The jungle temple rises through curtains of vine, its ancient stones black beneath rain and moss. The scattered caravan lies broken across the causeway, wagons hemmed in by six armed raiders.
Between the chained wagons stands a broad-shouldered young adult man with dark skin, a scarred scalp, and a battered bronze gladiator harness. Chains bite his wrists as he faces the closing blades.
Through one wagon's iron slats, a pale young adult woman with tangled black hair grips the bars. In the other, several captives huddle beneath torn canvas, silent and watchful.
Dagan
Keep your hands from those wagons. I will not let your bargain die quietly.
The Raider Captain
The bargain is finished, slave. Kneel, and perhaps the prisoners reach the river alive.
The woman behind the bars presses one hand to the wagon wall. Then the temple doors groan, though no hand touches them, and black smoke leaks from the sealed sanctuary in slow, crawling coils.
Dagan
Stranger in the dark cloak, if you have strength, spend it now. The temple has awakened.
✓ Quest Accepted
Rescue the chained gladiator
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what awakened the temple
“I ask the chained gladiator their name.”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Karmatic
What is your name, gladiator?
Dagan
Dagan. Remember it, stranger, if we both leave this ruin alive.
The name passes through the rain as the temple doors grind wider. Smoke spills over the causeway, swallowing torchlight and curling around the raiders' boots.
The Raider Captain
Dagan? You waste breath on introductions while the dead god wakes.
The raiders tighten their ring, glancing toward the sanctuary instead of the chained man. Behind the bars, the woman in the first wagon watches the smoke with rigid attention, while the other captives shrink beneath the canvas.
Dagan
Now you know who stands before you. Decide quickly whether you stand with me, or merely watch them die.
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A deep bell sounds within the temple, though its tower is long collapsed. The rain reverses beneath the note, rising in silver threads toward the widening doors.
The Raider Captain
Back from the sanctuary! Form the ring!
Three raiders obey, dragging their spears inward. The others stare as a tall shadow unfolds behind the smoke, crowned with branching horns.
Dagan
That is no god. It is what the god chained beneath this place.
The shadow raises one long arm. Every torch dies at once, and the chains around Dagan's wrists snap apart without touching his skin.
The Woman in the First Wagon
Karmatic, do not let it see you clearly!
From the sanctuary, a single pale eye opens in the smoke. Its gaze sweeps across the causeway, and the raiders drop their weapons as the temple stones begin to breathe.
“I free Dagan and shield him from the shadow”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled +1)
Karmatic crosses the smoking causeway in a single burst, seizing Dagan by the shoulder and sweeping his black hooded cape between the gladiator and the pale eye.
The shadow's gaze bends around the cape like moonlight around a blade. Karmatic's armor flares, but the force drives both elves backward across the wet stones.
Dagan
You cannot bar that gaze with steel. Move, before it learns the shape of you.
Dagan twists free of Karmatic's grip as the stones heave beneath them. The shadow's eye fixes on Karmatic instead, leaving Dagan momentarily outside its direct attention.
The Woman in the First Wagon
The eye follows the brightest ward! Break its line with the temple pillars, not the smoke!
Behind the shifting smoke, Karmatic glimpses two fallen pillars forming a narrow passage toward the sanctuary wall. Their carved bases bear the same broken sigil glowing beneath the temple stones.
Quest Complete
Rescue the chained gladiator
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Fair→Good