The Lugnica Crossroads writes first
The Lugnica crossroads are quiet under a pale morning sky. A wooden signpost leans toward the capital, its paint peeling. Somewhere beyond the hedges a cart rattles past, and a woman calls out a price for apples. Your satchel is heavier than it should be.
A man in a patched travel cloak steps out of the trees, a dented lantern swinging from one hand. He stops when he sees you, relief and suspicion crossing his face at once. “You’re the one from the inn at Heliand? Thank the spirits. The guards have been asking about a stranger with your look.”
He glances down the road behind you, then back. “There’s an inn in Lugnica that takes travelers, but the innkeeper charges double for questions. You have a few coins and a choice to make before the sun clears the hill.”
Three paths lie in front of you: walk on to the capital and ask for work, follow the stranger to his cart, or slip into the hedgerow and watch the road. Which do you choose?
