Moss glistens on broken stone as Madd One steps into the shrine ruin. Damp incense hangs in the air, old and sweet, over a cracked altar and fallen pillars.
At the altar stands an inquisitor in polished steel, one hand resting on his pommel. Beside him, a lone bard keeps strumming a low, deliberate tune.
The Bard
There he is. The cursed blood returns to the shrine.
The melody turns sharper, almost like a verdict. The inquisitor's gaze locks onto Madd One, his shoulders tightening beneath the plate.
The Inquisitor
That face. Those signs. If the song is true, I have found the one I came to name.
Madd One's grimoire rests at his side, and the ruined altar offers little cover. The bard keeps playing, watching for a reaction.
The Inquisitor
You there. Step into the light and tell me your name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Avoid being identified by the inquisitor
“I pull my hood low and back away toward the shadows of the pillars.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Stealth, rolled +0)
Madd One lowers his hood and slides back along the pillar line, his boots finding the wet seams in the stone. The shrine shadows swallow his outline, but the move scrapes moss loose with a soft, traitorous hiss.
The bard’s tune falters for a breath. The inquisitor turns his head, following the sound instead of the face, jaw tightening as he tries to reconcile the dark shape with the name he wants.
The Inquisitor
Easy. I do not need a clear face to know a guilty one when I hear it breathe.
Madd One reaches the deeper shadow of the pillars, fully out of the altar light. The cost lands at once, a strip of his cloak catches on a stone edge and tears free, pale cloth hanging behind him like a sign.
The Bard
That was the rumor, then, not the man. I told you the song was trying to be clever.
The Inquisitor
Rumor or not, he is here.
Steel leaves leather with a clean, cold whisper. The inquisitor draws his blade and steps off the altar dais, pointing the edge toward the pillars where Madd One has vanished.
Quest Complete
Avoid being identified by the inquisitor