The monster locks mid-lunge, hackles bristling. Its head snaps toward the misty woods as a hooded figure steps onto the path, staff glowing with a slow pulse that pushes the beast back.
Wicy grips the stone shard tighter, blood darkening her palm. The Retired Knight shifts in front of her, empty hands raised, eyes wide with shock.
The Retired Knight
No... it cannot be you.
Sable
Easy now. I have no wish to spill blood on this road.
The staff’s light steadies. The monster does not retreat, but it hesitates, muscles coiled, weighing the stranger against the shard.
Sable
Give me the shard, child, and I may keep this creature from choosing for us.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn whether the hooded figure helps against the monster
“I tell the hooded figure that I will not give up the shard, but am willing to go with the hooded figure if they protect the knight.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
Wicy
I will not give up the shard. Protect the knight, and I go with you.
The hooded figure stills at once, staff angled low. The monster’s ears flatten, but it does not strike, caught between fear and greed.
Sable
Agreed. The knight lives, if he stays behind me and keeps still.
The Retired Knight
You would trust this one? After all these years?
Sable
Trust is for safer roads. I offer protection, nothing more.
Wicy’s cut palm tightens around the shard, blood slick on its sharp edge, as the hooded figure steps sideways to place themself between the path and the beast.
Sable
Come, then. Keep the shard where I can see it, and do not let that creature circle us.
Quest Complete
Learn whether the hooded figure helps against the monster