Seth leaves the gate courtyard and follows the muddy tracks past the armory wall, down into the lower maintenance lane. Rain slick stone gives way to a narrow service stair cut into the earth, lit by a dim worklamp and the cold spill of dawn.
At the bottom, the air stinks of wet rust and old oil. The clanging stops. Only the drip of water and a faint scrape from below the armory steps break the silence.
Seth
The mud is fresher here. Someone came through recently.
Kaley and Miller catch up behind him, tense and listening. Ahead, a service hatch sits half-camouflaged under torn cloth, its frame smeared with the same mud from the stair.
Miller
That hatch was not open a minute ago.
Kaley
And whatever is inside, it is moving.
Seth reaches the hatch first. The metal rattles once from the other side, sharp and deliberate, as if someone is waiting for him to decide.
+ Scene Quest Added
Investigate the service hatch
“This better be goddamn good we see someone trying to snuggle stuff out of the armory miller tackles him and holds him down while we interrogate”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Combat, rolled -1)
Seth lunges in close. The hatch shudders under his shoulder, and the hidden latch gives with a wet, metallic snap.
Inside, a figure jerks back in the dark. Miller crashes forward on Seth's signal, slamming the intruder face-first into the mud.
Miller
Got you. Stay down.
Kaley
There is someone in there. I knew it.
The hatch yawns open wider, spilling a breath of stale air and a sharp glint of stolen armory tags tangled on a strap.
Pinned under Miller's weight, the intruder coughs and twists, but one muddy hand is still clenched around a small bundle wrapped in oilcloth.
Miller
Seth, I have him. What do you want me to do with the package?
Quest Complete
Investigate the service hatch