Huarti stands at the camp edge, the stolen ward bundle clenched in one huge hand. Ahead, Crescent Hollow scouts ring a shallow firepit, laying fresh sigils into the dirt.
The bundle in Huarti's grip pulses once, answering the half-finished ritual. The tainted arcana in the air sharpens, pointing straight back toward the nursery path.
The Lead Scout
Hold. Someone is at the perimeter.
The Lead Scout
If the ward set is broken here, the nursery stays beyond our reach.
The scouts hesitate, hands going to charms and blades. One of them reaches for the final pattern stones, trying to finish the spell before Huarti closes in.
Huarti has the proof in hand, and the camp is only one step from sealing the nursery's fate.
✓ Quest Accepted
Stop the ward ritual at the camp
“I cast a web of stunning red electric energy on them all”
SUCCESS (Good Red electric, rolled +1)
Red lightning snaps outward in a tight net, throwing harsh light across the wash. The ritual circle jitters, and the scouts seize up where they stand.
The Lead Scout locks in place, jaw clenched, while the Crescent Hollow Scouts stiffen around the firepit, their ward-pattern bundle slipping low in their grasp.
The Lead Scout
Easy, easy... We are not moving.
Crescent Hollow Scouts
Stop him, stop the ritual, do not let the wards go dark!
The shallow firepit gutters, then flares unevenly, the dirt sigils half-shaken and half-glowing under the crackle of Huarti’s power.
The Lead Scout
Name your terms, dragon. If you want the camp quiet, say it now.
The red sparks hold them in a frozen ring, but their eyes still track the sealed bundle, the fire, and Huarti all at once.
“I ask who is in charge of them”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +2)
Huarti
Who commands this camp?
The Lead Scout
No single hand, lord. We follow the watch-sign, and the watch-sign follows the elder at dusk.
Crescent Hollow Scouts
He means the Hollow Matron. She reads the nursery marks. She sent us here.
The Lead Scout’s eyes flick toward the bundle, then back to Huarti, weighing every word against the crackling ring.
The Lead Scout
If you mean to bargain, take the truth with it. Bren sold her the ward-map. She promised the camp safety, and delivered fear.
Crescent Hollow Scouts
The matron said the dragon would not listen. He is listening.
The Lead Scout
So, dragon, do you want the elder spoken to, or the Matron named before these folk?
“I say, yes”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Huarti
Yes. Name the Matron. Speak to the elder at dusk.
The red arcs loosen their cage just enough for the words to land. The Lead Scout swallows, then gives a single, sharp nod toward the firelight.
The Lead Scout
Hollow Matron Veyra. She keeps the nursery marks and the watch-sign both.
Crescent Hollow Scouts
She sent us to hold the rite until she could hear whether the spire would answer.
One scout lowers the ward bundle onto the dirt between them, not as an offering, but as surrender enough to talk. The glow in the sigils flickers when Huarti’s presence presses closer.
The Lead Scout
If you mean to take this camp, take it clean. Tell Veyra yourself, or let me carry your terms to her.
The firepit pops softly. Around the stalled circle, every face waits on Huarti’s next word, the name Veyra hanging in the dry air like a gate just opened.
“I cast sleep on the croud”
SUCCESS (Great Arcana, rolled +0)
Huarti lets the ward bundle’s pulse wash through the circle, and the red arcs sink into the dirt like embers drowned in ash.
One by one, the Crescent Hollow scouts lose their fight against the night. Shoulders sag. Knees fold. Voices thin into soft breaths.
The Lead Scout
No, wait...
Quest Complete
Stop the ward ritual at the camp
New Gift: Ritual Disruptor