaches the crowded dockside tavern. Rain rattles the shutters while fog presses through the warped seams, carrying salt, wet rope, and chimney smoke.
Behind the bar, an elderly woman with silver braids and a dark wool dress, a stout woman with a weathered, ruddy face and a chipped front tooth polishes a cup without looking up. A nervous young adult man in a soaked green coat, lean-faced and clean-shaven beneath lank brown hair clutches a ledger nearby, while a broad middle-aged man with an eyepatch, his square jaw shadowed with gray stubble beneath close-cropped brown hair watches from the door in a faded guard's coat.
The Tavern Keeper
You are late enough to be useful, goat. The factor has been wearing a groove in my floor.
The Nervous Harbour Factor
The sealed strongbox was moved from the rival's warehouse already. It ships out before dawn unless someone retrieves it.
The Nervous Harbour Factor
Triple the going rate. No questions, no witnesses. Bring me the box, and the matter ends there.
The factor's ledger trembles against the bar. At the door, the one-eyed captain shifts his weight, studying Oju with the uncertain recognition of someone remembering an unpaid debt.
The One-Eyed Dock Guard Captain
That bell still rings, then. I wondered whether the sea had finally swallowed you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Retrieve the sealed strongbox
“Let's continue.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Oju lets the captain's recognition hang beneath the tavern's rain-muted hush. His long ears catch the factor's shallow breathing and the keeper's cup pausing against the bar, while wet wool and iron seal-wax sharpen his scent of the room.
The One-Eyed Dock Guard Captain
Still weighing whether the coin is worth the company, goat? Take the factor's bargain. I will see you through the warehouse quarter, and no dock watch will trouble you tonight.
The Nervous Harbour Factor
The box bears a black wax seal marked with a split crown. It is in the rival's riverside warehouse, third door from the cooper's yard. Bring it here before dawn, and triple pay is yours.
The terms settle. Oju's composure holds, but the effort leaves a visible hesitation in his stillness; the factor notices, and the captain's mouth tightens with fresh respect rather than doubt.
The Tavern Keeper
There, then. A job bought and witnessed. Iven, put the route in his hands. Dask, keep your old grudges outside my doorway.
The Nervous Harbour Factor
Agreed. The route, the seal's likeness, and the advance are yours. The strongbox is your commission now, provided you return it before sunrise.
Iven slides a folded route and a heavy purse across the bar. Dask opens the door to the rain, and the tavern's salt-smoke air gives way to the sharper scent of the river quarter.
+ New Item Acquired
Folded route
+ New Item Acquired
Heavy purse
“Oju quietly steps aside, and unfolds the folded route to study it carefully.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +0)
Oju quietly steps aside beneath the tavern’s dim lanterns and unfolds the route. The creased paper opens flat, revealing a careful ink sketch of the riverside warehouse quarter.
Oju
Third door from the cooper’s yard, then out before dawn.
His keen ears separate rain from the tavern’s murmurs, catching Iven’s shallow breathing and Dask’s boots shifting near the open door. Beneath them, the river’s slow slap marks the quarter’s direction.
The route’s symbols resolve under his scrutiny: the cooper’s yard is marked by crossed barrels, the rival warehouse by a black square, and the third door by a tiny split crown.
The Nervous Harbour Factor
The river path is clear on that side. Keep to the warehouses, and you will find the mark exactly where I said.
Wax, damp paper, and old river mud cling to the route’s scent. Oju now has the passage memorized: from the tavern, past the cooper’s yard, to the third door.
Outside, Dask waits in the rain while the tavern door stands open. The folded route rests ready in Oju’s hand, its directions certain beneath the wavering lantern light.
“Oju folds the route and neatly tucks it away on his person. Before turning to face Dask, and walking toward him.”
Oju folds the route along its old creases, keeping the inked symbols aligned. The paper slips neatly into an inner pocket of his blue coat.
He checks the pocket with one quick press, confirming the route rests securely against him. The tavern’s lantern light glints across his gold bell collar.
Only then does Oju turn toward the open doorway. Rain silvering the threshold, Dask waits beyond it with one hand braced against the door.
Oju walks across the tavern, his hooves sounding softly over the worn boards as the warmth of the room gives way to river-cold air.
The One-Eyed Dock Guard Captain
Ready, then? The warehouse quarter is waiting.
Dask shifts aside to make room. Beyond him, rain gathers in the street, and the route toward the cooper’s yard lies open beneath the darkening sky.
“Yeah, let's go.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)