Mehrunes arrives above a crescent of black sand, where salt wind carries the stink of kelp and old blood. Armed smugglers form a tense line around three living pilgrims beside the rocks.
Opposite them stands the employer with a weathered olive face marked by a chipped front tooth, a broad-shouldered elderly woman in a green traveling cloak, her iron-gray braid pinned with a silver seal. She raises a leather packet of records.
the employer
These ledgers bear your marks. Every shipment passed through this cove, and every missing pilgrim vanished afterward.
The smugglers grip cutlasses and crossbows, but none advances. Their leader, a scarred middle-aged man with a red scarf and a weathered bronze mask, gestures sharply toward the stone field.
the smuggler captain
We carried them here alive. Something beneath those rocks hunts anything that crosses the tide line. We are keeping it contained.
the employer
A convenient tale, captain. Then explain the bloodstained shrine and the names erased from your manifest.
One pilgrim suddenly points past the captain, toward a narrow crack glowing with faint blue light. From within comes a slow, wet scraping, and every weapon turns toward the stones.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the innocent pilgrims from indiscriminate bloodshed
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the guilty party behind the vanished pilgrims
“Mehrunes stepped forward, her singular scimitar drawn an singing with the thirst for blood. "Disgusting... Drop your wepons and youl ascape with your lives. Don't, and my blade will kiss thy throats before you blink."”
SUCCESS (Superb Intimidation, rolled -1)
Mehrunes Daegon
Disgusting. Drop your weapons and escape with your lives. Refuse, and my blade will kiss your throats before you blink.
Mehrunes steps into the salt wind, her singular scimitar drawn and singing softly. The threat cuts through the scraping beneath the stones, sharper than steel.
the smuggler captain
Lower them. All of you. I have no wish to test whether she means it.
One by one, cutlasses strike the black sand. Crossbows follow, their strings slackening as the smugglers raise empty hands, a mixed group of adult men and women in weathered coastal clothes, scarves, and leather armor beneath the captain's command.
the employer
At last, honesty without the theater. Captain, kneel, and tell me what waits beneath that shrine.
the smuggler captain
The weapons are down. That was your bargain, not surrender to her.
Behind them, the blue-lit crack pulses once. The three pilgrims huddle closer together, while the employer keeps her silver-sealed records trained on the disarmed smugglers.
Quest Complete
Protect the innocent pilgrims from indiscriminate bloodshed