Firelight rolls over a low tavern hearth, turning the stone red and the rafters gold. BonerFart stands just inside the warmth, quiet as smoke, his black-clad shape cut sharp against the glow.
Across the room, a stranger in black leans near the fire, hood shadowing their face. They do not drink. They wait.
The door thumps open. Cold air knifes in with another figure, dusted from the road, their hand already on the hilt at their side.
Steven
You took your time.
The Suspicious Stranger
I came for the duel, not your patience.
The stranger in black turns a fraction toward BonerFart, as if weighing him by the firelight alone. The room seems to narrow around that glance.
Steven
If he is here to watch, let him choose. Blade, bow, or leave before blood names him.
✓ Quest Accepted
Choose the duel’s side
“Is the stranger clearly winning this duel?”
YES (Even, rolled 33)
The Stranger parries a heavy blow with effortless grace, their blade tracing a precise arc that leaves their opponent stumbling backward. It is clear that the Stranger is dictating the entire rhythm of the fight, forcing their foe into a desperate, losing defense.
BonerFart
They are not even breaking a sweat, just waiting for the other to exhaust themselves.
“I get both of their attentions by throwing something at their heads.. I gaze at them with my glowing eyes and demand to know why the 2 of them have disturbed MY peace this evening.. I draw my bow as it flickers with lightning and demand reasons again.. and they better be good”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +0)
BonerFart snaps a small object across the duel, and both strangers turn at once. His bow comes up with a crackle of lightning, bright enough to paint their faces blue.
BonerFart
Why have you disturbed my peace tonight? Speak. Your reasons had better be good.
Steven
A fair interruption, then. I name myself only by what I do. I came because they owe blood for a broken oath.
The Other Stranger
And I came because that oath was a lie. Look at him. He never meant to keep it.
The two of them hold still, blades lowered but not sheathed, each waiting to see whether BonerFart’s stare favors one over the other.
Steven
If he chooses me, the fight ends on my terms. If he does not, I must speak faster than steel.
“Is one of them lying about the oath?”
NO (Even, rolled 64)
BonerFart studies the tension in their faces, but finds no deceit in their eyes. Both strangers speak the truth as they know it, their conviction as solid as the steel they carry.
“I say.. I know much about vengeance! And I also know energy never lies. I ask you both now, have faith in MY energy and lower your weapons. There will be a way to come to terms outside of blood. Way I see it, the 3 of us could be quite powerful together as one unit. Search your hearts, look deep. If blood is the only way this will be settled then no one here will like how this ends..”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +2)
BonerFart’s words hang in the warm air, and the duel loosens by a breath. The Stranger lowers their rapier a handspan, studying him as if weighing a wound before binding it.
Steven
You speak like someone who has outlived a burning. That earns you a hearing.
Steven
Vengeance is a blade with a memory. It cuts the hand that keeps it too long.
The road-worn rival gives a rough laugh, then eases their weapon point toward the floor. Neither backs away, but neither presses in.
Steven
If there is a way beyond blood, I will take it, but not by kneeling to a lie.
Steven
Tell me this, BonerFart, do you truly mean to stand with one of us, or with the truth between us?
The tavern falls into a listening hush. The bow’s faint blue hum lights the three of them in soft pulses, and the open door lets in a cold strip of night.
“I say.. THAT is yet to be seen. I feel we are all men of respect. In interest of THAT we put the blades away, we sit, we have a drink, and the facts, only the facts, are layed out.. and until I know a man's name his word means nothing. So let's start over and have a drink. The 2 of you across from eachother and me at the endto mediate. And if I sense any found play or deception, I will knife you myself, and trust me.. nothing burns like MY blades do.. the choice is yours gentlemen!”
FAILURE (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled -1)
BonerFart lays the terms out plain, and the tavern seems to hold its breath around him. The blue bowlight flickers over the table edge as both strangers listen without moving.
Steven
A fair table, then. Names before blades. That at least I can honor.
Jeff
You ask for trust after a threat. Still, I hear the point. No more steel, if the words stay clean.
The Stranger draws out a chair with measured care and sits opposite the road-worn rival. The rival exhales through their nose, then lowers into the other seat, shoulders still tight but no longer squared for a fight.
Steven
I am called The Stranger. I came for an oath that was broken, not for a corpse to prove it.
Jeff
And I am called Road-Worn Rival. I broke nothing that was not already rotten, and I will say where, if you let me say it.
BonerFart’s warning lands, but neither duelist flinches. The Stranger’s hand remains near the cup, the rival’s near the table edge, and both look to him as if waiting for a judge who has not yet taken the chair.
“I say.. good! Now we are getting somewhere. Now one of you did the other wrong and they want whay is owed, correct?. I feel both of you have value in this world and mine, so tell me all the details.. what was done, what was promised, what is owed, and what other then blood can pay it?.. one at a time. And no foul our false moves. Let's have respect about this so no blade is drawn.. im sure the bar keeper dont want to clean or repair from the mess”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +1)
BonerFart
Good. Then talk plain, one at a time. What was done, what was promised, what is owed, and what can pay it besides blood?
The Stranger folds both hands atop the table, the blue bowlight washing over their knuckles like moon on water.
Steven
An oath was sworn at a burial stone, in witness of kin and fire. I was promised passage and silence, then given a lie instead.
