Timothy drags the heavy stone across the threshold of the iron-wrought monastery gate, his fingers raw and bloodied. The Abbot stands watch, his shadow stretching long against the gatehouse walls as burning embers from the kitchen fire descend like sparks of hellfire.
Abbot
Further, boy. Let the burden become your flesh. Your penance is not complete until the stone seals the way.
Timothy
Every rasp of stone against the dirt is a prayer. If I can reach the gate, I can slip past the guard's gaze while the fire consumes their focus.
Timothy heaves the weight, his muscles screaming, until he finally wedges the jagged rock into the heavy iron track of the gate. With a final, desperate shove, the mechanism groans and grinds into place, barring the entrance from the outside.
Timothy
The gate is sealed, Father. My labor is as you commanded.
Timothy
The way is locked behind me, but the smoke offers a veil. I am no longer a prisoner of the courtyard, but a ghost in the ruins.
“I ask the Abbot for permission to return to the monastery dormitory to report to Wulfric and complete the remainder of my chores.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Abbot
You have a hunger for labor that warms my spirit, Timothy. The dormitories are a mess of soot and panic. Go, see if Wulfric still holds his post among the cinders. If he lives, tell him the gate is bolted by my order and yours.
The Abbot gestures dismissively toward the inner cloister. His eyes track Timothy with a cold, unsettling patience as the youth wipes charcoal and sweat from his forehead.
Timothy
I shall see it done, Father. Wulfric will have his report.
Timothy
He lets me go so easily. Is he waiting for me to falter in the dark, or is he merely testing how far I will crawl before I find my own way?
Timothy turns away from the iron gate and toward the shadowed corridor leading to the dormitories. The ash continues to fall, muffling his footsteps as he moves toward the heart of the monastery.
+ Scene Quest Added
Check on Brother Wulfric in the dormitories
“I creep through the corridors of the monastery, eager to see Wulfric again and remind him of my gratitude and devotion to him.”
FAILURE (Good Stealth, rolled -1)
Timothy slips into the shadows of the cloister, his boots finding purchase on the slick, soot-covered stone. He moves with practiced silence, his heart hammering against his ribs in anticipation of finding the Brother. Suddenly, his foot catches on a loose, uneven flagstone. He stumbles forward, arms flailing, and his shoulder collides loudly with a rusted iron sconce jutting from the wall.
The metal screech is agonizing. It echoes through the narrow corridor like a tolling bell, shattering the silence.
Timothy
Fool. The stone was hidden in the ash, and now I have announced my presence to every shadow in these ruins.
A heavy, metallic thud sounds from the dark beyond the bend. Wulfric is not alone. The silhouette of a hooded guard steps into the flickering torchlight, a cudgel gripped tight in a gloved hand. He stares directly at the cowering youth.
Guard
Who goes there, creeping in the dust like a rat?
Quest Complete
Check on Brother Wulfric in the dormitories
+ Scene Quest Added
Deal with the guard