The road dies at the town stones. Ahead, the woods drink the light, and Elowen’s satchel answers with a steady metallic thrum. From the tree line, heavy footsteps keep pace, too deliberate to be an animal.
Neko
The rhythm matches the relic’s pulse. It is not random.
Neko shifts closer to Elowen as the shadow in the trees stops. A hooded figure steps out, one hand raised, the other wrapped in old leather straps stained dark with resin.
Harrow
Do not open that satchel here. The thing inside knows your blood, and it is waking the road behind us.
Sister Elowen
You have followed us from the baron’s lands. Speak plain, or I call for help.
Harrow
Plain, then. The Baron’s beasts are grown from relic shards. This satchel holds the seed-piece, and it answers to the same craft. Your Neko was marked by it long before you met me.
The satchel jolts hard against Elowen’s side. Under the flap, one wrapped relic piece catches the grey light, and the old wax seal splits with a dry crack.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Sister Elowen from the hooded figure
“I grab Elowen's arm and pull her toward the me. Asking the man explain who he is.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled -1)
Neko catches Elowen by the arm and draws her behind him in one smooth pull, putting his body between her and the tree line. The satchel thumps against his side as he turns his head toward the hooded stranger. The motion costs him balance and stirs the mud under his boots.
Neko
Who are you?
Harrow
A messenger who arrived too late. Call me Harrow, if you need a name.
Sister Elowen
His grip is steady. For the first time since the road darkened, I can breathe.
Elowen presses close behind Neko, one hand still locked on the satchel’s iron rim. Harrow does not advance. He studies Neko’s sword arm, then the cracked seal, as if measuring what has already escaped.
Harrow
That relic is a lock, not a treasure. If it wakes fully, the road will not stay empty for long.
The satchel gives a thin metallic quiver against Neko’s ribs. In the shift, a strip of sealing wax snaps loose and falls into the mud at his feet.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Sister Elowen safely to the next town
Quest Complete
Protect Sister Elowen from the hooded figure
“We leave and hurry to the next town. Where i drop off sister Elowen and the relic.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled -2)