Cregan arrives beneath the black basalt arches of the Blood Baronies as the High Inquisitor seals the election chamber. Guards hold back a panicked crowd.
The High Inquisitor, an elderly woman with close-cropped white hair, severe bronze features, and layered ivory robes beneath a crimson mantle, raises a burned fragment.
High Inquisitor
No threshold was breached. No servant entered. Yet every ballot within was consumed from the center outward.
Ash clings to the chamber floor without warmth or smoke. On the fragment, an unfamiliar wolf-mark twists through the blackened parchment like a clawed brand.
High Inquisitor
This sign has surfaced beside inquiries into Raegar's lineage. By authority of Sol-Vahr, open the chamber again.
The guards hesitate. Beyond the sealed doors, the ruined ballots rustle against the stone, though the air remains perfectly still.
High Inquisitor
Stand ready. Whatever burned these votes may have left more than ash behind.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the election grounds from the awakened threat
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover what the wolf-mark reveals about Raegar's lineage
“Secure the election grounds from the awakened threat”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Cregan moves beneath the basalt arches, placing himself between the sealed chamber and the panicked crowd. His navy-and-gold mantle catches the torchlight as guards turn toward him.
He directs the nearest sentries into a disciplined ring around the election grounds, leaving a clear lane to the chamber doors and sealing every outer approach.
High Inquisitor
Hold the perimeter. No one enters, and no one leaves without my sanction.
The guards obey. Spears lower in unison, and the crowd is guided behind the second line, where frightened voices fall into a tense, manageable murmur.
Cregan Lycaon
The ash remains cold, but the stone beneath it is warm.
A pulse shudders through the sealed doors. Cregan braces the formation as black motes rise from the ballot ash, then fade harmlessly within the guarded ground.
High Inquisitor
The grounds are secured. Whatever woke here will find no unguarded path beyond these walls.
Quest Complete
Secure the election grounds from the awakened threat
“Discover what the wolf-mark reveals about Raegar's lineage”
SUCCESS (Great Lore, rolled +2)
The wolf-mark answers the warmth beneath the stone. Its clawed lines unwind across the burned fragment, forming a star-eyed wolf encircling House Lycaon’s sigil.
Silver fire spills over the ash without heat. Within it, two bloodlines appear as interwoven strands: one bearing Cregan’s noble crest, the other shaped like an ancient star-wolf.
High Inquisitor
The mark names Raegar as the child of House Lycaon and Elena Dryad'Fang, heir to both noble blood and the ancient wolf-bound lineage.
The vision deepens. A child’s blood appears beneath a veil of stars, carrying the wolf’s radiance without surrendering the Lycaon crown. The symbol brands no illegitimacy.
High Inquisitor
His mother’s blood is older than these kingdoms. It passes through the Veil, hunts corruption, and answers to the star-wolf. Raegar carries it fully.
Cregan Lycaon
The mark confirms Raegar’s lineage.
The silver fire collapses into the fragment, leaving the two signs joined rather than opposed. Around the chamber, even the guards understand that the revelation cannot be dismissed as rumor.
Quest Complete
Discover what the wolf-mark reveals about Raegar's lineage
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb