Several steps below, the veiled assassin pauses on a landing carved with a hooded serpent. Fresh black resin drips from its stone mouth, glistening in the torchlight.
The Veiled Assassin
The lower gate is near. Move, or let the palace bury you with its emperor.
Beyond her, the stair descends into darkness toward a narrow postern passage. Behind Radigal, the bronze doors shudder beneath repeated blows.
Palace Guards
Break the doors! The alchemist is still inside!
A bar splinters. Six armored palace guards force themselves through the widening gap, shields scraping stone as smoke and ash trail behind them.
The Veiled Assassin
If you came for the vaults, choose quickly. If you came for freedom, follow me.
She turns toward the descending stair, one hand tightening around her hooked sword. Above, the guards spill onto the landing, and the serpent’s resin taps steadily against the stone.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the palace.
“I follow the assassin down the stair toward the postern passage.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
Radigal follows the veiled assassin down the carved stair, placing each careful foot beyond the resin-slick stones. Behind him, Palace Guards thunder onto the landing, but the darkness swallows his passage.
The Veiled Assassin
Quiet feet. The postern opens beneath the old cistern, and its ward listens for panic.
She descends swiftly, black veils brushing the serpent-carved wall. Radigal keeps pace without slipping, while torchlight fades above and cold, mineral air rises below.
Radigal the Bio-Alchemist
The resin is fresh, and the stair is still used.
The stair ends at a low archway of black stone. Beyond it lies the postern passage, narrow and damp, its far mouth showing a thin blade of moonlight.
The Veiled Assassin
You made it. Past this gate, the palace cannot claim you without following into the old tunnels.
The assassin slips through the arch, and Radigal reaches the postern passage beside her. Above, the guards’ shouts dull into stone and distance.
Quest Complete
Escape the palace.