Wet leaves slick the forest path outside East Orangol, under a gray sky and the distant wall. Demetrius cloudkin steps into a clearing and finds a coarse rope looped over a sturdy oak branch.
A local thug tightens the knot with impatient hands, all focus on the hanging line. Below him, a bound man kneels in the mud, shaking hard enough to rattle the cords at his wrists.
The thug gives Demetrius only a sideways glance, as if he is no more than another tree in the dark wood.
The Thug
Keep back. This one sold names to the west, and I mean to finish it.
The bound man jerks his head up, eyes wide, face pale with terror and rain.
The Bound Man
Please. I never meant for anyone to die. I can tell you who paid me.
The rope sways once above the kneeling man. The air smells of damp earth, sap, and a decision that can still be interrupted.
The Thug
Last warning, healer. Walk away, or prove where your loyalties stand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Save the bound man from execution
“Perform an evil detection spell to determine the thugs morals”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +2)
Demetrius cloudkin lifts two fingers, tracing a small sign through the rain. Blue-white sight spills over the thug like moonlight on rot, and the air turns sharp with truth.
No stain clings to the man at the rope. The darkness answers elsewhere, on the thug only, a bruise-deep knot of fear, cruelty, and something colder beneath it.
Demetrius cloudkin
He is not empty of sin, but he is not the dark that hunts here.
The bound man sees the shift in Demetrius cloudkin's gaze and stops pleading long enough to stare, hope and dread colliding on his face.
The Thug
What did you see? Answer me, healer.
The rope creaks overhead as the thug’s grip tightens, his hand starting toward the knot, waiting for Demetrius cloudkin to name the truth or stand against him.
“I see his innocence and truth. For you .....the clouds loom darker. But not as dark to mark you malicous. Stat your hand is say, and your conscious will aprove. Together we may find the truth”
FAILURE (Fair Persuasion, rolled -1)
Demetrius cloudkin
I see no innocence in him, only a man afraid. For you, the clouds are darker, but not so dark that your conscience is lost. Put down your hand, and let it guide you.
The Thug
You talk like a priest and stare like a judge. If I let go, I hang for it.
The Bound Man
Please. I swore I never named names. I can prove it, if you give me air and time.
The Thug
Time is what gets men killed out here. But the healer's sight... it shook something loose.
Rain ticks through the leaves. The thug's arm trembles at the knot, not with resolve now, but with doubt. The bound man leans forward as far as the rope allows, watching the other man's face more than Demetrius cloudkin's.
The Thug
If he speaks, and it is a lie, you answer for it. If I cut him free, he stays under your eye.
Steel whispers once. The knife comes out, and the rope slackens in a single, reluctant loop. The bound man drops to his knees, coughing, alive, while the thug keeps the blade low and his gaze fixed on Demetrius cloudkin.
Quest Complete
Save the bound man from execution
Skill Upgrade: Arcana Superb→Legendary