Celia walks beneath the ash-gray sky with one hand pressed to her bleeding sleeve. Maurice leads along the road, while the freed prisoner follows, wrists bruised and shoulder bound.
Maurice Headsman
The roadside shrine is beyond the village. The lord's daughter waits there, under the protection I promised.
They pass the last roofless cottages without challenge. Dust drifts across the road, and the ruined tower recedes behind them, silent beneath its settling stones.
At the shrine, a young adult woman with a slender build waits beneath a weathered stone canopy. Her dark braid rests over a travel-stained blue cloak, and one hand grips a small knife.
Elianor Vale
Maurice! You came back. Who are they, and what happened beneath the tower?
Maurice Headsman
The tower's master is dead, and the plague-heart beneath it is destroyed. Graves needs care, and this man was trapped in my wagon.
The lord's daughter lowers the knife but keeps watching Celia's bloodied sleeve. The prisoner bows stiffly, and the shrine's old ash bowl gives a faint, harmless stir in the wind.
✓ Quest Accepted
Treat Celia's injuries
“I sit beneath the shrine's canopy and bind my bleeding sleeve tighter. Then I ask the names of the lord's daughter and the prisoner.”
SUCCESS (Great Medicine, rolled +0)
Celia sits beneath the shrine’s stone canopy and draws the bloodied sleeve tighter around her arm. The binding holds, though the cloth is already stiff with dust.
Celia Graves
Tell me your names.
Elianor Vale
I am Elianor Vale, daughter of Lord Vale. Maurice brought me from the tower before the worst of it fell.
The young woman lowers her small knife fully and settles beneath the canopy’s shadow. Her guarded posture eases, though her eyes remain fixed on the ruined road.
Tomas Rusk
Tomas Rusk, ma'am. I served as a clerk in the lord’s household before they chained me in that wagon.
Tomas flexes his freed hands and winces at the bruising. Maurice stands nearby, watchful, while the ash bowl stirs once and falls still.
Maurice Headsman
Elianor Vale and Tomas Rusk, then. Names are a sound foundation. We should see what food and clean water the shrine still has.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish trust with Elianor Vale and Tomas Rusk
− Scene Quest Removed
Treat Celia's injuries
“Say "I am Celia Graves though most call me the "Death Witch." I serve the Death God by hunting the undead. You've met my friend Maurice Headsman the executioner in service to the Duke. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Gentlemen may we have some privacy Elianor for injuries?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +4)
Celia Graves
I am Celia Graves, though most call me the Death Witch. I serve the Death God by hunting the undead. You have met my friend Maurice Headsman, executioner in service to the Duke. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Gentlemen, grant Elianor and me privacy for these injuries.
Maurice Headsman
Aye, Graves. Come, Tomas. We will see to the water and leave the shrine to them.
Tomas Rusk
Of course, ma'am. I owe you both more than questions.
Maurice Headsman guides Tomas Rusk beyond the canopy and toward the shrine’s dry-stone well. Elianor Vale watches until they are out of earshot, then sets her knife aside and kneels beside Celia.
Elianor Vale
Death Witch or Celia Graves, you saved Maurice, my life, and perhaps this whole village. Show me the wound. I have clean water and healing herbs.
Elianor Vale opens a weathered shrine chest concealed beneath the ash bowl. Inside lie sealed water, linen strips, bitterleaf, and a small vial marked with the Vale crest.
Elianor Vale
My mother kept these for the road. They are yours now, and the shrine has a chamber below where no one will disturb us.
“I accept Elianor’s care and expose my wound”
SUCCESS (Good Health, rolled +3)
Celia accepts Elianor’s offered care and loosens the stiffened binding. She exposes the wound beneath, where dried blood surrounds a deep, ragged cut along her forearm.
Elianor Vale
Hold still, Celia. This is deeper than the cloth suggested, but the bleeding has slowed. You have not lost as much blood as I feared.
