Heat presses upon the oasis. Palms shudder overhead as Magnus rises from the sand, black armour grinding beneath a veil of dust.
A noble's carriage lies broken beneath the palms. Wounded guards lie scattered around it, while bootprints cut a searching trail through the sand.
Behind the wreckage, a sellsword crouches with one hand clamped around a bloodied sword. Her eyes snap toward Magnus.
Bria
You are not one of them. Stay quiet, and I may give you a reason to keep standing.
Beyond the palms, bounty hunters fan across the oasis, calling to one another as they close around the ruined carriage.
Bria
Bria. That is my name. They want me alive, but they will kill anyone who helps me.
One hunter spots the fresh disturbance and raises a hooked spear. Bria shifts behind the carriage, ready to bolt or strike.
The Bounty Hunter
Black armour! Step away from the sellsword, or the oasis runs red before sunset.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Bria safely beyond the bounty hunters' immediate reach
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn why the bounty hunters are pursuing Bria
“I wish to draw my black iron greatsword and slaughter the bounty hunters”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Combat, rolled +2)
The greatsword tears free of the sand, black steel flashing beneath the white sun.
Magnus surges through the wreckage. The first hunter's hooked spear snaps aside as the blade sweeps across their formation.
The bounty hunters break, but the strike has already driven them away from Bria and the carriage.
Steel rings through the palms. One by one, the hunters fall or flee into the glare, their encirclement shattered.
The Bounty Hunter
Hold! You do not know what she carries!
The last hunter retreats beyond the oasis, clutching their spear and leaving Bria outside the bounty hunters' immediate reach.
Bria
They will return with more. Choose quickly, black knight. The eastern ravine or the dry riverbed?
Quest Complete
Get Bria safely beyond the bounty hunters' immediate reach
“I wish to convince her to tell me why she is being hunted”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
Magnus lowers the greatsword until its point rests in the sand. They turn their visor toward Bria and wait, giving her the silence she asked for.
Bria
You want the reason, not merely the road.
Bria studies the black helm, then wipes dust from a sealed leather tube at her belt. The hunters' warning has stripped away her last hesitation.
Bria
I carried this from the Sunken Archive. Inside is a fragment of the Ashen Crown's map, a relic sought by the warlord Veyr.
Bria
Veyr's bounty hunters pursue me because the fragment marks the vault where he intends to awaken an imprisoned demon. They cannot find it without me.
The leather tube remains closed, but the truth is no longer hidden. Bria steps nearer the broken carriage, keeping the eastern ravine and the dry riverbed in view.
Bria
Now you know why they will not stop. Which path do we take before the desert carries my trail to them?
Quest Complete
Learn why the bounty hunters are pursuing Bria
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Mediocre