Mist clings to the moor as Brandon Stalker reaches a crossroads of black stones. Ahead, a village crouches behind a rough palisade, its road sealed by armed bandits.
At the center stands Mara, an elderly woman with a narrow face, silver hair, and a red wool cloak over layered gray robes. One hand grips a crooked ash staff.
Mara
You promised an outduel, Veyr. Instead you bring cowards with knives.
Opposite her, Veyr, a lean middle-aged man in a green coat and iron-studded gloves, keeps his drawn sword low. Bandits ring him and Mara alike, blocking every path.
Veyr
The contest changed when the village chose its side. Surrender your grimoire, witch, and perhaps these fools live.
the bandits
Hold there, fur-man! Another step and we put you in the circle with them.
Several blades turn toward Brandon. Behind the bandits, villagers peer through the mist, silent and pale, while Mara's staff begins to glow with a thin blue light.
✓ Quest Accepted
Free Mara from the bandits
“Brandon likes to keep to himself but what he doesn’t like is innocent people being attacked, neither does he like being threatened. He offers the bandits the opportunity to drop their weapons so they might be spared. At the same time he approaches the group as to be in between the bandits and the witch if possible.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Intimidation, rolled +1)
Brandon Stalker
Drop your weapons, and you might leave this road alive.
Brandon advances through the mist, broad shoulders squared, angling for the space between the bandits and Mara. Steel shifts toward him, and the circle tightens before he can reach it.
the bandits
You heard him. The fur-man wants to play savior. Break his legs if he takes another step.
Two bandits lunge across his path with crossed blades, forcing Brandon to halt short of Mara. Their formation leaves the witch exposed on one side, but three others keep her surrounded.
Mara
Not another step, Brandon. Their captain watches the eastern flank, and his men fear him less than they fear you.
The threat ripples through the ring. One young bandit lowers his knife by an inch, glancing toward Veyr, while the captain raises his sword and points it at Brandon.
Veyr
Stand aside, fur-man. I have no quarrel with you, unless you insist on making yourself part of hers.
“Brandon draws his sword, ready to strike any that dare venture too close. “You should have played down your arms.” He says. If anyone approaches him or Mara he slashes the poor fool with his sword.”
SUCCESS (Good Melee Combat, rolled +0)
Brandon Stalker
You should have laid down your arms.
Brandon draws his great sword in one ringing sweep. The blade’s weight turns the mist aside as he plants himself between Mara and the tightening ring.
A bandit darts toward Mara, risking the gap. Brandon’s sword flashes across the road, striking the man’s weapon aside and sending him sprawling, stunned and weaponless.
Veyr
Hold formation! Do not rush him one at a time!
Another attacker lunges from Brandon’s blind side. He pivots and slashes through the man’s guard, forcing him back with a cut across his coat and a cry of alarm.
The victory costs him blood. A third blade nicks his armored forearm before he drives its wielder away, and the clangor carries clearly to the village gate.
Mara
That is enough to make them listen. Keep your edge toward Veyr, Brandon. He is the one holding them together.
✓ Quest Accepted
Defeat Veyr
− Scene Quest Removed
Free Mara from the bandits
“Brandon keeps Mara behind me and cuts toward Veyr's sword arm while staying vigilant for other threats.”
SUCCESS (Good Melee Combat, rolled +3)
Brandon shifts, keeping Mara directly behind his broad frame as he advances through the broken ring. His great sword stays low, guarded against knives and sudden movement.
A bandit feints from the left, but Brandon catches the motion and turns with it, denying the opening. Then he drives toward Veyr before the captain can rally them.
Veyr raises his sword to meet the charge. Brandon’s blade hooks around the guard and cuts across Veyr’s sword arm, forcing the captain’s weapon from his grasp.
Veyr
My arm. Hold him back!
Veyr staggers, clutching his wounded arm, while his sword lies among the black stones. The nearest bandits freeze, suddenly without their formation’s confidence.
Mara
You have broken the circle. Keep him separated, Brandon, and they may remember their courage belongs to themselves.
Behind Brandon, Mara’s blue light steadies. Ahead, the bandits lower their blades by degrees, watching their disarmed captain and the great sword guarding the witch.
“Brandon kicks Veyr’s sword out of his reach before pointing his own sword at the man’s neck, offering him one last opportunity to surrender or be cut down.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled -1)
Brandon kicks Veyr’s fallen sword across the black stones, sending it skidding beyond the captain’s reach. He plants the great sword’s point at Veyr’s throat.
Brandon Stalker
Surrender, or I cut you down.
Veyr’s good hand rises slowly. Around him, the bandits watch the blade, then their disarmed captain, and finally one another.
Veyr
Lower your sword. I surrender.
The words drain the fight from the road. One bandit releases his knife, another lets his sword fall, and the rest follow in uneasy succession.
