The stale air of the hidden passage still hangs over the breach. Captain Vaelorin moves with that same measured grace, hand skimming the cold stone, as if he studies the palace itself for a throat to cut.
He finds a loose block and pauses. Not to test the wall, but to feel the seam beside it. His eyes track the mortar, the angle of the floor, the dark beyond Eden’s lantern glow.
Captain Vaelorin
A weak point. Not in the wall. In her.
Princess Eden Siranteos stands in the breach’s light, her halberd grounded, frost at her boots. Vaelorin’s loyal posture does not change, but his face hardens into something colder, more exact.
Captain Vaelorin
My princess, your design is sound. Let the first strike come here. I will know where they will break.
The reveal lands in the dust and silence. He has been watching Eden’s reforms for a failure to exploit, not to strengthen her alone. The guard’s discipline was never merely duty to him, it was preparation.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose Captain Vaelorin's true loyalty
“Without hesitation, punch the Captain across the draw as hard as possible with intent to knock him out so that i may drag him to my father, King Nazareth, for an interrogation.”
FAILURE (Great Brawl, rolled -3)
Princess Eden Siranteos moves without warning and drives a crushing punch into Vaelorin’s jaw. His head snaps sideways, boots skidding on the frost-slick stone, but he stays upright, one hand shooting to the wall for balance.
The strike lands harder than the passage between them. Vaelorin’s eyes narrow through the shock, and his mouth twists around the pain instead of a collapse.
Captain Vaelorin
So. You do not waste time once the mask is gone.
Eden follows through again, but his shoulder turns with the blow, ruining the clean finish. The captain catches the edge of the breach, ribs knocking stone, and the hidden passage yawns black behind him.
Captain Vaelorin
Take me to the king if you must. He will still see what I have seen, a wall with a crack in it.
His voice is steadier than his stance. Not unconscious, only cornered, and now the whole armory knows he has chosen threat over service.
From the balcony above, Queen Araneidan’s cold gaze fixes on the pair, while frost creeps farther over the plans at their feet. Vaelorin’s next move hangs in the air, unfinished and dangerous.
Quest Complete
Expose Captain Vaelorin's true loyalty