Dust drifts over the northern road as V clears the cracked arch. Ahead, a monolith scars the verge like a broken tooth.
A hunched figure steps from behind it, wrapped in tattered furs. They plant themselves in V’s path, one hand raised, the other curled tight around a rusted iron key.
The Stranger
Easy. If you mean to reach the tower, you will need this.
The key gives off a faint hum, low and familiar, like a note heard long ago in a sealed room. The Stranger’s gaze never leaves V’s blade.
The Stranger
That sword has been fed well. The road ahead notices such things.
They do not advance, only angle the key toward him, offering, not threatening. The pale light on the road catches the fur on their shoulders, and the silence between them sharpens.
The Stranger
Take it, or pass me by. But if you climb that tower empty-handed, the moon above it will know your name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the rusted iron key
“I'll accept the key skeptically. "Why are you helping me? Who are you?"”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
V takes the key in two fingers, never letting his blade drift far. The Stranger loosens their grip at once, as if relieved by the weight leaving their hand.
V
Why are you helping me? Who are you?
The Stranger
No friend of the tower, if that eases you. I am the one who still remembers what it costs.
The rusted iron warms against V's palm, and the faint hum deepens into a low throb. The Stranger flinches at the sound, then steadies themself.
The Stranger
I carried this key from a dead gatekeeper. It opens the lower door, the one the moonlight never reaches.
The Stranger
But if I give it freely, the tower's servants will know I helped you. I need your word for a favor, one done after you pass inside.
V gets the key. The Stranger keeps their eyes on him, hand hovering where the iron was, as dust slides between them like ash.
Quest Complete
Get the rusted iron key
+ New Item Acquired
rusted iron key
“"what kind of favor?"”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +4)
V
What kind of favor?
The Stranger
Something done with your hands, not your name. If I ask it now, the tower may hear the shape of it.
The Stranger
Take this key into the lower door. Inside, there is a sealed niche with a black ribbon tied around it. Bring me what rests there, unopened.
V
A sealed niche. That is not a common errand.
The Stranger
And if you find a moonmarked ward on the way, leave it untouched. The tower dislikes thieves, but it hates witnesses more.
The Stranger
Do that, and I tell you what name the tower answers to when it drinks light.
The Stranger finally lowers their hand from the empty space where the key was. Under the road dust, a thin cut of old silver glints at their throat, half-hidden and deliberate.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bring the unopened niche prize to The Stranger
“I agree and continue to the tower”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -2)