Dawnspear rises through rain and pale morning haze. Medica, Tavia, and Renn enter the physician quarter with the marked counter-poison, warning, and wrapped records, while Sella stays behind to reach her Consortium contact.
Shuttered clinics crowd the narrow streets. Anxious servants cluster beneath awnings, and palace guards bar every route toward the king’s chambers, turning petitioners away with drawn authority.
Pellan Rusk
This way, quickly. I arranged a discreet meeting, but the palace has tightened its cordon since dawn.
Pellan Rusk, a young adult man with a narrow build, rain-dark hair, and a courier’s brown cloak, slips from an alley and signals them toward a shuttered clinic.
Tavia Reed
You look like you have run through half the city. What changed?
Pellan Rusk
The king worsened before sunrise. Pell’s people seized the inner physicians, and anyone carrying records is now considered a conspirator.
A palace bell tolls from beyond the quarter, deep and prolonged. Servants freeze beneath the awnings as a second alarm follows, and guards begin closing the street.
“Damn, how did Pell respond so fast?! With little hope of getting through, I try a different approach. I copy the formula for the counter-poison and begin distributing it to every clinic I can find. I yell it in the middle of the street for everyone to hear. I want to make it impossible for the poisoners to continue with their current method, even at the risk of drawing attention to myself.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -2)
Medica Valkyrie
Pell responded too fast. I will copy the counter-poison formula and distribute it to every clinic I can reach.
Medica braces the formula against a clinic shutter and copies the measurements in a rapid, precise hand. She passes the first sheet through the doorway, then carries the method into the street.
Medica Valkyrie
Blood salts bind the sunstone residue. Do not purge blindly. Stop the exposure, and use this counter-poison only as directed.
Her voice rings beneath the palace bell. Clinic doors crack open, attendants seize the copied instructions, and servants repeat the warning from awning to awning.
Tavia Reed
Keep moving. The formula is reaching the physicians, but every guard in this quarter now knows who is shouting it.
Medica distributes the formula to the last two clinics before the cordon closes the nearest lane. A palace guard tears one copy away, but three others vanish into waiting hands.
Pellan Rusk
You have made the poisoners’ method public. They cannot quietly repeat it now, but Pell will name you a conspirator before the next bell.
“"Does anyone have a candle?" I ask my party members and anyone nearby. I'm going to use the brass contact token to try and contact the conspirators before I'm arrested, or worst.”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +2)
Medica Valkyrie
Does anyone have a candle?
Tavia Reed
I have one. Take it, and keep beneath the awning. The guards are watching the open street.
Tavia produces a short beeswax candle from her satchel and shields its flame beneath her cloak. Pellan pulls the clinic door wider, giving Medica a narrow pocket of shadow.
Pellan Rusk
Use the brass token now. If the conspirators still have a listener in Dawnspear, the candle’s flame should carry the contact mark.
Medica sets the brass contact token beside the candle and lets the flame touch its engraved face. The metal warms, and a thread of violet smoke curls toward the shuttered clinic.
Sella Vane
I hear you through the token. The physicians received your warning, but Pell has sealed the palace quarter. Tell me what you need before his agents find the source.
The token’s glow steadies, establishing the conspirators’ contact. Outside, boots turn into the lane, while Tavia lowers the candle and Pell watches the approaching cordon.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get past the palace cordon
+ New Item Acquired
Beeswax candle
“Sella, please, get the counter-poison to the king! That's the most important thing that matters! As long as the king lives, Pell can't do anything!”
FAILURE (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -3)
Medica Valkyrie
Sella, please get the counter-poison to the king. That is what matters most. As long as he lives, Pell cannot prevail.
Medica holds the amber vial beside the candle and angles its label toward the violet smoke, trying to make the token carry more than her voice. The flame gutters blue.
Sella Vane
I can carry your warning through the contact mark, but not the vial. The palace quarter is sealed, and my body is nowhere near your hand.
The token answers with a sharp metallic chime. Violet smoke twists into a narrow crown before collapsing, and the brass face darkens beneath a spreading crack.
Sella Vane
The channel is being traced. I cannot reach the king through this route now, and any courier carrying the draught openly will be seized.
Tavia Reed
Then the token is spent, and Sella cannot take the counter-poison from us. We need a way through the cordon that does not announce the vial.
Pellan Rusk
The clinic has a physician’s passage beneath the old cistern. It may reach the palace quarter, but the entrance is watched and the token cannot guide us there.
“The consortium. We need to contact the consortium. With the cloak-pin, we should be able to gain relatively safe passage through their network.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Medica draws Sella’s split-sun cloak-pin from beneath her coat and presses it against the clinic’s old cistern mark. The metal warms, answering with a muted chime.
Pellan Rusk
That is a Consortium waymark. Hold it steady, and their ward should recognize Sella’s introduction before the palace watchers do.
The pin casts a thin amber line across the flagstones, revealing a concealed stair beneath the cistern. Its light bends away from the street and settles on a service door.
Ilyra Voss
Bearer of the split-sun pin, your passage is recognized. Enter by the cistern stair, show the marked records, and follow the blue chalk to the western countinghouse.
Tavia Reed
A safe route, then. Not safety from every danger, but safety from Pell’s cordon. Keep the records covered, and we can reach the Consortium network.
The service door unlocks without a sound. Beyond it, warded steps descend into dry stone, and fresh blue marks guide the way beneath the sealed palace quarter.
Pellan Rusk
You have your passage. Once inside, the Consortium can carry the counter-poison and warning through its own hands.
“Pellan, stay here and guard our way into the passage. It'll be easier to be stealthy if there are fewer of us. Come on Tavia, let's go, you have the records, keep them safe”
FAILURE (Poor Stealth, rolled -1)
Medica Valkyrie
Pellan, stay here and guard our way into the passage. Fewer of us will be easier to keep stealthy. Come on, Tavia. Keep the records safe.
Pellan Rusk
Understood. I will hold the entrance and warn you if the cordon reaches the clinic.
Medica and Tavia descend the warded steps, keeping close to the blue chalk. Tavia shields the oilcloth-wrapped records beneath her cloak, while Medica moves softly ahead.
At the third step, Medica’s resin-stiffened glove brushes the wall. A muted chime passes through the stone, and the service door seals behind them with a heavy click.
Tavia Reed
The passage recognized the contact mark, but it has closed the way back. Pellan cannot guard that entrance from inside.
Pellan Rusk
I heard the seal. Proceed, both of you. I will keep watch here, but you must reach the countinghouse before the ward changes again.
The amber line fades behind them, leaving only blue chalk and dry stone ahead. Tavia tightens her grip on the records, and the two continue deeper in silence.
Quest Complete
Get past the palace cordon
Skill Upgrade: Stealth Poor→Mediocre