Heavy boots scrape over gravel at the edge of the tower base. Buster and Mara both look up as a weary figure steps from the fence line and cuts off the path to the main road.
The Veteran Hero
You should have stayed put. Instead, you walk out with a dead relay and a trail behind you.
He plants himself in the wash of dim tower light, shoulders sagging, but his stance is firm. Mara shifts half a step toward Buster, tense and ready.
The Veteran Hero
I warned them this would spread if you kept pushing. Now the whole neighborhood pays for your choices.
Buster Jones
Buster says the tower is down. Nobody else needs to get hurt.
The Veteran Hero
That is exactly what I came here to stop. Hand over whatever you took, and maybe this stays contained.
✓ Quest Accepted
Deal with the Veteran Hero
“I step forward, placing myself between the Veteran Hero and Mara.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Buster steps forward and plants himself between the Veteran Hero and Mara. His bandaged hand stays low, his body calm, making the barrier without turning it into a threat.
The Veteran Hero
You are choosing her over everyone else now?
Buster Jones
He sees the choice, but not the reason behind it.
Mara
He is choosing the truth. That is all I asked for.
The Veteran Hero
Truth does not stop a neighborhood from coming apart. That relay was a lock, and you broke it.
Buster holds the line anyway, shoulder-to-shoulder with Mara now, and the Veteran Hero’s glare falters for a breath. The silence between them grows heavy, but it does not break.
The Veteran Hero
...If you two are going to stand together, then look me in the eye and tell me what comes next.
“I tell him the relay is already dead”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Buster answers without moving aside. The words land plain and hard, and the tower base feels quieter for it.
Buster Jones
The relay is already dead.
The Veteran Hero looks past Buster toward the silent housing, then back at him. Some of the fight leaves his shoulders, but not the worry.
The Veteran Hero
Then what was all this for?
Mara
For the first honest choice either of us has had in a long time.
Buster stays planted between them, but his stance softens. The fence, the gravel, the dead relay, all of it sits in the dim with no more pressure than a held breath.
The Veteran Hero
...If that is true, then I need to know who you are when no one is ordering you around.
He waits, no longer blocking the road, only asking for an answer.
Quest Complete
Deal with the Veteran Hero
New Gift: Veteran Wisdom