Under the shade canopy, the child rattles through another shallow breath. Yellow’s light wavers over her sweat-slick face, then gutters low.
Yellow the Colossus
I cannot break the fever by force anymore. I need proper medicine, or this only buys time.
Green tightens the cloth at the child’s forehead, her shoulders rigid with strain. Red watches the camp edge, already measuring danger beyond the scrap walls. Orange keeps glancing between them, relief thinning into worry.
Green the Colossus
Then we do not leave her alone. If Blue goes, I stay. If I go, Blue stays. She is not dying unattended.
Purple the Colossus
We need a settlement, or a clinic, or both. Someone here must choose the risk and the route.
Purple’s gaze pins Blue at the center of the circle. The child’s coughing fits the silence that follows, thin and breaking. For the first time, the path is clear, leave now to scavenge medicine and trust the others to guard the child, or go with her toward human walls and face them sick, tired, and seen.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find proper medicine for the child
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the human settlement
“I tell them i will take the child and that i need Yellow to come with me to keep the girl from dying and I need Red to come with me to help fend off possible attackers.”
SUCCESS (Great Negotiation, rolled +0)
Blue the Colossus
I take the child. Yellow comes with me so he can keep her alive. Red comes too, to help keep attackers off us.
Yellow the Colossus
I am coming. I will keep her breathing as long as I can.
Red the Colossus
I am in. If something moves on us, it meets me first.
Purple the Colossus
Then it is decided. Blue leaves with the child, Yellow, and Red. Orange, you and Green hold the camp.
Green slides the damp cloth back into place and gathers the blanket’s edge around the child. Yellow rises unsteadily beside them, already preparing to move. Red turns from the perimeter and steps in close, scanning the open desert beyond the scrap wall.
The child coughs once, faint and dry, while the healing glow gutters against her skin. Blue has a route now, and two living shields beside him. The camp falls quiet around the choice, waiting for the first step out into the heat.
“I gently pick up the child and let her rest in the cradle of my titanic arms”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +0)
Blue bends and gathers the child with careful force, lifting her from the blanket without jostling her fevered body. The heat of her skin barely reaches him before she is settled against his chest.
He shifts her higher, and her small head rolls into the cradle of his arm. The cloth at her throat slips once, then Green catches it and tucks it back under his hand.
The Child
Too hot... don't let go.
Yellow steps in close beside Blue, one hand hovering near the child’s ribs as if counting every breath by feel. Red turns toward the camp opening, already mapping the route by the gap in the scrap wall.
Purple the Colossus
Take the southern cut. Stay low until you clear the dune line.
Blue stands with the child secure in his arms. The little bundle is no longer in the canopy shade, but moving with the group, carried into the hard light and the waiting desert.
A faint tremor runs through Blue's frame as they prepare to leave, a physical flare-up he suppresses with sheer will. Red keeps watch on the opening, waiting for Blue to step out first.
+ New Item Acquired
The Child