𓆰 Swans and spilled wine ③
What wind blows in our direction?
The Ponà l, the bringer of hidden paths, cuts through the reeds and the oaks.
- Covered ground this turn: 3 - fog
- Covered ground so far: 9
Along with a cold that can penetrate bones, the Ponà l carries a dense fog, one of those you could cut through with a cheese knife; one that turns - for the exhausted traveller - even the lowliest of the inns into a welcoming, comfortable nest.
Pandolfo's steps slow down, carefully placing one boot after the other onto broken twigs and reeds, and sliding occasionally into shallow slippery puddles. The fog covers the waters and the stones and the oaks with their soaked roots and knotty branches, it silences the chants of the birds or the buzzing of dragonflies.
- Encounter Goal encounter
- Who Postal courier (HP 1, DMG 6)
- Goal Acquire
- Inventory 2 slots: infused animal part, cursed information
- Oracle > Hostile Yes
Through the silence, an antagonizing, assorted ensemble of accuses of treason, cowardice, and even swanicide! finds its space; spoken by a raspy voice in an unequivocally hostile tone that approaches at a faster rate than Pandolfo's steps are moving.
It is in the fog that Pandolfo finds himself at a short distance from a thin, cloaked figure: the brass postal horn attached to the belt identifies him as a courier. He wants to know why Pandolfo killed the wine-bringing-swan. He absolutely wants to know why would Pandolfo put a span in the perfect cog that nature decided to bless them with. He insistingly sentences Pandolfo to a great deal of reimbursements, notarized confessions, time behind bars.
Before the merchant can issue answers of self defence or deny the killing, the postal courier steps on a few rocks that remain submerged by the lakewaters. He hands Pandolfo over a message, scribbled by a hasty hand on torn, yellowed paper.
Official summon in front of the judge, it reads.
- Oracle > Is Pandolfo surprised Yes and
- Oracle > Does the courier hit Pandolfo Yes but
As Pandolfo is reading the message, a long animal bone fashioned into a mace hisses near his face: only a misstep on the courier's part saves the merchant from a sure headache. And court summon.
- Oracle > Does Pandolfo hit the courier Yes and
No time to think, only to grab the boar tusk handle of the sickle and fending off the attack. The sickle easily cuts through the cloak and blood flows down the body of the man.
He knees, with an empty stare and no more accusatory words before falling face down on the ground. The fog is silent again. Pandolfo decides to not waste the bone that nearly caught him.
- Oracle > Does the Ponà l bring a secret No
The Ponà l, unhappy with Pandolfo's choices, reveals no secrets. The merchant stares at the dead body and his own sickle and bloodied hand, before shedding a tear and vanishing in the fog.
And so, onwards through the Selva Lugana
Pandolfo goes.
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