The keep’s courtyard is drowned in violet fire. The granary burns without heat, its beams glowing like bruised bone beneath the night sky.
Knights lie strewn across the stones, armored bodies slack in sleep as deep as death. No alarm bell sounds. No one stirs.
Yysara steps into the yard, her fox ears pricked, her staff in hand. The strange flame washes over her vestments in cold light.
The fire gives off no heat.
At the courtyard center stands a child, small and still, watching the blaze with unsettling calm.
The Child
You came.
The child turns fully toward Yysara. Their eyes burn with the same dark energy that clings to the granary flame.
The Child
Will you try to wake them, or speak to me first?
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the child's true allegiance
“Can I sense any magical tether connecting this child to the burning granary?”
NO (VeryLikely, rolled 93)
Yysara reaches out with her senses, but the violet flames remain detached from the child, revealing no tether or magical link between them. The air remains stagnant and empty of any lingering arcane connection.
“Is the child hiding a link to the knights?”
NO (Likely, rolled 82)
The child stands perfectly still, their presence entirely disconnected from the unnatural fire consuming the granary. No hidden threads of magic bind them to the slumbering knights.
“Is the child responsible for the violet fire?”
NO, BUT (Unlikely, rolled 48)
The child is not the source of the violet flames, but their calm demeanor suggests they are waiting for the fire to finish its work.
“I ask the child whose side they serve”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +0)
Yysara
Whose side do you serve?
The Child
I serve the hand that keeps this keep sleeping. Not the knights, not the flames.
The Child
They would wake, scream, and strike first. This way, they stay harmless.
The answer lands cleanly. The child is no ally of the knights, and no innocent bystander either, they are serving the force that wants the keep empty and quiet.
The Child
The fire is hungry. If she understands that, she may listen.
A few sparks spit from the granary and lick the courtyard stones. The violet glow sharpens, and the child keeps their gaze fixed on Yysara.
The Child
Now you know where I stand. Will you speak with me, or wake them and let the fire choose?
Quest Complete
Expose the child's true allegiance