The fort healer finishes binding Effruin’s shoulder and escorts him through the side door. The command hall beyond is bright with braziers, maps, and armed sentries.
High Marshal Grahamin waits beside a chained young knight in battered silver plate, whose red-and-black helmet rests on the table. Green pupils burn through its narrow eye slits.
High Marshal Grahamin
Your recovery is finished, Effruin. This prisoner claims the Ashen Oath sent him to assess my defenses. I believe he knows where their eastern cell gathers.
Calisto
I am Calisto, knight of the Ashen Oath. I came to measure your walls, not betray comrades who trusted me.
Grahamin places one gauntleted hand on the table map. A river road, three watchtowers, and a marked eastern village lie beneath his finger, while Calisto’s chains scrape the flagstones.
High Marshal Grahamin
The Ashen Oath is preparing another strike. I need their gathering place before nightfall, and I need someone who can survive the road beside me.
The hall falls quiet. The fort healer withdraws toward the healer’s door, Numet remains absent from the chamber, and Grahamin turns from the map to Effruin.
“I interrogation Calisto about the eastern cell”
SUCCESS (Great Intimidation, rolled -1)
Effruin
Tell me where the Ashen Oath’s eastern cell gathers, and how many blades wait there.
Effruin’s demand cuts across the command hall. Calisto’s chained posture stays proud, but his eyes flick toward Grahamin, measuring whether the marshal will intervene.
Calisto
The eastern cell gathers at Duskford Mill, beyond the third watchtower. Twelve fighters guard it, with a captain beneath the millstones.
The answer lands cleanly, but Calisto’s admission costs him standing with his comrades. His jaw tightens as though he has surrendered honor along with the location.
High Marshal Grahamin
Duskford Mill. You have extracted what I needed, Effruin, but he will never trust you now. Remember that when you ask him to fight beside us.
Calisto
I gave you the mill, not my allegiance. Come there, drow, and I will decide whether your intimidation earned anything beyond contempt.
The eastern cell’s gathering place is no longer hidden: Duskford Mill, past the third watchtower, twelve fighters and their captain waiting beneath its stones. Calisto’s hostility now stands between them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach Duskford Mill
✓ Quest Accepted
Kill Calisto
“I approach Calisto, and ask him if he's ready to face his gods.”
SUCCESS (Great Intimidation, rolled +0)
Effruin crosses the command hall toward Calisto, each step measured beneath the watch of Grahamin and the armed sentries. The chained knight lifts his chin as the drow closes in.
Effruin
Are you ready to face your gods?
The question strips the hall of its ordinary noise. Calisto’s proud expression falters, and the chains at his wrists give a small, betraying rattle against the stone.
Calisto
I have faced them since my homeland fell. If you mean the Ashen Oath, yes. I am ready to stand before them, and answer for what I gave away.
His answer is honest, but the success buys no fellowship. Calisto’s contempt hardens into a private challenge, and Grahamin’s gaze sharpens at the threat beneath Effruin’s words.
Calisto
Bring me to Duskford Mill, drow. I will face my comrades there, but I will not call you ally, and I will not fight at your command.
Calisto has accepted the road to Duskford Mill and the reckoning waiting there. He offers only his own steel, while the cost of Effruin’s intimidation settles as distrust between them.
“With a thunderous kick, I cave in Calisto's helmet and skull, killing him.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +2)
Effruin pivots and drives his heel into Calisto’s helmet with thunderous force. The metal buckles inward, and the chained knight goes slack, killed before the chains finish clattering against the stone.
The impact jars Effruin’s healing shoulder, but he remains upright. Calisto’s body settles beside the table, his red-and-black helmet ruined and his challenge ended.
High Marshal Grahamin
You killed a prisoner beneath my roof.
Grahamin steps between Effruin and the fallen knight, one gauntleted hand raised to hold the unseen guards in place. His face hardens, but he does not draw steel.
High Marshal Grahamin
He was Ashen Oath, but he was surrendered. You have made my protection a mockery and murdered a man who could have answered for his cause.
The command hall tightens around the silence. Grahamin looks from Calisto’s body to Effruin, weighing the old vow between them against the killing now written beneath his roof.
Quest Complete
Kill Calisto
Skill Upgrade: Intimidation Great→Superb