The abandoned watchtower leans into a bruised evening sky. Enzo Yamada reaches the broken battlements as pale roots push through the ancient stones.
A sellsword blocks the stair below, boots planted wide, sword raised toward the darkness beneath. Her battered cloak bears the mark of a wanted fugitive.
The Sellsword
Name's Brin. If you mean to live, take this and keep them from the stair.
She thrusts a sealed blackthorn token toward Enzo Yamada. Behind her, something scrapes along the lower steps, slow and deliberate.
The Taken Child
Please, Enzo. The bell is still ringing. You promised you'd come home.
The voice belongs to someone from the village below, someone who should not be here. The child stands among the roots at the tower's foot, eyes reflecting silver light.
A long-limbed fey shape crests the battlement, antlered and dripping with moonlit mist. Brin's sword arm trembles as she shoves the token closer.
The Sellsword
Choose now. Break the seal, guard the child, or leave me to hold them back.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the child safe
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether Brin threatens the village's survival
“I keep one hand on the child and guard the stair with Brin.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Combat, rolled +0)
Enzo Yamada reaches through the pale roots and catches the child before the silver-lit figure can draw them farther from the tower.
The roots writhe around his boots, but his grip holds. The child is pulled against the battlement's shelter, safely within reach.
Therefore, Enzo Yamada turns his free arm toward the stair and sets his blades beside Brin's, sealing the narrow approach.
The Sellsword
Good. Keep them behind us. Do not let the fey separate you.
The antlered shape lunges down the stones, but Brin's steel and Enzo Yamada's guard meet it at the stair mouth. Mist bursts across the blade edge.
The Taken Child
Brin knows what rings beneath the village. She brought the bell's hunger here.
The fey recoils from the crossed swords, then fixes its pale gaze on the child in Enzo Yamada's grasp. Its antlers tilt toward the blackthorn token.
The Sellsword
That is a lie shaped to make you doubt me. Decide whether you trust the child, or the seal.
Quest Complete
Keep the child safe