Kalazan strides down the torchlit corridor, the ale case thudding against his leg. Ahead, Commander Korth waits by the stair down to the stables, cream fur bristling, one hand half-raised toward the deep hammering below.
Commander Korth
The nursery work hit stone. Not a crack, a shelf. If they keep swinging down there, the whole side chamber may shift.
The hammering rolls up from the depths, steady and stubborn. Dust sifts from the ceiling joints. Korth points once more, not at the sound alone, but at the pressure behind it, the kind that can stall a build or bury a plan.
Commander Korth
I need your word before I order a collapse brace or a full stop. The miners want speed. The builders want safety. And your new hire is already asking who decides.
That puts the choice squarely in Kalazan’s hands. One decision now can keep the nursery expanding, or let pride, haste, and a volatile recruit turn his own hold against him.
Commander Korth
Say the order, and I make it happen.
✓ Quest Accepted
Resolve the nursery structural crisis
“"We do not keep loyalty for disregard for our hold's members' wellbeing. The miners can wait, take the safe route." I roll my eyes. "If they still keep complaining....distribute a 100 gold bonus amongst the miners. That should tie them over."”
SUCCESS (Good Leadership, rolled +1)
Kalazan
The miners take the safe route. And if they keep complaining, give them a hundred gold. We do not buy loyalty by risking our own.
Korth gives a sharp nod and turns at once toward the stair, already carrying the order downward. The hammering below dulls for a moment, then resumes behind the stone, but the pitch shifts, less reckless now.
He calls for the builders to stop striking the shelf and start shoring it from the safer side. A pair of miners trade grumbles, then back away from the load-bearing cut with their tools lowered.
The corridor answers with a hard scrape as a brace beam is dragged into place. Dust still falls, but the ceiling stops shedding in sheets and settles to a slow sift.
Commander Korth
Done. The chamber holds if they keep to the brace plan. I will see the miners paid.
A cautious murmur rises from below, then fades as work reorganizes instead of breaking. The crisis is not gone, but it is under control, and the hold keeps moving.
From deeper in the tunnels, someone starts asking whether the new hire is told of the change before he makes trouble.
“I ask Korth what else the nursery needs”
SUCCESS (Good Leadership, rolled +1)
Kalazan
What else does the nursery need?
Commander Korth
Stone ribs for the outer wall, two more braces for the shelf line, and a mason to mark the load points before the next cut. If we rush without those, we court a collapse.
Korth plants his boots on the stair and points down into the dim workface, where the brace beam stands hard against the strain. The dust now falls in a thin, steady veil instead of a choking spill.
Commander Korth
If you want it safe and fast, we need a proper run of support, not bravado with picks.
Below, the miners have already shifted into the new pattern, measuring the cut and clearing rubble from the safer side. No fresh cracking follows the change, only the scrape of tools and low voices.
Commander Korth
Give me the order, and I will send for the mason at once.
A messenger from deeper in the tunnels pauses at the bend, waiting for direction, while the reinforced passage holds its shape around the work.
Quest Complete
Resolve the nursery structural crisis
Skill Upgrade: Leadership Good→Great