Dust drifts through the ruined corridor. Yellow stays crouched around the sleeping child, one hand on her forehead, the other shielding her from the grit. Red keeps watch at the breach, shoulders tense, listening for any return in the dark.
Blue’s Force Stone hammer gives a low, unstable hum in his grip. The light inside it flickers, and his blue skin shows fresh cracks at the forearm and jaw, thin as dry riverbeds.
Yellow the Colossus
The fever is down. She’ll live long enough to move.
Red the Colossus
Good. Then we leave before they come back with more.
From the broken doorway, a weak lantern glow wobbles in. A battered human scavenger stands outside the barricade, hands raised, face streaked with ash. He stares past the Colossi at the child, then at the corridor leading deeper into the outpost.
The Scavenger
I know the road to the settlement. Not the one on the maps, the one your kind can still cross. Let me talk, and I’ll show you.
The offer hangs in the stale air, a possible route home for the child, and a choice for Blue before the hammer’s light burns any brighter.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the scavenger’s guidance to the settlement
“Lower my hammer and gesture for the scavenger to step inside the barricade.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Blue lowers the hammer and its flicker drops with it, the blue light shrinking from a threat to a glow on the rubble. He turns his free hand palm-up toward the barricade, a clear invitation to come in.
The Scavenger
He sees the gesture, then slips through the broken doorway with his lantern held low. Thanks. I was not eager to keep talking at gunpoint.
Red the Colossus
Stay in sight. One wrong move, and you go back outside.
The scavenger stops just inside the ruin, careful where he places his boots. Dust swirls around his ankles as he looks from Red to Yellow, then to the sleeping child.
The Scavenger
Settlement is three hard crossings east. There is a dry culvert route, mostly hidden, mostly safe. I can take you there if you keep the child shaded and do not slow for the old road.
Yellow the Colossus
Then speak plainly. What do you want for it?
The Scavenger
A fair trade. Food, a battery, maybe the medicine case if it is empty. And I want to leave this place alive.
Quest Complete
Secure the scavenger’s guidance to the settlement
“Is the feeling of knowing you're helping a dying child survive not enough for you? You humans are so greedy. You're lucky we need your help otherwise I'd let my red friend here have her way with you, she gets angsty when she goes too long without spilling blood.”
SUCCESS (Great Negotiation, rolled +3)
Blue the Colossus
Is helping a dying child not enough for you? You humans are greedy. You are lucky we need your help, or I would let Red deal with you.
The Scavenger
He flinches at the threat, then glances at the child and swallows. It is not fear alone now, it is calculation.
The Scavenger
You do not need to pay me. Not for that. If the girl lives, that is enough for me.
Red the Colossus
Red's posture eases by a hair, but her eyes stay sharp on his hands. She does not lower her guard, only her contempt.
The Scavenger
I have been to that settlement before. I know which gate opens for traders, and which one opens for bodies.
The Scavenger
Take the culvert route at dawn, keep low, and the first watch should miss you. I can mark the turns from memory.
The Scavenger
And if you still want me gone after that, I will go. Just let me see the child breathing when we leave.
“We will escort you and the child to the settlement. Lnce we arrive you will take the child inside and get her the help she needs. Understand?”
SUCCESS (Great Negotiation, rolled +1)
The scavenger lets out a slow breath and nods once, like a man setting down something heavy. He shifts his lantern lower, making the child’s blanket and Yellow’s tired hands glow warm in the dust.
The Scavenger
Understood. I take her in first, no detours. If the gate dogs bark, I know how to speak to them.
Red the Colossus
If he lies, I will know by how he moves the moment fear finds him.
Blue’s hammer stays lowered as the last faint blue shimmer crawls over his armor and fades. The ruined room feels less like a refuge now, more like a departure point.
Yellow the Colossus
Take the fever ampoules with you. If her strength dips again before dawn, use them exactly as I showed.
The Scavenger
I will. And when we get there, I will not leave her outside the fence.
He looks from Blue to Red, then back to the child, and gives a small, grateful dip of his head. The agreement settles over the group, quiet and real, as if spoken into the dust itself.
The Scavenger
If you want, I can lead at first light. I know the culvert is safest before the sun gets high.
“We leave immediately. No time to wait until sundown or sunrise”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -2)