Mahogany walls drink the lamp-light. The academy library sits hushed, all parchment dust and expensive perfume, until Panurge parts the shadow of the stacks and steps into the open.
At the central table, the student’s soft laughter cuts off. Her friends lean back at once, their long shadows twitching over the shelves like crooked fingers.
The Student
Who is that?
One friend turns fully toward Panurge, suspicion tightening her face. The others go still, watching him as if he has brought something colder than the draft with him.
Panurge
The shadows are wrong.
The Suspicious Friend
You are not meant to be in here. State your business.
The student at the center table stops smiling. Her fingers close over something hidden beneath the books, and the lamp-flame beside her gutter-flickers once, low and green.
The Student
Unless you have a very good reason, I suggest you leave now.
✓ Quest Accepted
Remain in the library undisturbed
“Step forward and offer a polite, disarming bow to the group.”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Panurge steps closer and lowers his head in a measured bow. The motion is calm, precise, and the room seems to take it in before anyone speaks.
The Suspicious Friend
Polite enough. That does not explain why you are standing in our corner of the library.
The Student
He is not shouting. That is something.
The bow costs him a scrape of silver at his wrist as the dagger shifts under his sleeve, a tiny flash against the lamp-light. Nobody lunges. The green flame steadies.
Second Friend
Wait. He is the one who copied the marginal notes on Blackwater Seal, isn’t he?
Third Friend
If he is, then perhaps we should hear him before we decide he is a thief.
The Student
Very well. You have bought yourself one conversation.
The hidden object stays covered, but the table loosens its grip on the moment. For now, Panurge is still in the room, and the hostile edge turns curious instead.
Quest Complete
Remain in the library undisturbed