The cottage crouches beneath a bruised violet sky, its windows glowing through warped panes. Every door bends toward a different wall, while loose sparks crawl over the roof like searching fingers.
Three stranded adventurers crowd the threshold: a broad-shouldered dwarf woman in a soot-stained red cloak, a thin elf man with silver braids and a green staff, and a masked young human man clutching a cracked spellbook.
Stranded Adventurers
Siora of the Reed Isles. You came. Good. We are trapped, and the mistake is getting worse.
Behind them, the hearth flame burns sideways. A stairway rises into darkness, then folds down into the same room. From beyond the walls comes a slow, unseen scraping.
Stranded Adventurers
A student at Fiona’s magical academy is in danger. We cannot begin the quest without you, but something is being drawn here while we wait.
Stranded Adventurers
Help us secure the cottage, or leave us to whatever answers that call.
The warped front door shudders without opening. Outside, the violet air dimples around an unseen shape, and every spark on the roof turns toward Siora.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the cottage
✓ Quest Accepted
Rescue the student from danger
“I ask where the endangered student is and how to reach them.”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Siora of the Reed Isles
Where is the endangered student, and how do we reach them?
The three adventurers exchange a sharp glance as the sideways hearth flame bends toward the folded stair. The scraping beyond the walls briefly falls silent.
Stranded Adventurers
The student is in Fiona’s magical academy, beneath the eastern lecture hall. They are trapped in the warded archive, where the academy’s old spellwork is pulling this cottage toward them.
The elf raises his green staff toward the crooked staircase. Its steps settle into a descending path, each one marked by a faint blue sigil.
Stranded Adventurers
Take the folded stair down to the hearth’s shadow. The shadow is the threshold. Step through it, and you will arrive beneath the eastern lecture hall, at the archive door.
A dark oval opens beneath the hearth, showing shelves of spellbooks and a trembling silver ward on the far side. The route is clear, and the student’s prison is visible beyond it.
“Do a protection spell on the cottage before going into the hole”
SUCCESS (Good Arcana, rolled +1)
Siora raises her wand before the dark oval. Violet light threads from its tip, winding around the cottage’s crooked walls and sinking into every warped hinge and window.
Siora of the Reed Isles
The spell reaches the whole cottage.
The protective web hardens into quiet silver lines beneath the roof. The searching sparks recoil, and the unseen scraping beyond the walls fades into the violet distance.
Stranded Adventurers
That should hold the cottage fast. Whatever was drawing it here will find no easy purchase now.
The sideways hearth steadies. Blue sigils brighten along the descending stair, while the portal beneath the fire remains open, showing the trembling ward beneath Fiona’s academy.
Stranded Adventurers
The path is secured. Go on, Siora. The student is still beyond that warded archive door.
Quest Complete
Secure the cottage
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Fair→Good