Lilith reaches the abandoned watchtower beneath a moon veiled in fast-moving cloud. Its cracked stones lean over a ravine, and pale fire flickers behind the arrow slits despite the tower having stood empty for decades.
A young adult incubus waits beside the broken entrance, tall and lean, with charcoal skin, swept black hair, curved onyx horns, and a wine-red coat hanging sharply from his shoulders. One leathery wing is folded tightly against his back.
the incubus
There you are. I was beginning to suspect the famous Lilith von Solbruluna had better sense than the rumors claim.
Behind him, a bell tolls from somewhere high in the tower. Dust spills from the battlements, though the night air remains perfectly still. The sound is followed by a woman’s distant sob.
the incubus
The ghost story is true, unfortunately. The dead watchman still walks these stones, and he guards a fortune buried beneath them.
the incubus
I intend to claim it before dawn. You, I am told, excel at opening things that prefer to remain closed.
Lilith von Solbruluna
The tower’s fire is cold, but its light reaches the ground.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the buried fortune
Director's notewhole tale
I talk to the Incubus
“What makes a creature like you so intrigued by these stories? Surely this superstition isn’t worth the ink it was spread around with.”
FAILURE (Great Persuasion, rolled -3)
Lilith von Solbruluna
What makes a creature like you so intrigued by these stories? Surely this superstition isn’t worth the ink it was spread around with.
the incubus
Because superstition is merely knowledge that survived without permission. Ink is cheap. What it conceals beneath the tower is not.
His smirk falters as the cold fire behind the arrow slits gutters. For one breath, the distant sob stops, and the tower’s stones emit a low, answering hum.
the incubus
But you misunderstand the bargain. The stories are not a map to treasure. They are bait, written by someone who wanted curious hands to open the door.
A black line spreads across the broken threshold, tracing old symbols beneath the dust. The nearest mark brightens whenever the incubus steps toward it.
the incubus
Now you know why I am intrigued, and why I cannot enter first. The tower has recognized me as part of the story.
the incubus
If you still want answers, do not touch the threshold. Decide whether you would rather be the reader, or the next sentence.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn why the incubus is part of the tower’s story
“Can I read the symbols without opening the door?”
YES (Likely, rolled 28)
The symbols remain fixed beneath the dust, their angular strokes visible without Lilith crossing the threshold. Cold fire washes over them, revealing a second layer of finer script.
The finer marks do not name a treasure. They describe a witness, a sealed chamber, and a sentence that must be spoken by someone standing outside the door.
the incubus
You can read them, then. Excellent. Tell me whether the door guards a fortune, a prisoner, or something clever enough to pretend it is both.
As the meaning settles into view, one symbol resembles a watching eye crossed by a vertical line. It pulses once beneath the incubus’s shadow.
the incubus
That mark was not visible in the accounts I bought. Someone altered the story after it was written, and they expected the change to remain hidden.
the incubus
If the inscription recognizes her as reader, the tower may already have chosen its accomplice.
Director's note
What could he want in exchange for the treasure?
“I bargain with the incubus”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +1)
Lilith remains outside the threshold and turns the inscription’s hidden warning into the center of the negotiation. The incubus watches her with renewed caution.
the incubus
You want the truth beneath this tower. I want passage through the chamber once it opens. Speak the sentence, and the treasure is yours to claim first.
He draws a silver signet from his coat and sets it on the dust, beside the watching-eye symbol. Its surface bears the same altered mark.
the incubus
My price is not obedience. It is access. Whatever sleeps below, you will not bar me from seeing it, taking what I am owed, or leaving alive.
The cold fire bends toward the signet. The black threshold-line loosens, and the finer script rearranges itself into a single, legible sentence.
the incubus
Agreed, then. The tower accepts our bargain. You keep the first claim on its fortune, and I receive the truth hidden behind the door.
The sealed entrance opens without a touch. Beyond it waits a descending stair washed in pale fire, while something below gives one slow, deliberate knock.
“(I say) I’m glad you agree. I descend down the stairs with the incubus.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Lilith von Solbruluna
I’m glad you agree.
Lilith steps through the opened entrance and begins down the narrow stair, with the incubus following at her shoulder. Pale fire clings to the walls without warmth.
the incubus
Your confidence is either admirable or expensive. I suppose we shall learn which before dawn.
The stair curls beneath the tower, its stones engraved with worn names and watching eyes. Above, the entrance closes soundlessly, leaving the cold fire as their only guide.
Lilith von Solbruluna
The knock came from below, not behind.
the incubus
For the record, I want more than coins. The treasure may be knowledge, a relic, or a prisoner. Whatever it is, I intend to see its true nature.