Elianor washes the wound with sealed water, lifting dust and dark blood. Her hands remain steady as she examines the skin for violet discoloration or any sign of the curse.
Elianor Vale
There is no deadening in the flesh, no spreading stain. The bitterleaf will ease the pain, and this vial should draw the edges together.
She presses bitterleaf into the cut and pours the Vale-marked tincture over it. The raw edges tighten cleanly, and the persistent bleeding stops beneath fresh linen.
Elianor Vale
She bears a hunter’s wound, but not a corpse’s corruption. Whatever she faced below, it did not claim her.
Elianor Vale
The wound is secure for now. Rest beneath the canopy, Death Witch. I will see that Maurice and Tomas bring you water before you stand again.
“I tell Elianor how I destroyed the plague-heart. "I sense a similar ability within you, though I think your patron may be more benevolent than mine."”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Celia Graves
I sensed the living root beneath the plague-heart and found the dead force feeding upon it. I separated them, cleansed the living root, and destroyed the exposed undead core.
Celia Graves
I sense a similar ability within you, Elianor, though I think your patron may be more benevolent than mine.
Elianor listens without interrupting, one hand resting on the fresh bandage. Her guarded expression shifts as the account reaches the cleansing, and the ash bowl stirs faintly beside them.
Elianor Vale
You speak of the living and the dead as though both were threads beneath your hand. I have felt something answer when I protect the helpless, but never with such certainty.
Elianor Vale
If a patron truly watches me, I have mistaken its mercy for ordinary courage.
Beyond the canopy, Maurice returns with Tomas and two filled water skins. Maurice studies Celia's repaired arm, while Tomas keeps his eyes on the quiet road.
Elianor Vale
Perhaps benevolence is not the measure of a god, Celia. What matters is what the power demands, and whom it leaves alive.
“"the gods reward action. your courage and kindness are likely what drew you patron to you in first place. perhaps it only watches you right now. but you will eventually feels its power. and I know it is power you would use for the well being of others"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Celia Graves
The gods reward action, Elianor. Your courage and kindness may be what drew your patron to you. Perhaps it watches now, but its power will come, and you will use it for others.
Elianor absorbs the words in silence. A breeze passes beneath the canopy, yet the ash bowl glows with a gentle warmth instead of stirring.
Elianor Vale
Then I will keep acting, whether it watches or not. If power comes, I will know what it is for.
A single pale spark rises from the ash and settles against Elianor’s knuckles. It leaves no burn, only a faint gold mark that fades as quickly as it appeared.
Elianor Vale
Courage was all I believed I possessed. Perhaps it was an answer after all.
Maurice Headsman
Water is here, Graves. Tomas found grain in the shrine stores, and Elianor’s words have given him something stronger than fear.
Tomas sets the waterskins beneath the canopy. Beyond the shrine, the village remains silent, but no corpse rises and no violet pulse answers from the buried tower.
“I invite Elianor and Tomas to travel onward with us. "We must return Elianor home." After we rest for the night.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Celia Graves
We must return Elianor home. After we rest for the night, I invite you both to travel onward with us.
Elianor’s gold mark has faded, but warmth remains beneath the shrine canopy. Tomas sets the grain aside and turns fully toward Celia, attentive.
Elianor Vale
I will go with you. My home needs to know what happened, and I will not leave Tomas to face the road alone.
Tomas Rusk
Nor will I refuse. I know the lord’s roads and household records. If they still stand, I can help guide us home.
Maurice Headsman
Then it is settled. We rest here tonight, eat what the shrine has spared, and leave at first light.
They make camp beneath the weathered canopy. Maurice keeps watch by the road, while Elianor divides the grain and Tomas fills the cups from the well.
Night passes without a corpse stirring or a violet pulse answering from below. At dawn, the four travelers gather their provisions and begin the road toward Elianor’s home.
Quest Complete
Establish trust with Elianor Vale and Tomas Rusk
Skill Upgrade: Medicine Great→Superb