Act 5, Episode 7, Scene 3
Morgan Blinds the Directions Out of a Tech Runner
2026-05-21 / Cave path from black market toward stream level
New Goblin City kept trying to charge the party for being lost. A Tech Runner intercepted them on the route out of the black market and offered directions for twenty-five gold. In another city, that might have been a business proposition. In this one, after a corpse, a commotion fee, and too many goblins trying to turn confusion into profit, Morgan had apparently reached her limit. She cast Blindness instead. The Tech Runner panicked, ran straight into a wall, and knocked himself unconscious. It was not diplomacy, but it was effective enough to create a map. Ash inspected the fallen runner and found a crude goblin map marked with symbols. With enough history and pattern recognition, the marks pointed toward the left-hand stream route and the dragon or Emrite area the party had been trying to reach. The group gained the path without paying the toll. They also left behind a witness who might wake up angry, embarrassed, or both. The route to the Emrite and Wingkin lead was clearer now: down toward the stream level, following goblin symbols and the momentum of Morgan's exhausted war against local capitalism.