They reach the bottom together. A circular chamber opens before them, centered on a black stone door, while the deliberate knocking sounds once from its far side.
“I decide to question the incubus on his connect to this area. I ask his general and specific questions.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +1)
Lilith von Solbruluna
How are you connected to this place? And specifically, what do you want from whatever lies beyond that door?
The incubus studies the black stone door instead of her. Pale fire outlines the silver signet still resting against his palm, its altered mark faintly pulsing.
the incubus
This tower belonged to my employer, once. I carried messages, gathered names, and learned which bargains its keeper never wrote down.
the incubus
Then the watchman vanished, the chamber sealed itself, and my employer died before explaining what had been hidden here. The tower recognizes my oath, not my ownership.
Lilith von Solbruluna
That explains your passage, not your price. What do you intend to claim, and why is seeing it not enough?
the incubus
A ledger, if one exists. It records every bargain made beneath this tower, including one bearing my name. I want the debt erased, or transferred to someone who deserves it.
the incubus
In exchange for the treasure, I offer what I know: the keeper’s name, the nature of the prisoner, and the reason your presence awakened the door.
Quest Complete
Learn why the incubus is part of the tower’s story
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Great→Superb
“(I continue) But why you? An incubus? No offense, but you are an odd choice for this job. Why not be free?”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -3)
Lilith von Solbruluna
But why you? An incubus? No offense, but you are an odd choice for this job. Why not be free?
The incubus’s smile thins. He turns the silver signet between his fingers, and the black door answers with a muted pulse.
the incubus
Because the keeper wanted someone who could cross thresholds without belonging to either side. Incubi are excellent at surviving between appetite, oath, and expectation.
the incubus
He chose me because I could persuade the desperate, remember every name, and endure promises that would have broken a more honest creature.
The signet suddenly splits along its center. A thread of pale fire crawls across his palm, and the incubus closes his hand around it without flinching.
the incubus
As for freedom, I have pursued it. The ledger holds the clause that binds me, and until it is erased, every road away from this place eventually turns back.
the incubus
That is my cost for choosing this job: if the ledger rejects my claim, the signet will take the oath deeper than my skin. I still intend to gamble.
“I attempt to find this ledger through the black stone door. Pushing it open.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Strength, rolled +2)
Lilith plants both hands against the black stone door and pushes. It yields with a deep scrape, opening onto a narrow chamber lined with pale, motionless fire.
The door’s edge flashes across her palms with sudden frost. Numbness bites through her gloves, leaving her fingers stiff and a thin white welt along one hand.
At the chamber’s center, a stone lectern holds a ledger bound in dark hide. Silver clasps bear the watching-eye mark, and its pages turn without wind.
the incubus
There it is. The keeper’s ledger, and apparently it prefers your hands to mine.
The incubus remains outside the threshold, his signet pulsing faintly. Inside, the ledger opens to a page covered in names, debts, and red-lined clauses.
the incubus
My bargain is unchanged. Let me read the entry bearing my name, and I will tell you what the keeper concealed about this chamber.
The open ledger waits within reach, its newest line written in fresh black ink: Lilith von Solbruluna, witness and claimant.
“I sigh, I have my deal of the bargain, and everyone knows not to piss off an incubus after a deal. I give him the ledger.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +3)
Lilith sighs, then lifts the ledger from the lectern. The silver clasps cool beneath her gloves as she carries it across the threshold toward the waiting incubus.
The pale fire bends aside for her. When she extends the ledger, the incubus accepts it with both hands, and the watching-eye mark dims.
the incubus
A sensible choice. You have honored your claim, and I will honor mine.
The ledger opens against his palms. Fresh ink crawls across the page bearing his name, then breaks apart, exposing a second entry beneath it: the keeper’s true name, Odran Vey.
the incubus
Odran Vey. That was the keeper. He did not hide a prisoner here. He hid a witness, bound to remember every bargain this tower consumed.
Behind the lectern, a section of black stone withdraws into the wall, revealing a narrow passage descending beneath the chamber. The ledger’s final page points toward it.
the incubus
And there is your advantage, Lilith. The witness chamber is open now, because the ledger recognizes you as claimant. Whatever truth waits below cannot be sealed against you again.
“I invite him, the newly freed incubus to come witness it with me.”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled +3)
Lilith von Solbruluna
Come with me. You wanted the truth behind this tower, and I would rather have you witness it than hear my account afterward.
The incubus looks from Lilith to the descending passage. For the first time, the silver signet lies dark and harmless in his palm, no longer tugging him toward the tower.
the incubus
An invitation from the claimant herself? I accept. The ledger has released my oath, but curiosity remains a perfectly respectable chain.
