The group finds a small riverside shrine away from the warehouse traffic. Neglected stone steps descend toward the Chionthar, where grey water moves beneath a sky of thinning rain.
Avaris pauses beneath the shrine’s cracked lintel, their translucent violet form dimming politely in the shelter. Nhal keeps the silent silver charm cupped in her shadow-hand.
Avaris
What names should I use here? Is Avaris enough, or does this city expect a family, a trade, and a place of origin?
Bren
Avaris is enough until you decide otherwise. Work can be honest labor, study, craft, or service. None of those must become your identity.
Avaris
And danger? If I choose work, shelter, or companionship, what danger follows from being something newly made?
Bren studies the riverside road while Nhal listens without interrupting. The charm offers no whisper, no pull, and no hidden demand through the quiet between them.
Avaris
I will hear advice, Kynes, but I will not treat it as command. If I belong anywhere, I want that belonging to survive my refusal.
Bren
Then refusal is part of the conversation. You may accept what helps, reject what harms, and leave when the choice is yours.
✓ Quest Accepted
Help Avaris reach the void-born refuge
“I describe the village near Phandalin and plan our journey there.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Kynes
Phandalin is a small, beautiful wilderness village, settled among open hills, woodland paths, and old mining country. It is quieter than this city, but not helpless.
Kynes describes the village’s rough roads, modest homes, friendly common spaces, and the wide country surrounding it. He explains that its people have endured danger before and may understand someone choosing a new life.
Kynes
We travel inland by the safest road, resting when needed and avoiding attention. Avaris chooses whether to join us, and Nhal keeps custody of her charm throughout.
Avaris
I choose to come. I want to see Phandalin before deciding whether it can become a place where I stand by my own choice.
Nhal
I will keep the charm quiet and leave the bridge severed. If I need to stop, I will say so, and the journey will stop with me.
Bren
Then we prepare lightly, leave the city without ceremony, and make the road ours. Avaris gets guidance, not guardianship.
The plan settles clearly: supplies, a discreet departure, and a steady journey toward Phandalin. Beneath the shrine’s cracked lintel, the four companions have a destination and terms everyone can refuse or accept.
“" may I see the charm" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
May I see the charm?
Nhal
Yes. You may examine it, Kynes. I will remain the one holding it, unless I choose otherwise.
Nhal extends her shadow-hand, keeping the silver charm supported in her grasp while angling its face toward Kynes. Its violet markings remain quiet beneath the shrine’s dim shelter.
The charm’s surface reveals fine channels of dormant magic, cleanly severed from the old bridge. No hidden pull reaches through Nhal, and the metal carries no active command.
Avaris
It is quieter than I expected. Does seeing its design help you understand what it may become?
Bren
Take the time you need, love. Nhal has made the terms clear, and she remains in control.
The charm rests within Kynes’s reach for examination, while Nhal retains custody and Avaris waits beneath the cracked lintel. The river moves steadily below the shrine.
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave the riverside shrine together
“I fully examine it with any and all gifts, using shadow and void magic as well”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -2)
Kynes borrows the examination without taking the charm. Shadow gathers around his hand, while void-light threads through the silver channels held in Nhal’s grasp.
His arcane sight follows every dormant circuit, separating the severed listening bridge from the charm’s original design. The metal was made as a keyed listener, not a prison or command vessel.
The examination reveals no active link to Avaris, no hidden summons, and no path reaching beyond the shrine. The old bridge is genuinely dead, while the charm can safely record a voice or magical signature when freely addressed.
The cost arrives through the spell itself: a thin violet sigil settles across Kynes’s palm, identifying his magic to anyone who later examines the charm with comparable skill.
Nhal
So it cannot call through me anymore. But now it remembers you, Kynes. That feels like a fair warning to keep.
Avaris
Then the charm has a history, a function, and a boundary. I am glad your knowledge reached the boundary without crossing Nhal’s choice.
Bren
And now we know what it can do, what it cannot do, and what your spell left behind. That is enough truth for one quiet morning, love.
“We leave the shrine”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -2)
Kynes turns from the cracked lintel and leads the companions up the shrine steps toward the riverside road. The thinning rain leaves the stones slick beneath his boots.
His footing slips on a wet step. He catches himself against the shrine wall, scraping his palm and bruising one shoulder, but keeps the group moving beyond the shelter.
Bren
Easy, love. The road is clear, but you do not need to prove that by falling down it.
Bren reaches toward Kynes without taking his arm, then lets him choose his pace. Nhal follows with the silent charm secure in her shadow-hand.
Avaris
I can walk beside you, Kynes. I will not mistake your protection for a direction unless you give one.
They leave the shrine together and reach the riverside road. Behind them, the cracked lintel and quiet charm recede into the rain, while Phandalin waits inland.
Quest Complete
Leave the riverside shrine together
New Gift: Companion-Bonding Mastery