The boar stands at Angela Diaboli’s feet, rigid as a statue, its bristled head angling toward the back room. Beneath the pharmacy’s cracked tile, a faint metallic scrape comes again from the basement, steady and deliberate. Marek shifts beside her, reading the rhythm in the animal’s ears.
Marek
That thing’s not wild. It’s listening for someone below.
Angela Diaboli
Bring it out.
Angela’s voice rolls through the ruined aisle, and the boar flinches instead of charging. The scraping stops. Then, from behind the pharmacy counter, a hidden panel shudders open a hand’s width.
The Stranger
Easy. Don’t let it loose on me.
A gaunt scavenger crouches in the gap, one hand on a bent crowbar, the other on a battered control box wired into the floor. Cables trail down into the dark basement. He is not hiding from the world, he is guarding it.
The Stranger
If she takes this place, the tower gets fed. If she leaves it, the whole line fails.
Marek’s gaze flicks from the cables to Angela, then to the boar, then back to the shaking floorboards. The pharmacy is tied into something deeper than medicine, something that could support New Eden, or buckle under its own age the next time the basement moves.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the basement-linked mechanism
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who controls the hidden panel and cables
“I gently pet the boar as if it's a beloved family pet and ask the stranger why they're here”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Angela’s hand settles on the boar’s bristled neck. The animal exhales, heavy and slow, and leans into the touch instead of recoiling. Dust falls from its hide as the floor gives a low groan beneath the pharmacy.
The stranger keeps his crowbar low, but his shoulders ease a fraction. The control box in his other hand clicks softly, wired into the hidden cables like a pulse the building still remembers.
The Stranger
Because this place is holding on by a thread, and somebody has to listen when it speaks.
Marek watches Angela’s hand on the boar, then the stranger’s grip on the box. The beast’s ears flick once, calm and attentive, as if waiting for orders from the only voice it trusts.
The Stranger
It feeds heat, water, and power down there. I keep it from choking. If it fails, the lower floors go dark, and everything tied to them goes with it.
A faint metallic clink rises from below, followed by the tower’s tired, distant creak. The stranger looks from Angela to the boar, no longer hiding, just measuring whether she understands what she has touched.
The Stranger
If you’re taking it, tell me who I answer to now.
Quest Complete
Learn who controls the hidden panel and cables
“You answer to me, Angela Diaboli, The Goddess Queen of New Eden.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Angela Diaboli
You answer to me, Angela Diaboli, the Goddess Queen of New Eden.
The stranger goes still, then lowers his crowbar to the cracked tile. He drops one knee into the dust, control box cradled against his chest like an offering.
The Stranger
Then I answer to you.
The boar huffs once, presses its bristled shoulder harder under Angela’s palm, and does not challenge the kneel. Somewhere below, the tower answers with a tired metal clink.
The Stranger
I kept the lower floors alive. Heat, pumps, lights, whatever still works down there. If you want it, I can show you the joins.
The Stranger
If she takes the mechanism, maybe this place finally belongs to someone who can hold it.
A loose wire snaps against the hidden panel and spits a tiny spark. The stranger winces, but keeps his head bowed, waiting for Angela’s next command.
“I need not see how you work, i just need your word that from now on your work serves me”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -3)
Angela Diaboli
I do not need to see how you work. Give me your word, and your work serves me now.
The Stranger
You have it. My hands, my shifts, whatever is left of this place, they answer to you.
The stranger lifts his chin just enough to meet her claim, then taps two fingers to the control box against his chest like a vow. The boar stays pressed to Angela’s hand, breathing hard but calm.
The Stranger
I kept the pumps alive because the lower floors were never meant to die. If you want the joins, I can show you the order they need.
His voice catches on the word joins, and the hidden panel answers with another thin metallic clink from below, as if the tower itself is listening.
Marek
Then we have someone who knows the bones of it. Good. That is better than guessing in the dark.
The tiny spark at the loose wire pops out and dies, leaving a brief sting of burnt dust in the air. The stranger waits, still kneeling, ready to be told whether to lead or to keep talking.
“I tell the stranger to go back to his duties and i leas ny family and the boar back to the tower”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Angela turns the dismissal into motion with a single gesture. The stranger lowers his head, rises from the panel, and backs away toward the pharmacy’s broken shelves without protest.
The Stranger
I go back to it. Pumps, wiring, checks. I will keep it breathing.
Marek shifts in beside Angela, already angling his body toward the exit. Ben keeps close, eyes flicking from the stranger to the dark mouth of the aisle, while the boar waits at Angela’s side, calm and watchful.
Angela Diaboli
Back to the tower. All of you.
The stranger gives one sharp nod and moves off to the hidden panel, one hand on his chest-box as if steadying himself against the pull from below. From the floor, another metallic clink answers him, faint but clear.
Angela leads the way out. The boar follows at her shoulder, then Marek and Ben fall in behind, their steps sending a thin drift of dust off the cracked tiles.
As they leave, the pharmacy door hangs half open on its bent frame, and somewhere under the building the tower gives a low groan. The stranger remains behind in the gloom, already swallowed by his duty.