He crosses the threshold beside her. The black stone passage widens at their approach, its pale fire settling into lamps along the walls instead of burning behind them.
the incubus
There is your unasked-for advantage. The tower is not merely permitting us below. It is showing us the safest road through its memory.
Symbols awaken beneath their feet, forming a sequence of names and dates. One name repeats among the oldest entries: Odran Vey, followed by a warning that the witness remembers the first betrayal.
the incubus
If the witness remembers the betrayal, then it may remember who profited from my binding. Freedom has acquired sharper edges than I expected.
“I don’t really care about any of this. I am just here for the fortune.”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -2)
Lilith von Solbruluna
I do not particularly care about the betrayal or your binding. I am here for the fortune.
The symbols beneath their feet flare, and the passage opens into a vaulted treasury. Silver, cut gems, sealed vials, and frost-bright relics fill niches around a stone basin.
the incubus
Direct. Almost refreshing. The fortune is yours, then, but tell me what you would offer in exchange for my share of its most valuable secret.
The ledger snaps shut in his hands with a sharp crack. Dust rains from the ceiling, and a silver chain around one sealed coffer breaks, costing Lilith a small but precious spell component from her satchel.
the incubus
That noise has announced us to every memory in the tower. Still, the treasure has recognized your claim. Nothing here can deny you now.
A narrow compartment opens beneath the basin, revealing a heavy purse of old coin, three blue gemstones, and a black crystal humming with contained winter magic.
the incubus
Take the coin and stones freely. For the crystal, I want one answer about what you intend to do with power that remembers its former owner.
Director's note
I talk with him
“what do you think I could do with this? What will you do with your freedom?”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled +1)
Lilith von Solbruluna
What do you think I could do with this crystal? And what will you do with your freedom?
The black crystal’s inner frost turns toward Lilith, casting blue light across the treasure. Its hum answers the question with a pulse like distant winter wind.
the incubus
You could command cold that remembers. Shape barriers, preserve what decay claims, or ask it to reveal the last moments witnessed by its former owner.
the incubus
But memory is not obedience. Use it carelessly, and the crystal may teach you truths without teaching you how to survive them.
He places the ledger beside the basin and extends both hands, making no move to claim the crystal. The dark signet remains inert against his palm.
the incubus
As for freedom, I will leave this tower before dawn. Then I will find every person who profited from my oath and decide which debts deserve repayment.
the incubus
Take the crystal, Lilith. That is my answer and my price: let me walk away owing you nothing, while you learn whether its winter serves your will.
“I ask him, and how do you plan on making them pay? Incubus’s forms of repayment are… quite odd.”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -1)
Lilith von Solbruluna
And how do you plan to make them pay? Your ideas of repayment are... quite odd.
The incubus tilts his head, amused rather than offended. Blue crystal-light catches along his horns as the treasury’s cold settles around them.
the incubus
Odd is merely repayment without the comfort of familiar cruelty. I will not hunt them with a blade when a promise can make them dismantle their own advantage.
the incubus
One magistrate will confess which verdicts were purchased. One merchant will return what his contracts stole. A priest will name the relics he concealed from the desperate.
He taps the dark signet against his palm. The crystal answers with a faint chime, and brief silhouettes ripple across its surface: robed figures, counting tables, sealed doors.
the incubus
I collect leverage, not suffering. Each of them profited because my oath made me useful and voiceless. I will give them voices, loudly, before the people they deceived.
the incubus
If they refuse, I will bind them to the truth they sold. That is the odd part, perhaps. I consider consequences more satisfying when the guilty must speak them aloud.
“Well, I freed you, so you owe me. Just saying. We’ll most definitely cross paths.”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -1)
Lilith von Solbruluna
Well, I freed you, so you owe me. Just saying. We’ll most definitely cross paths.
The incubus’s amusement fades into a more attentive smile. At Lilith’s words, the black crystal gives a clear chime, as though recording the claim.
the incubus
Fair. You released me from an oath that owned my roads, my name, and my choices. I owe you something substantial.
A thread of blue fire slips from the crystal into the purse, blackening one of the three gemstones. The remaining two stay cold and bright.
the incubus
When we cross paths again, I will bring payment worthy of the debt. Not a trinket, not a favor dressed in elegant language, but leverage you can use.
the incubus
And yes, I expect we will meet again. People who alter one another’s fortunes rarely remain strangers for long.
He closes his fingers around the dark signet. The tower’s pale lamps dim toward the stair, while the incubus leaves Lilith the purse, two gemstones, and the humming winter crystal.
Quest Complete
Secure the buried fortune
Skill Upgrade: Survival Great→Superb
+ New Item Acquired
Purse
+ New Item Acquired
Two Blue Gemstones
+ New Item Acquired
Winter Crystal