The Imperial Guard Captain leads Kareem Bishop out of the crowded throne chamber and onto a narrow balcony above the clerks’ hive. The noise of the guild office dims below, replaced by wind and the distant scrape of brushes on paper. He finally drops the polished court face.
Imperial Guard Captain
Your evidence did more than prove a theft. It showed me which guards were feeding the rot.
He opens one gauntleted hand toward the city, where lamplit roofs vanish into dusk. Down in the chamber, two armored escorts are already gone from the captain’s side, replaced by younger men with fresh insignia. The purge has begun.
Imperial Guard Captain
They thought I was merely hearing you out. Instead, I used your proof to strip out my rivals before they could turn on me.
Kareem Bishop
"
The captain studies Kareem, not with courtly caution now, but with a soldier’s hard approval. His voice lowers, sharpened by purpose.
Imperial Guard Captain
Help me clean the Guard, and I help you clean the city. We can make this rot hurt where it lives.
Below them, a stack of blueprints flutters in the wind like white birds escaping a cage. The balcony feels suddenly smaller, as if the whole empire has narrowed to this dangerous bargain.
✓ Quest Accepted
Decide whether to aid the Guard captain's purge
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who is feeding the Guard's rot
“I point to the fluttering blueprints and ask how we can use them to track the rot.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Kareem Bishop
How do we use the blueprints to trace the rot?
Imperial Guard Captain
Start with the marks that repeat. Supply routes, clerk hands, patrol changes. Crooked men leave patterns, even when they think they are clever.
The captain steps closer to the railing, wind tugging at his sleeve. Below, the scattered plans twitch and lift at the corners, their inked lines flashing in the lantern light.
Imperial Guard Captain
We match these sheets to the guard logs, then to the men who touched them. The first names to flinch are the ones you watch.
He points once, sharply, toward a cluster of blueprints with fresh smudges near the margins, then looks back to Kareem with hard certainty.
Imperial Guard Captain
If you stand with me, I can open the records and pull the thread all the way to the hand behind it.
The offer hangs between them with the city wind, practical and dangerous, while the papers below keep fluttering like trapped signals.
“"I will help. I hate corruption. But I also dont need a bigger target on my back while trying to save this city through clean water. By the way, what is the Empress's name?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Kareem Bishop
I help, but I do not need my name tied to every blade in the room while I am trying to keep a city alive through clean water.
Imperial Guard Captain
Wise. I want the rot cut, not just the heads it hides behind.
The captain lowers his hand from the blueprints and gives Kareem a measured nod, the hard edge in his face easing into something more practical.
Imperial Guard Captain
You want legitimacy, then keep it. We work quietly, through records and patterns, not parades of corpses.
Kareem Bishop
Good. Then tell me her name, the Empress.
Imperial Guard Captain
She is Empress Xifeng, and she hears more than most men dare admit.
Below them, a clerk stoops to catch a slipping blueprint, while the captain’s gaze stays on Kareem, weighing the answer like a pledge.
Quest Complete
Decide whether to aid the Guard captain's purge
New Gift: Captain's Intuition