Huuuan Huanza arrives in the meadow as the children, a cluster of young boys and girls in mismatched travel clothes with dusty faces, reach Zor's immense outer wall, rising more than two hundred feet beneath a bruised violet sky.
Behind them advances a gaudy older man with a narrow, powdered face, tangled orange hair, and a patched crimson-and-yellow entertainer's coat. His painted smile looks false.
the fake entertainer
It was a harmless jester's trick! My gifts as caster and entertainer let me bend the gods' rules.
The children press against the shut gate, glancing back as the entertainer points toward them. Above, armored wall guards raise brass looking lenses.
the gate guards
Stay where you are. The gate remains closed. No one enters while that man advances.
the fake entertainer
Open it, fools! Those little captives prove nothing. I have done no wrong that your laws can bind.
The guards keep their lenses trained on Huuuan Huanza, the children, and the approaching entertainer. The sealed gate leaves a narrow, urgent space for intervention.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bring the children into refuge inside Castle Zor
“I stretch even to grab the mans head as soon as i can at the fastest pace”
SUCCESS (Good Strength, rolled +0)
Huuuan Huanza’s arm stretches across the meadow with startling speed, lengthening like a dark cord beneath his cape until his clawed hand closes firmly around the fake entertainer’s head.
the fake entertainer
Unhand me, you overgrown fiend! The gate guards are witnesses to this outrage!
The fake entertainer’s painted smile cracks as his boots scrape through the grass. His hands claw at Huuuan Huanza’s wrist, but the grasp holds him fast.
the gate guards
Hold! Do not crush him. Keep the children clear and maintain that grip.
The children huddle beneath the wall, staring upward. Brass lenses tilt from Huuuan Huanza’s stretched arm to the captive caster’s flailing coat.
the fake entertainer
You have no authority over me! I am protected by laws older than this miserable city.
the gate guards
Authority can be sorted after the captives are safe. Stranger, bring him toward the gate without releasing him.
“I ask the gaurds if they wish to captive the man or if i should punish him by doing worse”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Huuuan Huanza
Do you wish to take this man captive, or shall I punish him more severely?
Huuuan Huanza’s stretched arm remains taut across the meadow, his clawed hand holding the fake entertainer firmly without crushing him. The children stay beneath the wall.
the gate guards
Take him captive. Do not punish him. We will judge his crimes within Zor’s laws.
the fake entertainer
You hear them, monster! Release me at once, and I may yet overlook this disgusting display.
A wicket opens in the enormous gate. Two guards emerge with hooked staves and rune-marked binding cords, keeping their distance from the captive caster.
the gate guards
Bring his head and shoulders within reach. Hold him steady while we bind his hands and seal his spellcasting.
The guards loop the cords around the fake entertainer’s wrists and coat, then draw him toward the wicket. His painted face tightens as the gate gives the children a clear passage inside.
“I bind a piece of his soul as a maian grey alien arcane tattoo”
SUCCESS (Good Arcana and occult magic, rolled +2)
Huuuan Huanza’s free claw traces a silent sigil in the air. Pale grey lines, shaped like an alien eye and hooked runes, descend toward the entertainer’s chest.
The sigil passes through cloth and flesh without wound, catching a concealed fragment of the caster’s soul. It folds inward, becoming a dark arcane tattoo beneath his collar.
the fake entertainer
What have you done? That mark is mine to command, not yours!
The tattoo pulses once with muted violet light. The entertainer’s struggling slackens, and a thin echo of his presence settles under Huuuan Huanza’s binding.
the gate guards
The spell took hold. Keep him steady, stranger. We will record that binding among the charges.
the fake entertainer
A piece of me is listening from outside my skin.
The guards tighten the rune-marked cords and pull the captive through the wicket. The children pass safely after him, while the new tattoo remains sealed and unmistakable.
“This man starts the ruin of this realm. I will hold a piece of his soul binded so i can always know where and what he's up to”
SUCCESS (Good Arcana and occult magic, rolled +1)
As the guards draw the entertainer inside, the dark arcane tattoo beneath his collar answers Huuuan Huanza’s binding. A fine thread of awareness stretches through the gate and beyond.
Huuuan Huanza
The soul-fragment remains bound, and his actions will leave a trace I can follow.
The thread settles behind Huuuan Huanza’s senses, carrying impressions rather than words: hurried footsteps, warded stone, and the entertainer’s furious struggle against the rune-cords.
the fake entertainer
You think a stolen fragment makes me your servant? It only gives you a window into my suffering.
The bond clarifies. Huuuan Huanza can sense where the captive moves and glimpse what he witnesses, though the entertainer’s strongest memories remain veiled behind old protections.
the gate guards
The children are accounted for. The prisoner goes below, to the sealed court. Your binding will be entered into the record.
Far within Zor, the tattoo pulses again as the entertainer is taken down a stair. The connection holds, quiet and constant, while the gate closes between them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover what the entertainer is planning
Quest Complete
Bring the children into refuge inside Castle Zor
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Good→Great
“I telepathic rob his riddle”
SUCCESS (Good Arcana and occult magic, rolled +2)
Huuuan Huanza draws the soul-thread taut through the sealed gate. His awareness slips past the fake entertainer’s warded memories and hooks the riddle concealed beneath them.
the fake entertainer
No. Not that secret. Leave the old words buried.
