Social — The Bleating Lamb – The Shattered Veil

Area T1 — The Bleating Lamb

The inn's common room is dark. Tables are overturned. From behind the bar, a crossbow bolt whistles past the party's heads.

Grist Mallow (CN male human innkeeper 3) is terrified, not hostile. He hasn't slept in four days. The echoes keep coming through the walls — not attacking, just walking, replaying their deaths. His wife's echo passes through the kitchen every night at midnight. He can't bear to look at it.

Social Challenge: Grist starts hostile (Unfriendly). To gain his trust, the party must either:

Convince him they can stop the haunting (Diplomacy DC 20, or DC 18 if they mention Sister Mirela).
Offer to perform a burial rite for his wife's remains (Religion DC 18).
Intimidate him into cooperation (Intimidation DC 22, but he will betray them later if he can).

Reward: If made Friendly, Grist offers the cellar as shelter, shares village gossip, and gives the party a potion of healing (moderate) he's been hoarding.

Grist Mallow, Innkeeper

Appearance: Unshaven, bloodshot eyes, smells of stale beer and fear.

What he knows: The haunting started three weeks ago. The church bells ring every night. Sister Mirela hasn't left the church in ten days. Old Varla says "something's eating the boundary." Three villagers have walked into the cemetery and not come back — their bodies were found at dawn, smiling.

What he wants: His wife's echo to stop walking through his kitchen. He doesn't care how.