The postern opens onto a stone culvert beneath a district in revolt. Beyond its iron grating, common folk clash with palace soldiers among overturned carts and scattered torches.
A scarred young adult woman, lean and narrow-shouldered, in stolen palace armor stands atop a toppled cart. Her cropped dark hair, weathered face, and split lower lip frame a hard, watchful stare as she points toward the assassin.
The Scarred Woman
You came through the old palace way. Good. Tell your veiled companion the riot was no accident.
A palace soldier crashes against the grating, driving a cudgel through its bars. The scarred woman ducks aside while the veiled assassin keeps her hooked sword ready.
The Scarred Woman
They emptied the streets to clear witnesses. Beneath the royal quarter, sorcerers are preparing a working, and every corpse outside buys them silence.
The Veiled Assassin
You speak as though you have seen the chamber. Have you, soldier?
The woman’s stolen breastplate bears a fresh palace crest beneath its grime. Outside, the fighting surges toward the culvert, and a red glow briefly stains the clouds above the rooftops.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the sorcerers’ chamber.
“I help the veiled assassin force past the grating into the riot.”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled -2)
Radigal hooks an alchemical flask beneath the grating and smashes its stopper against the stone. Viscous blue fire crawls across the iron, loosening rust with a sharp mineral stink.
His implanted organs throb beneath mismatched flesh, lending his arms a sudden, unnatural force. He and the veiled assassin wrench together as the grating shrieks outward.
Reckless momentum hurls Radigal shoulder-first into the bars. His sleeve tears and iron scrapes a burning line across his upper arm, but the passage opens wide enough for both.
Palace Soldier 1
Seize them! The culvert is breached!
The veiled assassin slips through first, hooked sword raised. Radigal follows into the riot as civilians scatter around overturned carts and palace soldiers close from both sides.
The Scarred Woman
There. You have chosen your side, alchemist. Keep moving if you want the truth beneath the royal quarter.
The scarred woman drops from the cart and drives into the crush, gesturing toward a smoke-filled alley. Red sorcery stains the clouds while the opened grating gapes behind them.