A week of eager work has put reliable firearms into guarded service. Flawed pieces lie stripped on benches, their metal sorted for resmelting with rice iron and graded red-to-blue oxides.
Then mountain wind screams through the mouth above the lower works. Grey figures in ragged shrouds ride the gale into the tunnels, howling as the doors slam wide.
Mirel
Back from the benches! Do not touch the fresh metal. They are following the worked pieces.
Mirel, General Rovan, the senior sage, and the forge master form a guarded line. Beyond them, flooded channels shimmer with distant blue light, Ethrosise's manifestation watching from far below.
General Rovan
Hold the passage. No one fires unless ordered. Count the serviceable weapons and move the unfinished pieces behind stone.
the senior sage
These are banshee ghouls, drawn by alteration, heat, and intention. The metal itself has become a beacon.
The howling figures drift closer, ignoring flesh and timber while turning toward the racks of newly worked barrels. A blue reflection ripples across the water, and every face turns toward Hammon.
✓ Quest Accepted
Seal the lower works against the banshee ghouls
“I bow to the banshee at a respectable angle”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +2)
King Hammon steps forward from the guarded line and bows at a respectful angle toward the drifting banshee ghouls, hands visible and weaponless. The howling thins into a strained hush.
the senior sage
A wise courtesy, my king. They recognize intention more readily than steel, though their hunger still clings to the worked metal.
The grey figures stop before the racks. Their ragged shrouds stir without wind, and their pale attention shifts from Hammon to the barrels hidden behind the stone barricade.
the banshee ghouls
Bearer of altered iron, lower the fire. What is shaped with purpose must answer the spirits it summons.
Below, blue radiance rolls through the flooded channels. Ethrosise's distant manifestation remains still, but the water brightens beneath the tunnel floor as if witnessing the exchange.
Mirel
They speak to the craft, not to conquerors. I can set the unfinished pieces aside and explain what was changed, if they permit the lesson.
General Rovan
No one moves without the king's leave. Hold the line, preserve the weapons, and let this courtesy reveal what force would conceal.