Mara
Bind him before courage returns, Brandon. His men have yielded, but fear makes poor chains.
Mara’s blue light fades to a dim spark as villagers emerge behind the palisade. No one approaches Brandon, though every pale face remains fixed on him and his drawn sword.
Quest Complete
Defeat Veyr
Skill Upgrade: Melee Combat Good→Great
“Brandon binds Veyr’s hands while still keeping the other bandits at bay. He offers to escort Mara back home.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +1)
Brandon keeps his great sword angled toward the kneeling bandits while he strips a leather cord from Veyr’s belt. He binds the captain’s wrists tightly behind him.
Veyr
You have your surrender. Do not mistake restraint for victory. The village will not thank you for bringing trouble to its gate.
Veyr tests the binding once, finds it firm, and falls silent. The other bandits remain kneeling, hands visible, their fear shifting uneasily toward the watching villagers.
Brandon Stalker
Mara, I’ll escort you back home.
Mara
You may, Brandon, though your shadow has reached this village before you. They will need to see whether it carries danger or protection.
Mara steps from behind him, ash staff lowered but still faintly blue. She stops beside Veyr, studying his bound hands before looking toward the palisade.
Veyr
Take her, then. But ask her what lies beneath that grimoire before you decide who deserves guarding.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bring Mara safely home
“Brandon begins to escort Mara home.”
Brandon turns from the bound captain and starts along the misty road beside Mara. Behind them, the surrendered bandits remain kneeling beneath the villagers’ watchful eyes.
Mara
Walk steadily, Brandon. The village will remember the shape of your sword before it remembers why you drew it.
Mara keeps her crooked ash staff close as they leave the palisade behind. Its last blue shimmer fades, replaced by the gray light gathering over the moor.
Mara
Veyr spoke truly about one thing. Something lies beneath my grimoire, and he believed taking it would give him command over forces he cannot understand.
The road narrows between black stones and wet heather. Mara’s red cloak moves steadily at Brandon’s side, while the village recedes into the mist behind them.
Mara
You deserve to know before we reach my home. The book is not merely a spellbook. It is a seal, and that seal has begun to weaken.
Mara
If it breaks, Brandon, the danger will not remain in my cottage or at that village gate. It will spread across the moor.
““Of what danger do you speak?” Asks Brandon.”
Brandon Stalker
Of what danger do you speak?
Mara slows beside a standing stone marked with weathered runes. Mist curls around its base, and the air grows colder despite the pale morning light.
Mara
Of the thing sealed beneath my cottage, Brandon. It is older than the village, older than the roads, and it has learned to listen.
She rests both hands atop her ash staff. Beneath the heather, something answers with a faint, rhythmic tremor that travels through the stones.
Mara
The seal was made to contain a hunger without a body. It reaches through dreams, promises strength, and turns fear into obedience.
Mara
Veyr wanted the grimoire because its pages describe the binding. He never understood that breaking the seal would make him its first servant.
Mara looks toward the unseen cottage beyond the rising ground. A thin blue line briefly shines beneath the mud, then vanishes.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prevent the seal from breaking
“Can the sealed hunger reach us here?”
YES (Likely, rolled 22)
The tremor beneath the heather changes rhythm. It no longer answers from beneath Mara’s cottage alone, but pulses outward through every standing stone around them.
Mara
Yes. It can reach us here, and it has already found the road.
A blue thread crawls across the mud between Brandon’s boots and the rune-marked stone. Frost gathers along its path, spelling crooked shapes before the light sinks away.
Mara
Do not listen if it speaks in a familiar voice. The hunger studies what fear remembers, then wears those memories like a face.
From the mist beyond the rise comes a low murmur, too distant for words yet shaped like a whisper. Mara’s fingers tighten around her staff.
Mara
The outer stones should have held it back. If they are answering now, the seal is failing faster than I feared.
Mara
We must reach the cottage before it gathers enough strength to make itself heard clearly.
“Brandon hurries with Mara toward the cottage, watching the standing stones.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +1)
Brandon hurries beside Mara up the rising road, boots striking wet stone. He keeps his gaze moving from one standing stone to the next as mist streams between them.
Brandon Stalker
The stones are pulsing in sequence.
Each rune answers the last with a dim blue flare, tracing a widening circle around the moor. None blocks their passage, but the rhythm follows their progress.
Mara
Good. Keep watching them, Brandon. Their pattern tells us where the seal is weakest.
They crest the rise, and Mara’s cottage appears beyond a low wall of black stones. Blue light leaks beneath its door and trembles across the thatch.
Mara
We are here. Once inside, stay close to me and do not touch the grimoire unless I command it.
Mara reaches the cottage door, presses her ash staff to the threshold, and draws it open. Cold air spills out, carrying the deep pulse of the weakened seal.
Keep Mara safe from the awakening hunger
Quest Complete
Bring Mara safely home
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
