Salt mist clings to the smuggler's cove as Quorpeck steps into a wide black chamber of wet stone. Lanternlight shivers over carved channels in the floor, where a goblin bends low, tracing runes with meticulous care.
The marks are fresh. They match the older scars in the rock.
The goblin straightens just enough to gesture toward a glowing prophecy etched beside him. Its pale fire reveals a shattered royal crest, split clean through the center.
The Goblin Trader
You are late, dwarf. The curse was never hunting your kingdom.
The Goblin Trader
It was summoned to lure you here.
His carved knife pauses over the last rune. He does not retreat. Instead, he watches Quorpeck with a trader's caution, as if weighing coin against blood.
The Goblin Trader
Come closer, and I will show you who paid for the summoning.
The prophecy brightens. Below the crest, a new line of symbols begins to wake, as though the stone itself is waiting for Quorpeck to decide.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who paid for the summoning
✓ Quest Accepted
Survive the trap in the cove
“I scan the wet stone floor for hidden pressure plates or tripwires.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +2)
Quorpeck lowers his gaze to the slick floor and lets the lantern-glow catch the faintest seams in the stone.
Quorpeck
There. A line in the wetness, too straight to be natural.
His boot halts before it touches the marked slab. A narrow trigger slot lies hidden beneath a film of tidewater, and a second seam crosses it at an angle.
The goblin trader stills, knife hand tight, watching Quorpeck's foot freeze over the trap.
The Goblin Trader
Careful, dwarf. That stone bites if you trust the wrong patch.
Quorpeck shifts his weight back. The pressure never comes. The hidden plate stays held, unawakened, as the wet rune channels lie exposed.
The Goblin Trader
Now you see why I asked you closer. The floor is honest, if you know how to read it.
Quest Complete
Survive the trap in the cove
“I back away from the marked slab”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
Quorpeck eases backward from the marked slab, one careful step, then another, until the seam sits safely ahead of his boots. The wet stone does not shift.
The Goblin Trader
Good. Keep that distance, dwarf.
The goblin lowers his knife a fraction and leans over the rune channels instead of the trap line.
The Goblin Trader
Now the floor shows its work. See how the grooves lead inward, not outward?
A cold pulse runs through the carved channels, and the glowing prophecy stone brightens in answer.
The Goblin Trader
The summoner did not come alone. Someone paid, and the stone is ready to name the hand behind it.
The hidden plate stays still, but the seam-line gleams where Quorpeck stood, as if waiting for the next careless step.
“Is the summoner's name already known?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 78)
The prophecy stone pulses with a rhythmic, blinding light, yet the name of the summoner remains obscured within the shifting runes. The stone offers no identity, leaving the identity of the architect hidden in shadow.
“I press the goblin for the summoner's name”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
Quorpeck
Who paid for the summoning?
Quorpeck presses the question into the cavern like a wedge, and the goblin trader’s grin thins. The prophecy stone keeps flaring, but the answer finally surfaces with it.
The Goblin Trader
The Black Ledger paid, through a masked envoy in salt-gray robes. I never saw the coinmaster’s face.
The Goblin Trader
Careful now. Give only enough truth to keep the dwarf listening.
The trader’s knife hand twitches, and one bright rune line gutters out as a stray spark bites his thumb. He hisses, but he does not take back the name.
The Goblin Trader
If you want more, ask quick. The stone does not like being named out loud.
For a heartbeat, the cavern holds on that name, while the stone’s cold light crawls over the exposed rune channels and the goblin waits, tense and listening.
Quest Complete
Learn who paid for the summoning
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great