The festival lights fade behind Tenda Wildheart as he leads the others out into the mist-choked road. Ahead, the canyon swallows the horn’s echo, and disciplined boots answer it from the dark.
Zero
That is no rabble. Hear that pace? They move like trained soldiers.
Tenda drops into a shallow bend above the road, the kind of high ground that turns an ambush into a statement. Below, the marching line is still just a shadow in the fog, but it is coming straight for the village gate.
Daisy
If they reach the square, the festival becomes a battlefield again.
Rex lowers himself near the rocks, ears forward, while Mei watches the mist with a tight, pale face. The Elder With Lantern remains further back, clutching his lantern like a shield.
Mei
If we let them pass, they take the village before dawn. If we hit them here, we learn who they are.
The front rank finally emerges, not looters or scared militia, but ordered men in dark travel gear, moving in silence under a horn bearer at their center. Tenda’s line now clearly blocks the only approach to the gates.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the Warlord's true strength
“I leap down from the bend to intercept the front rank and force them to reveal their colors. Making my eyes glow to intimidate.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Tenda drops from the bend in a clean, silent fall, landing hard between the road and the mist. The front rank snaps its focus to him as if a curtain has been yanked away.
He lifts his gaze and lets his ki answer first, eyes flaring gold in the fog. The nearest soldiers halt mid-step, caught between discipline and instinct.
Zero
He made them look.
The horn bearer shifts his stance, and the line around him parts just enough to protect him. These are not raiders. They move like an escort built around one center.
Mei
That one. He is the strength they are guarding.
The Elder With Lantern recoils at the sound of the horn again, lantern trembling in his grip. Behind the soldiers, a second file of boots answers from the mist, starting to close the road.
Tenda stands in their path with his aura burning bright, and the vanguard finally reveals its shape, a guarded spearpoint wrapped around a single commanding figure.