Rain needles the muddy yard of Knight’s Keep as a rider bursts in from the grey curtain, horse slinging copper water. The mount skids hard, almost clipping Valimire before it jerks to a stop at the gate.
The rider throws herself down from the saddle, soaked cloak plastered to her back. She keeps one hand on a sealed scroll and the other on the horse’s reins, eyes wide with urgency.
Mira Halden
Gate guards, now. The Soul-Anchor has been breached. Lord Edrin Vale needs reinforcements at the capital at once.
The guards snap toward the seal, their posture tightening. Nearby, the spirit in the thug gives a violent shudder, as if the words strike it in the chest.
The Spirit in the Thug
No... not now. That breach was sealed, it was meant to hold.
The rider thrusts the scroll toward the nearest guard, breathing hard, rain dripping from her chin. Around them, the keep feels suddenly smaller, its walls swallowed by the wet grey distance.
✓ Quest Accepted
Intercept the message about the Soul-Anchor
“I step foward and ask "what is going on with the Soul-Anchor"”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +2)
Valimire steps in through the rain and the guards part without meaning to. The rider does not lower the scroll, but her eyes snap to him as if glad for another witness.
Valimire Corneleus
What is going on with the Soul-Anchor?
Mira Halden
A breach at the capital. Not the wall, the ward beneath it. Lord Edrin Vale wants the keep alerted before the damage spreads.
Gate Guard
The message came by emergency seal. If the Anchor fails, the dead do not stay where they are meant to stay.
The Spirit in the Thug
No... then the horn was not a warning. It was a summons.
The rider finally presses the scroll into the guard’s hands, and the guard turns it as though it might bite. The copper rain hisses on the seal, while the keep above them sinks deeper into its wet grey gloom.
Quest Complete
Intercept the message about the Soul-Anchor
“"Do you need assistance repairing the Soul-Anchor?”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +0)
Valimire Corneleus
Do you need help repairing the Soul-Anchor?
Mira Halden
If you know wards, then yes. The keep cannot spare every blade to the capital, and the breach does not wait politely.
Gate Guard
Lord Edrin Vale asked for urgency, not silence. Any aid that reaches Xeranth faster than panic is worth taking.
The Spirit in the Thug
A breach beneath the capital... so the horn was to gather hands, not merely warn them. That changes everything.
Mira Halden
I will carry a name or a warning, if you have one to send. Better still, come with me if you can leave now.
Gate Guard
Speak quick, then. The scroll is for the keep, but the road to Xeranth does not empty itself.
Rain ticks from cloaks and steel. Above the yard, the keep’s windows sit black under the same unnatural gloom, as if listening for the answer.
“I will come with to help repair the soul-anchor. I have some knowledge that may help ward off the undead.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +0)