Jeff
I promised protection on the road, and I kept it until the pact was poisoned from within. What is owed is not my life, but the truth of who broke first.
BonerFart’s words settle the room. The rival’s shoulders loosen by a finger’s breadth, and The Stranger’s gaze sharpens with interest rather than anger.
Steven
Then let the debt be a witness, not a wound. Hear this, BonerFart, and judge it clean.
Jeff
I will speak my part, and if you find me false, I will accept your verdict before the barkeep has cause to lift a rag.
“So all of this over a "broken promise" with no one dead?.. fine, I will be the judge and let this petty squabbling be settled. I want all of the details from each side so I may be fully informed for my decision.”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +1)
BonerFart lets the silence hold, and both strangers take it as permission to speak plainly.
Jeff
It begins at the burial stone. I swore the road would stay open, and I kept that oath until my own kin sealed it with lies.
Steven
And I was promised passage beside the dead, then met steel instead. Not from you, I think, but from the hand that stood between us.
The blue bowlight brightens over the table as they trade the missing pieces back and forth, and the shape of the betrayal sharpens.
Jeff
Barack named the terms, then changed them. He wanted the oath broken, because a broken oath makes a clean excuse for blood.
Steven
So hear the truth, BonerFart. I do not ask for a killing, only a judgment that names the liar and leaves the rest alive.
Both set their attention on him now, waiting with the same hard patience, as if his answer will decide whether the table becomes a witness or a grave.
“I say.. Barack?! Well now rival, that name makes even ME want to run you through! So seems as though Barack lied to you, rival. He is the one to endanger your well-being, stranger.. and is the one I want dead with all thats left of my heart. The only sound plan is for you to forgive eachother and refocus on the real target, Barack!, under my lead the 3 of us together will be victorious. Its the only sound reason, what do you men say?... or!.. you could just knife eachother down HERE like you were and ill go about it alone, as I was... it makes no mind to me, all how you men feel about the sound reason layed before you.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled -3)
BonerFart
Barack. That name makes the lie fit. If he bent the oath once, he can be the true knife behind all of this.
BonerFart lays the blame out flat, but the words land wrong. The Rival stiffens, while The Stranger’s gaze narrows on him, not with anger, but with a sudden, guarded hurt.
Jeff
You hear only half of it. Barack did lie, yes, but not to me alone. He used your kind of certainty to turn us both.
Steven
And now you would bind us under your lead, after naming only the enemy you prefer. That is not justice, BonerFart. That is a new chain.
The blue light ripples across the table as both strangers pull back a fraction, the truce still present, but thinner now, like cloth stretched to tearing.
Jeff
He offers a road, but not to truth. He wants us pointed at one target and quiet after.
The Stranger folds their hands atop the table and looks between them, waiting for something cleaner than allegiance.
“I say.. Barack?! Well now rival, that name makes even ME want to run you through! So seems as though Barack lied to you, rival. He is the one to endanger your well-being, stranger.. and is the one I want dead with all thats left of my heart. The only sound plan is for you to forgive eachother and refocus on the real target, Barack!, under my lead the 3 of us together will be victorious. Its the only sound reason, what do you men say?... or!.. you could just knife eachother down HERE like you were and ill go about it alone, as I was... it makes no mind to me, all how you men feel about the sound reason layed before you.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +1)
BonerFart presses the point, and the table answers with silence before either stranger does. The blue glow trembles over their hands as the room waits for the verdict he tries to force.
Jeff
You call it a plan because you want me guilty, and him useful. I will not be steered like cattle to your blade.
Steven
And I will not kneel to a bargain dressed as mercy. If Barack wound us both, then say that plainly, not as a leash.
The Rival glances down at the table, jaw tight, while The Stranger’s fingers uncurl from a careful fold. Neither reaches for steel. Both are watching BonerFart now, not the other.
Jeff
Barack made enemies out of a lie, and now this one wants to make allies out of fear.
Steven
He can name the truth, or he can hide behind violence. One of those is worth following.
BonerFart’s bow stays lowered. The duel is no longer a clash, only a hard, awkward pause, three enemies of the same name measuring what trust might cost.
“I say.. Barack?! Well now rival, that name makes even ME want to run you through! So seems as though Barack lied to you, rival. He is the one to endanger your well-being, stranger.. and is the one I want dead with all thats left of my heart. The only sound plan is for you to forgive eachother and refocus on the real target, Barack!, under my lead the 3 of us together will be victorious. Its the only sound reason, what do you men say?... or!.. you could just knife eachother down HERE like you were and ill go about it alone, as I was... it makes no mind to me, all how you men feel about the sound reason layed before you.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +2)
Steven
Barack is the wound, then. Not you. Good. Say it cleanly, and I can hear you.
Jeff
And if we stand together, it is because the lie has a throat we both want.
BonerFart lays the choice on the table with no more room for retreat. The blue bowlight flashes once across the wood, and neither stranger reaches for a weapon.
Steven
His push is crude, but the target is plain. If Barack twisted us, then this one is not entirely bluffing.
Jeff
He says it like a knife, but the blade points away from me. That is... something.
Steven
Very well. I will not waste my rage on the wrong throat.
Jeff
Then I lend my road to yours, for now. We settle the oath on Barack, and speak no more of dueling each other in this hall.
Quest Complete
Choose the duel’s side
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb