Conversation: `q_hrp_conv`

NPC lines: 9
PC replies: 11
NumWords: 391
OnEnd
OnAbort

Triggered by

creature NPC Della Heathertoes q_hrp_contact

Scripts referenced

Script	Slot	In module
`q_hrp_c_lore`	active	✓
`q_hrp_solve`	action	✓
`q_hrp_c_g1`	active	✓
`q_hrp_c_g2`	active	✓
`q_hrp_c_g3`	active	✓

Quest entries granted

Quest	Tag	Step(s)
The Cipher in the Inn	`pc_harper`	2

Starting entries

entry #0 (if q_hrp_c_g1) — *A road-worn woman in a fern-green cloak nurses a small beer at the corner table…
entry #1 (if q_hrp_c_g2) — *She does not look up* You still carry the keeper's word, cousin. Words are for …
entry #2 (if q_hrp_c_g3) — *Her collar shifts; beneath it sits a small grey pin, twin to your own* Walk unr…
entry #3 — *A road-worn woman in a fern-green cloak looks up briefly, then back to her smal…

Conversation flow

Each starting entry is expanded recursively. Repeated nodes (cycles, shared continuations) appear inline as ↩ link backrefs to the first occurrence.

entry #0 (if q_hrp_c_g1) ¶

*A road-worn woman in a fern-green cloak nurses a small beer at the corner table. As you settle across from her she slides a scrap of paper over the wood, without once looking up* Cold on the West Road this season. Colder still for those who cannot read the signs. *On the scrap, in a careful hand:* DAOR TSEW EHT SEHCTAW YERG EHT

reply #0 (if q_hrp_c_lore) ¶

*You read it at a glance* 'The Grey watches the West Road.' Each word written tail-first, the line walked from its far end — the old road-cant of Arthedain.

entry #4 ¶

*Her eyes come up for the first time, and there is nothing sleepy in them* Quick eyes. The keeper chooses better than he used to.

reply #6 ¶

And the word you would trust me with?

entry #8 → q_hrp_solve ¶

*She leans close, as if remarking on the beer* Tell the keeper: 'The road remembers.' He will know whose hand it came from. And word of you goes out tonight — north to Loriel, who sings in Rivendell's hall, and south to the Lady's watcher under the mallorns. Three of us will know your face before the moon turns. That is how it begins, cousin.

reply #7 ¶

'The road remembers.' I will carry it.

reply #1 ¶

These are letters tumbled together. Teach me the trick of it.

entry #5 ¶

*quietly, into her cup* No song is sung the way it is written. Turn each word tail-first, then walk the whole line from its far end. Now — what does the scrap say?

reply #2 ¶

It says: 'The Grey watches the West Road.'

entry #6 ¶

*She takes the scrap back and feeds it to the candle* So he does. Slowly learned is soundly kept.

↩ reply #6 “And the word you would trust me with?”

reply #3 ¶

It says: 'The road is grey, and watched.'

entry #7 ¶

*A small shake of the head* Near — and a message half-read is a friend half-buried. Tail-first, from the far end. Walk it again.

↩ reply #2 “It says: 'The Grey watches the West Road.'”

↩ reply #3 “It says: 'The road is grey, and watched.'”

reply #4 ¶

It says: 'Watch the grey West — the road hears.'

↩ entry #7 “*A small shake of the head* Near — and a message half-read is a friend half-buri…”

↩ reply #4 “It says: 'Watch the grey West — the road hears.'”

reply #5 ¶

Another time.

entry #1 (if q_hrp_c_g2) ¶

*She does not look up* You still carry the keeper's word, cousin. Words are for delivering — the Well is not so far.

reply #8 ¶

I am on my way.

entry #2 (if q_hrp_c_g3) ¶

*Her collar shifts; beneath it sits a small grey pin, twin to your own* Walk unremarked, cousin. The road remembers.

reply #9 ¶

The road remembers. Farewell.

entry #3 ¶

*A road-worn woman in a fern-green cloak looks up briefly, then back to her small beer* A traveller, resting her feet. Nothing more.

reply #10 ¶

As you were, then.

NPC lines (entries) — flat index

entry #0

→ reply #0 “*You read it at a glance* 'The Grey watches the West Road.' Each word written ta…” (if q_hrp_c_lore)
→ reply #1 “These are letters tumbled together. Teach me the trick of it.”
→ reply #5 “Another time.”

entry #1

*She does not look up* You still carry the keeper's word, cousin. Words are for delivering — the Well is not so far.

→ reply #8 “I am on my way.”

entry #2

*Her collar shifts; beneath it sits a small grey pin, twin to your own* Walk unremarked, cousin. The road remembers.

→ reply #9 “The road remembers. Farewell.”

entry #3

*A road-worn woman in a fern-green cloak looks up briefly, then back to her small beer* A traveller, resting her feet. Nothing more.

→ reply #10 “As you were, then.”

entry #4

*Her eyes come up for the first time, and there is nothing sleepy in them* Quick eyes. The keeper chooses better than he used to.

→ reply #6 “And the word you would trust me with?”

entry #5

*quietly, into her cup* No song is sung the way it is written. Turn each word tail-first, then walk the whole line from its far end. Now — what does the scrap say?

→ reply #2 “It says: 'The Grey watches the West Road.'”
→ reply #3 “It says: 'The road is grey, and watched.'”
→ reply #4 “It says: 'Watch the grey West — the road hears.'”

entry #6

*She takes the scrap back and feeds it to the candle* So he does. Slowly learned is soundly kept.

→ child “And the word you would trust me with?”

entry #7

*A small shake of the head* Near — and a message half-read is a friend half-buried. Tail-first, from the far end. Walk it again.

→ child “It says: 'The Grey watches the West Road.'”
→ child “It says: 'The road is grey, and watched.'”
→ child “It says: 'Watch the grey West — the road hears.'”

entry #8 → q_hrp_solve

→ reply #7 “'The road remembers.' I will carry it.”

PC replies — flat index

reply #0

*You read it at a glance* 'The Grey watches the West Road.' Each word written tail-first, the line walked from its far end — the old road-cant of Arthedain.

→ entry #4 “*Her eyes come up for the first time, and there is nothing sleepy in them* Quick…”

reply #1