Daveowulf enters Lindensberg beneath tall stone towers, his two-handed maul secured across his back. Beyond the guildhall square, shouting gathers like thunder.
A stocky elderly dwarf man kneels beside a rune-carved relic, his iron-gray beard braided with copper rings and his dark work coat dusted white. Two sun-priests grip the relic while their armored leader, a tall adult woman with a dark braid, a scarred cheek, and polished gold-trimmed plate armor towers over him.
The Sun-Priest Leader
By the light, you will surrender this remnant of the old corruption. Preserve forbidden knowledge, and you preserve the cataclysm itself.
The runesmith glances toward the guildhall doors, one hand hovering protectively over the relic. Hairline fractures spread across its surface with faint, dry ticks.
Bromm Coalvein
Guild adventurers! Hear me before these zealots break what they cannot understand. This relic may be the last record of a vanished craft.
The Sun-Priest Leader
Seize him. The guildhall will not shelter a keeper of sorcery.
The crowd compresses around the kneeling dwarf. Sun-priest hands tighten on the relic, and a pale line splits through its central rune as the guildhall doors loom only a few strides away.
✓ Quest Accepted
Free the dwarven runesmith
“"What ho! What are you doing to that small man?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled -1)
Daveowulf
What ho! What are you doing to that small man?
Daveowulf’s voice rolls across the square, startling the crowd into silence. The sun-priests halt with their hands upon the cracked relic, and the dwarf looks up sharply.
The Sun-Priest Leader
We are preventing him from preserving a remnant of the old corruption. That relic belongs under the judgment of the sun.
Bromm Coalvein
I am no corrupter, giant. I am protecting the last surviving record of a craft lost before the cataclysm.
The armored leader steps between Daveowulf and the kneeling dwarf, her gold-trimmed plate bright beneath the towers. Yet her priests loosen their grip, leaving the relic in the runesmith’s hands.
The Sun-Priest Leader
Stand aside, stranger. The guild’s shelter does not make forbidden knowledge righteous, nor does the dwarf’s size make him helpless.
Bromm Coalvein
If you seek honor, great one, ask them why they would destroy what they cannot read.
“This is all a bit confusing...they're talking a lot about things I don't understand. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but you can't just take that man's rock from him. It is clearly dear to him."”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled -2)
Daveowulf
Look, I don't know what's going on, but you can't just take that man's rock from him. It is clearly dear to him.
Daveowulf’s blunt appeal carries through the square. The dwarf’s fingers close around the relic, while several onlookers murmur approval and the sun-priests glance uneasily at their leader.
The Sun-Priest Leader
You speak plainly, stranger. Perhaps too plainly. Yet no lawful seizure has been declared, and the relic remains in the runesmith’s keeping.
With a sharp gesture, the armored woman orders her priests back. They release the relic completely, though one priest’s hurried withdrawal makes it scrape stone with a brittle crack.
Bromm Coalvein
You have my thanks, great one. Confusion did not prevent you from recognizing ownership, and that is a rare kind of wisdom.
The Sun-Priest Leader
Take your rock into the guildhall, dwarf. But understand this, giant: your defense places you under the sun’s scrutiny as well.
The runesmith gathers the relic against his chest and retreats toward the guildhall doors. Daveowulf’s words have saved it, but the square now watches him with wary, divided attention.
Quest Complete
Free the dwarven runesmith
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary