Razor wire shivers in the hot wind. Beyond the rusted gate, a cult circle sways in firelight and trash-smoke, their chant rising and falling like a machine about to break.
Angela Diaboli stands at the perimeter, ozone stinging her lungs. Inside, a small boy trembles at the center of the ring, while a robed leader lifts a jagged blade over him.
One zealot turns toward the fence, then another. The chant falters for half a beat, as if the compound itself has noticed her.
Hag
Stay back, goddess. This child belongs to the Flame.
Hag presses the blade closer to the boy’s throat, trying to look certain. The child flinches hard, trapped under the circle of robes.
Angela Diaboli
…
The gate stands locked, warped by heat and welded scraps, but the crowd inside is already wavering. One wrong move, and this turns into a riot or a sacrifice.
Hag
Open the gate, or watch him bleed for the omen.
✓ Quest Accepted
Free the child from the cult
“You know me as your goddess yet you speak to me as if i am an intruder. I will give you one chance to fix your tone before i rip out your tongue and feed it to the mutant hounds.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Angela Diaboli
You know me as your goddess. Fix your tone, or I rip out your tongue and feed it to the mutant hounds.
The words land like a hammer on dry bone. The cult circle freezes, then ripples apart as several robes step back from the child.
Hag
...Spare me the prayer, then. The omen is yours to witness, not mine to name.
Her blade hand trembles. She lowers it a fraction, and one cultist near the child looks away first, breaking the circle's pressure.
Hag
Take him, if you dare. But the Flame remembers faces.
A coughing burst of smoke rolls from the barrel fire and stings Angela's eyes. The child stumbles free of the ring as the nearest zealots recoil from her shadow.
Quest Complete
Free the child from the cult