The binding answers Huuuan Huanza’s intrusion. Violet impressions unwind from the tattoo, carrying the fake entertainer’s exact riddle across the distance.
the fake entertainer
I enter every hall without a foot, and leave each heart without a wound. I grow when divided, yet die when spoken. What am I?
The riddle settles clearly in Huuuan Huanza’s memory, stripped from the caster’s guarded archive. Its meaning remains intact, while the stolen fragment trembles beneath the fake entertainer’s collar.
the fake entertainer
You have taken the question itself. Thief. Even the answer should have been mine to keep.
Below Zor, chains shift and warded doors close. Through the bond, Huuuan Huanza retains the prisoner’s location, the riddle, and the faint resentment surrounding its theft.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine what the entertainer's riddle means
“I rob the answer painfully”
SUCCESS (Good Arcana and occult magic, rolled +1)
Huuuan Huanza tightens the soul-thread. Violet wards buckle inside the sealed bond, and the fake entertainer’s hidden answer strains toward the opening like a confession pulled through iron.
the fake entertainer
Stop! That answer is protected. You cannot tear it from me!
The binding presses deeper without breaking flesh. Pain travels through the fragment as the guarded word is forced past layers of memory, each ward collapsing with a dull psychic crack.
the fake entertainer
A secret! It is a secret, you grasping demon. It enters every hall, grows when divided, and dies when spoken!
The answer crosses the soul-thread completely. Huuuan Huanza possesses it now, while the tattoo beneath the fake entertainer’s collar dims and leaves him gasping against the warded chains.
the fake entertainer
He has stolen the answer itself. The old riddle is open to him now, and my protections cannot reclaim it.
the gate guards
The prisoner cried out below. Stranger, explain what your binding has extracted before the sealed court questions us both.
Quest Complete
Determine what the entertainer's riddle means
“I turn his pettyness and soul binded to me into a summoned wicked black pole scythe of his woes”
SUCCESS (Good Arcana and occult magic, rolled +0)
Huuuan Huanza draws the soul-thread through his claw and twists the fake entertainer’s petty resentment into a dark summoning pattern. Violet light gutters along the bond.
The bound fragment folds inward, shedding its stolen memories as a wicked black pole scythe forms beside Huuuan Huanza. Its crescent blade carries faint violet veins and whispers of grievance.
The summoning succeeds, but the soul-thread burns through Huuuan Huanza’s palm, leaving a numb black mark beneath his claw. The cost fixes the weapon to his essence.
the fake entertainer
No! My spite is not a blade. You have made my misery into your instrument!
Far below Zor, the tattoo beneath the prisoner’s collar dims sharply. His connection to the stolen answer weakens, though the scythe now holds the fragment’s entire poisonous echo.
the gate guards
The wards felt that change. Stranger, identify the weapon and swear it will not cross the children’s refuge.
The black pole scythe settles into Huuuan Huanza’s grasp, cold and perfectly balanced. Its blade turns toward the sealed gate, listening through stone for its former owner.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the children’s refuge from the summoned scythe
+ New Item Acquired
Wicked black pole scythe
“I tell the gaurd, this weapon will punish his soul as i use it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Huuuan Huanza
This weapon will punish his soul as I use it.
The black scythe answers immediately. Violet veins flare along its crescent, and the soul-thread reaches through the sealed gate to the prisoner below.
In the warded cell, the former entertainer’s bound fragment recoils as the scythe’s grievance clamps around it. His soul is punished through the weapon, while no flesh is cut.
the fake entertainer
No! Every stroke reaches me through the mark. You have made my own spite judge me!
The cost arrives as a sharp crack through Huuuan Huanza’s arm. The scythe drains warmth from his palm, and the black mark spreads one finger-width beneath his claw.
the gate guards
The weapon obeys, and the prisoner felt its sentence. That power will be recorded as an active punishment, not merely a binding.
the gate guards
Keep the blade lowered from the refuge. The sealed court will hear how you intend to wield it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Assure the guards the scythe will not endanger the children
− Scene Quest Removed
Secure the children’s refuge from the summoned scythe
“I assure the gaurds”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Huuuan Huanza
The blade remains lowered. The refuge and its children will not be harmed.
Huuuan Huanza holds the black pole scythe away from the gate. Its violet veins dim, and the soul-thread settles into a restrained, watchful hum.
the gate guards
Your assurance is accepted and entered beside the punishment order. Keep that promise before the sealed court, and we will not treat you as an attacker.
The upper lenses lower slightly. Beyond the wicket, the children are guided deeper into Zor, while the massive gate remains shut between refuge and meadow.
the gate guards
The court will question the weapon, the soul-binding, and the secret you extracted. You may answer from outside, or submit to examination within.
From far below, the former entertainer’s tattoo pulses through the bond. A muffled ward-bell answers, and hurried footsteps gather beneath the city.
the fake entertainer
Do not let him enter! He carries my spite in that blade, and the court has no idea what else it can awaken.
✓ Quest Accepted
Gain the sealed court's acceptance of the scythe
Quest Complete
Assure the guards the scythe will not endanger the children