The heavy silence of the graveyard is broken only by the settling of loose earth and the ragged breathing of the Village Elder. Dust drifts through the gaps between crumbling headstones, obscuring the grim scene.
Village Elder
Xarsthos, you move like a storm of iron. If you can fell these brutes, perhaps you can save what little remains of our home.
Xarsthos
This village is a grave waiting to be filled. If I turn away, these people are nothing more than fodder for the warlord.
Village Elder
The main force arrives by dusk. If you help us repair the collapsed palisade and train the remaining men, I will give you the ancient iron-wood seal buried in the village vault. It is said to grant passage through the forbidden mountain pass.
Xarsthos
I will fortify your walls, Elder. See that the iron-wood is ready.
+ Story Quest Added
Fortify the village defenses
“I assist the villagers anyway I can. I help fortify the walls in the morning. Midday, I put the villagers through training and drills. By nightfall the village is prepared for anything”
SUCCESS (Legendary Crafting, rolled +1)
Under the blistering midday sun, Xarsthos works with rhythmic precision. He fashions heavy ironwood crossbeams, his hands moving with a fluid, learned grace that turns scrap into bulwark. The villagers, once shivering with dread, find their confidence rekindled by his tireless labor. By afternoon, the broken palisade stands tall again, reinforced with jagged, protective stakes.
Xarsthos
Keep your spears leveled. Movement is life. When they breach, do not break formation.
He guides them through grueling drills. He forces them to cycle through positions until the defense flows like a singular, living organism. Muscles burn and sweat stains the earth, but by the time the sun dips behind the crags, the villagers look less like victims and more like hardened soldiers.
Xarsthos
The wall is solid, and their spirits are sharp. The warlord will find this soil harder to conquer than he expects.
A heavy, ominous horn blares from the mountain pass, vibrating the very ground beneath their feet. The final confrontation looms.
Quest Complete
Fortify the village defenses
+ Scene Quest Added
Defend the village gates against the warlord's vanguard
“I stand outside the village, ready to defend everyone and everything”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +1)
Xarsthos stands beyond the ironwood gate, his boots firmly planted in the loose gravel of the path.
Xarsthos
They will reach the perimeter in seconds. I have made them ready. Now I see if they hold.
Kaelen
The vanguard approaches. Xarsthos, if we fall today, our history dies with us. Do you see them coming through the dust?
Xarsthos
I see them. They are heavy with arrogance, but they lack the discipline you have learned this day.
Haldor
Look at the size of that front line. Are you sure your traps will hold that weight?
Xarsthos
The ground is already shifting under their charge. I must choose the moment to strike, or let the defenses break their first surge.
“"Come and find out!!" I bellow. I charge and attack, landing a devastating blow on the front line”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Combat, rolled +1)
Xarsthos
Come and find out.
Xarsthos lunges forward, his boots churning the gravel as he closes the distance with terrifying speed. The first of the vanguard soldiers raises a spiked shield, but Xarsthos pivots, his blade tracing a blur of steel through the air.
The iron edge bites deep into the soldier's vambrace, shattering the wood and bone beneath. The attacker screams, spinning wildly as he is knocked backward into the path of those behind him.
Kaelen
He has broken their formation. Archers, loose your arrows now while their lines are tangled.
Haldor
No mortal should be able to move with such predatory grace. If he can hold this intensity, we might actually see the sunrise.
A volley of arrows whistles overhead, raining down into the panicked cluster of soldiers. The vanguard falters, their momentum stalling as Xarsthos stands amidst them, his sword dripping with fresh blood and his eyes locked on the next wave advancing from the dust.
“Continuing the attack, I continue to swing my sword, powered by my demonic power, killing every enemy in sight”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Combat, rolled +0)
Xarsthos drives into the second rank, his blade a hard arc of flashing steel. The first man falls back before he can raise his spear, and the line buckles with him.
The air around Xarsthos seems to darken and tighten, as if some buried power answers his strike. Dust and iron tang around him while the vanguard stumbles into each other.
Kaelen
Hold fast! Press them while they reel!
Xarsthos pivots through the crush, cutting down one attacker, then another. Shields split, helmets ring, and the enemy front breaks apart in a widening gap.
Haldor
By the gods, he is carving a path through them like a reaper through wheat.
The surviving vanguard recoil toward the dust cloud, some tripping over the fallen, others dropping weapons to flee his reach. The graveyard gate stands suddenly clearer behind the shattered rush of bodies.
Village Elder
Xarsthos, the left flank! More are coming through the haze!
Quest Complete
Defend the village gates against the warlord's vanguard
New Gift: Vanguard Breaker