Tau has barely reached the barracks when Ruouh returns from his solitary walk. The prince enters with the Black Stone Ring still on his finger, his expression sharpened by anger.
Ruouh Falren
You were looking for Hirana, and she was asking you questions about what I confronted you over. What exactly did she give you?
Ruouh closes the door behind him. The ring catches the lamplight, while the dark stone necklace rests beneath Tau’s uniform, quiet but newly bound to it.
Ruouh Falren
A fragment from a burned note, a hidden mark, and now private questions in an empty corridor. You keep placing her confidence beside mine as though they carry equal weight.
Tau Heathsburough
The ring is still answering the necklace.
Ruouh Falren
Tell me plainly, Tau. Do you intend to keep choosing Hirana’s confidence over mine, even while the king and queen’s lives depend on finding the cure?
His anger leaves the cure investigation within reach, but only barely. Ruouh stands between Tau and the door, waiting for an answer rather than giving another order.
“I bow, but this makes Ruouh more frustrated, so I stand up again. “Let’s talk somewhere else, Your Majesty. Other Knights will be coming here shortly.””
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +1)
Tau bows, but Ruouh’s frustration deepens instead of easing. The prince’s ring flashes in the lamplight as he watches the gesture with narrowed eyes.
Tau Heathsburough
Let’s talk somewhere else, Your Majesty. Other knights will be coming here shortly.
Tau straightens again. Deep-seated Phobia tightens his breathing beneath Ruouh’s stare, while Knightly Etiquette keeps his request respectful and composed.
Ruouh Falren
Ruouh. We are alone, and you know better than to call me Your Majesty when we are alone.
Courtly Insight catches the concession beneath his irritation: Ruouh understands the risk of being overheard. Royal Guard Armor lends Tau’s quiet stance enough authority to make privacy sound like duty, not retreat.
Ruouh Falren
Very well. Come with me. We will use the old map room, and no knight will hear what passes between us there.
Ruouh unlocks a narrow side door and leads Tau into the old map room. He closes it behind them, securing the private conversation before footsteps reach the barracks.
“As we walk out, Ruouh still seems tense about the unanswered questions. Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming. With no where to hide, I turn to Ruouh, take my cloak off and deal it around him, pulling up the hood. I then put out the torch on the wall next to us to make it darker and harder to see Ruouh’s. Right after, the Captain turns the corner and spots me first. I nod towards him to show respect. He also notices Ruouh but doesn’t recognize him. I drape Ruouh’s arm around my shoulder and press him into me to make him look as if he was drunk. I also nudge his head down before the Captain fully approaches. He looks at Ruouh, then me and asks who my companion is. I say it is a drunk suitor who wandered down here, and that I am going back up to escort him to where he belongs. The Captain stares at me, then Ruouh and narrows his eyes, but the darkness and Ruouh’s acting seems to convince him. Ruouh and I make it up and into the old map room before anyone else can inquire.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +2)
Ruouh leads Tau from the map room’s side passage, still tense over the unanswered questions. Footsteps approach. Tau takes a folded cloak from a nearby peg and wraps it around Ruouh.
Tau pulls the hood low, drapes Ruouh’s arm across his shoulder, and nudges the prince’s head down. He snuffs the wall torch, leaving the passage dim.
The scarred captain turns the corner and spots Tau first. Tau’s respectful nod follows Knightly Etiquette, while Courtly Insight shapes the disguise and Royal Guard Armor supports its authority.
Royal Guard 1
Who is your companion, Guard?
Tau Heathsburough
A drunk suitor who wandered down here. I am taking him back up to where he belongs.
The captain studies the hooded prince, then Tau. Deep-seated Phobia constricts Tau’s breathing beneath the scrutiny, but composure and the formal explanation hold. The captain’s suspicion remains.
Royal Guard 1
See that he reaches the proper quarters. I will remember finding you here with him.
Tau guides Ruouh past without further question, then returns through the upper passage. They enter the old map room, and Tau closes the door before another guard can inquire.
“When we make it into the old map room, my composure slips a little as I scold the prince for coming down there. Ruouh gets angry and tells me I don’t get to tell him what to do. Realizing my mistake, I regain composure, bow, and apologize. I then explain that while there is a mole in the palace, we should not be seen together in places we should not be in. He says he is the Prince and he could’ve worked it out, but we both know that it would not have worked. Ruouh then starts interrogating me about his unanswered questions and I try to reign my emotions back as to not clash with his.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled -3)
Inside the old map room, Tau’s composure slips. The cramped chamber and Ruouh’s reckless disguise sharpen his fear, though Knightly Etiquette keeps his rebuke measured rather than loud.
Tau Heathsburough
You should not have come down there. If the palace has a mole, you cannot keep walking into places where we should not be seen together.
Ruouh Falren
You do not get to tell me what to do, Tau. I am the prince, and I can decide where I walk.
Tau reins himself in, bows, and apologizes. Royal Guard Armor steadies his posture, while Courtly Insight turns his warning toward discretion. Deep-seated Phobia still tightens his breath beneath Ruouh’s anger.
Tau Heathsburough
You are right. I apologize. But a prince being seen there would expose us both. We should keep the investigation hidden, even from those who serve you.
Ruouh Falren
I could have worked that out myself. I am the prince. And we both know your little disguise would not have survived a proper question.
Ruouh Falren
Now answer what you avoided. What did Hirana give you, what did you find on that fragment, and why did you decide her confidence belonged beside mine? Do not soften it for me.
