The old forest path lies broken beneath splintered carriage boards and torn velvet. Rain-dark mud drinks the light, and the air stings with ozone and blood.
Wicy steps into the wreckage and sees a retired knight seated against a snapped wheel, armor dented, helm off, one gauntlet locked around a jagged shard of stone tablet.
The Retired Knight
You there. Hold still, if you mean to help. That thing in the trees wants this shard more than it wants me dead.
Beyond him, the ferns shiver though no wind moves. Something heavy circles just out of sight, low and patient.
The Retired Knight
I can stand, but not twice. If you have steel, a spell, or even nerve, I need it now.
Wicy
The shard matches the tablet's edge.
The knight lifts the broken piece a little, then checks the shadows again. A wet scrape answers from the brush, closer this time.
The Retired Knight
Well? Will you help me face it, or do I give the shard over and pray it lets us live?
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the stone tablet shard
“I reach out to steady the knight so he can rise to his feet.”
SUCCESS (Fair Strength, rolled +1)
Wicy reaches in and catches the knight under one arm. His armor clinks, then steadies as her grip takes his weight.
The Retired Knight
Good. Keep me upright. The shard stays with us, for now.
He plants a boot in the mud and hauls himself higher, jaw tight against the pain.
From the ferns comes a low rush, closer than before, and the brush bends hard toward the path.
The Retired Knight
It heard that. Stay by my side, or it will split us apart.
The shard glints between his gauntleted fingers as he shifts it toward Wicy’s reach.
The Retired Knight
Take it, if you are keeping it. Now decide, before the thing shows itself.
“I keep the knight between us and the brush”
FAILURE (Superb Agility, rolled -4)
Wicy slips a step to the knight’s flank, trying to angle her body and his between the path and the ferns. His armor scrapes her sleeve as he leans with the movement, but the wounded man is slower than her plan.
The brush parts low and sudden. A mottled shape drives at the gap she means to close, forcing the shielded side to turn too late.
The Retired Knight
No, that way. Keep close, but do not overtake me!
He hitches one arm across his chest and twists, trying to put himself in front, yet the shard slips farther out of line, no longer safely tucked behind either of them.
Wicy
The opening is wider than it was.
Leaves shake in the ferns at shoulder height, then still. Whatever stalks them is now watching the pair from an angle Wicy cannot fully cover.
The Retired Knight
Take the shard, or give me room to hide it. Quickly.
“I take the shard from the knight”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled -3)
Wicy lunges in close and gets her fingers under the shard before the knight can hide it again. The stone bites cold into her palm as he lets go.
The Retired Knight
Good. Keep it covered, then move.
His praise is cut short by a sharp scrape in the fern line, and the shard’s edges dig a thin sting across Wicy’s skin.
The knight stumbles back half a step, empty-handed now, forcing his shield arm up toward the brush instead of the relic.
The Retired Knight
It has your hand now. Do not fumble it.
Leaves shiver at shoulder height as the unseen stalker repositions, tracking the shard in Wicy’s grip.
Wicy
The shard is in my hand now.
Quest Complete
Protect the stone tablet shard
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Superb→Legendary
+ New Item Acquired
Stone tablet shard