Round 1 Transcript

The road into Gravehill winds through a graveyard choked with weeds and collapsed headstones. Rain has been falling for hours, turning the ground to mud that sucks at your boots. The abandoned church looms ahead, its steeple broken, windows dark holes gaped open. A single lit window in the nearest house suggests someone is still alive here. Jeane stops, her hand going to her sword hilt. "This place feels wrong." Silra nods beside you, her eyes scanning the shadows between houses. Sister Hale mutters something that sounds like a prayer, clutching her symbol. The rain picks up, harder now, and something shifts beneath the street near your feet—a stone moving, or something moving under it. A figure emerges from the house with the lit window. A man in mud-stained work clothes approaches, looking terrified. "You shouldn't be here after dark," he says, voice shaking. He backs up a step as he speaks, clearly afraid of you or something else.

I step closer to the man, my voice soft but carrying authority through the rain. "We seek only shelter from this storm." I show him my unholy symbol openly—let him see what kind of protection we offer. "And perhaps a warm place for my companions to pray before we continue to our destination."

My eyes flick down the street toward the church, then back to his face. Fear makes people talk, and desperation makes them grateful for any offer of safety. I need information about this town, about what happened here, and he looks like the kind of person who'd spill everything to avoid trouble. The rain is getting worse—time is pressure. Behind me, Silra's hand rests on her blade hilt, ready. Sister Hale prays more loudly now. We're exposed out here in the open graveyard with night coming. I need him to invite us inside before something else decides we don't belong. I meet his eyes directly. "You look like a man who knows this city's secrets." My smile is not warm. "We can offer protection from whatever walks these streets at night—if you're willing to return the favor with knowledge."