splinter-keep/session/log/2026-06-23.md

Session Log — 2026-06-23

• World Change: World and Keep established. Character created: Dillion (Guardian, failed jester, secret princess).

• Morning — Splintered Tankard. Dillion checks the notice board at Market Square. Notices: mill at Three Bridges clicking at night (ask Weber's Smithy), vanished caravan (Guild, 15 silver), bones wanted in Amber Hills (2 silver/skeleton at Guild Hall), lost signet ring (ask Fenna's Curios).

• Late Morning — Asks Otta about the mill. She warns it's been dead ten years — just kids' dares and rat droppings.

• Late Morning — Weber's Smithy. Meets Weber (hunchbacked smith, talks to his hammer "Bell"). Counters Weber's 5 silver offer to 15, settles at 8 silver + free mace sharpening if danger. Spit-handshake seals it. World Change: Weber added as known NPC; mill job accepted.

• Late Morning — Catches Lark in the Market Square. Asks him about the mill — Lark heard scratching, knows about a loose board. Pressed further — he saw a dark shape moving inside. Dillion recruits him with promise of loot.

• Late Morning — Grabs a pitchfork from a market stall for Lark. They head east on the King's Road.

• Noon — Arrive at Three Bridges. Scout the perimeter. Spot a dark shape through the window, motionless. Find the loose board behind the wheel.

• Noon — Pry the board open. Light a torch. Crawl inside the storage room.

• Noon — Combat! A pale sinewy creature drops from the ceiling. Dillion wins initiative, smashes it into the wall for 2 damage. Finishes it with a head shot (5 damage). Creature is dead. Found 3 silver and a rusted iron key in its gut. Cut off an ear as a trophy for Weber.

• Noon — Opens the iron-bound chest with the key. Inside: 12 silver, a silver locket with auburn hair, a bundle of love letters from "Marren" to "Elara" — hints the miller was watched. World Change: Thread deepened — the miller's disappearance involved more than just the creature. Head upstairs.

• Noon — Upstairs: creature's nest. Found a journal (miller trapped the creature, Guild stored something in the cellar, hooded watchers) and a clay jar of grey powder with a note: "For the lock. Sprinkle on the hasp."

• Noon — Finds a padlocked trapdoor behind a collapsed shelf. Sprinkles the grey powder on the lock. Yells an insult into the darkness below.

• Noon — A juvenile of the same creature climbs up — killed with one mace blow (7 damage). Lights a fresh torch, drops it into the cellar — reveals an iron chest and a woman. She claims she was hired to crack the chest, ambushed by hooded figures, locked in for three days. Lark pats her down — clean. Dillion jumps down to explore the cellar.

• Noon — The woman is Rina, a locksmith. Chest contained something long (oilcloth). Found a brass button with a crest: a fist gripping a gear. Dillion peers into the crack — a natural tunnel sloping down, likely passing under the river.

• Noon — Decides to head back to the Keep first. Report to Weber, get paid, gear up Rina, then return to explore the tunnel.