““I did not decide the placement of anyone confidence, Your Majesty. I just dedicated myself to the pursuit of knowledge you have ordered me on.” My choice of words and name seems to upset the Prince more. He closes the distance between us and asks more questions, demanding answers to all of them. I decide not to hide anything from him, but I lower my voice as I share, trying to calm his temper and reign my own in.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +1)
Tau Heathsburough
I did not decide the placement of anyone’s confidence, Your Majesty. I dedicated myself to the knowledge you ordered me to pursue. Hirana gave me a fragment from a burned note. It says someone inside the castle is disrupting several matters, making separate problems appear unrelated. The mark on its back is a gold eye above an inverted black crown. I asked Hirana about it, then asked whether she knew a botanist who could identify what I found in the kitchen records. She directed me to Elian Vey, the retired Yuna botanist. I told her I would share more later because I meant to bring the truth to you, not conceal it.
Tau lowers his voice as he speaks, keeping each fact in order. Deep-seated Phobia constricts his breath beneath Ruouh’s closeness, but Courtly Insight separates evidence from accusation, while Knightly Etiquette and Royal Guard Armor lend the confession disciplined weight.
Ruouh Falren
Do not call me Your Majesty when we are alone. You say you meant to tell me, yet you carried the fragment to Hirana first and went searching for a Yuna contact without informing me.
The prince’s anger does not vanish, but his grip on the conversation loosens. The necklace remains cool beneath Tau’s uniform, and the ring’s dark stone no longer flashes with warning.
Ruouh Falren
You have answered the questions. The fragment is evidence, the mark may connect to our enemy, and the botanist is another lead. But your secrecy has cost you my unreserved trust. From now on, you report every discovery to me before pursuing it.
Ruouh steps back, leaving space between them without offering forgiveness. The investigation remains in Tau’s hands, but its private path has narrowed to a single royal witness.
Ruouh Falren
Now show me the fragment again, and tell me precisely what you found in those kitchen records. We will decide together whether Elian Vey is worth the risk.
“A pang of guilt hits my heart and i try to conceal most of it from my face. I did not mean to keep any secrets. I can tell Ruouh doesn’t see it that way and it hurts, but I recount the notes I got and the paper that was torn out of the flowers information. The prince tells me he calls seeing a similar flower somewhere, but can’t place it. I can’t meet his eyes the whole conversation, but I share everything I know and my next plans of what to do. I tell him I plan to go with Hirana to visit her retired botanist and see if he knows anything about the flower.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled -1)
Guilt tightens behind Tau’s guarded expression. Deep-seated Phobia makes Ruouh’s scrutiny harder to endure, but Courtly Insight separates fact from defensiveness, while Knightly Etiquette and Royal Guard Armor keep his account orderly.
Tau Heathsburough
I did not mean to keep secrets. I found the nourishing woody herb and the night-blooming flower seed in the kitchen records, but the page describing the flower was torn out. Hirana gave me the burned note fragment and its mark, then directed me to Elian Vey, the retired Yuna botanist. I plan to go there with her and learn what the flower means.
Tau cannot hold Ruouh’s eyes through every detail, yet he shares the notes, the missing page, the inverted crown mark, and his intended route without withholding anything. The confession succeeds, but its cost settles heavily.
Ruouh Falren
I remember seeing a flower like that somewhere in the palace. I cannot place it, but the memory is clear enough to trouble me.
Ruouh takes the Ingredient Notes and studies the copied descriptions. His anger recedes into wary calculation, but the trust he withheld remains a concrete price: every further discovery must now reach him before Tau acts on it.
Ruouh Falren
Go with Hirana to Elian Vey. Learn what you can about the flower, then return directly to me. This lead is yours to pursue, but not yours to keep from me.
“After our exchange, I head back to my barracks and fall asleep, the guilt and confusion of the night carrying me into sleep. When I open my eyes again, something feels wrong. I can’t sit up and it feels as if I’m paralyzed. I feel something watching me and I hear voices. I open my eyes to see a shadow standing at the edge of my bed. Unable to scream or move, the shadow moves up the bed towards me. Then it speaks: “His loyal dog,” it says. “I will use you to lead him astray.” It starts to reach a hand out towards my face, but my necklace starts glowing silver and brighter until the demon and the surrounding world is just silver light. I wake up. I realize it was all a dream as dusk starts to recede outside. The necklace is warm. I put on my armor and go to find Hirana so that we can find the botanist.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Tau sleeps beneath the barracks’ dim rafters, guilt and confusion dragging him through a dream. He cannot sit up or move, while unseen voices murmur beyond the dark.
A shadow, a lean adult figure cloaked in featureless darkness with its face unseen stands at the bed’s edge, then glides upward through the frozen air. Its reaching hand pauses beside Tau’s face, and Deep-seated Phobia turns helplessness into suffocating terror.
The Shadow at the Bed
His loyal dog. I will use you to lead him astray.
The Dark Stone Necklace answers before the hand touches him, glowing silver, then brighter. Keen Senses catch the change, and Willpower holds against the nightmare’s pressure while the world dissolves into light.
Tau wakes at dusk, breathless and free to move. The necklace is warm against his skin; Courtly Insight identifies the dream as a warning, though its meaning leaves his spirit worn and his composure shaken.
Royal Guard Armor settles over him piece by piece, giving his unsteady resolve a familiar discipline. The necklace’s warmth remains beneath it, a quiet proof that the pact responded.
Tau leaves the barracks and finds Hirana in the Yuna quarters before night fully gathers. She has her travel cloak ready, and together they set out to find Elian Vey, the retired botanist.