A month after the pact, the Nomad Envoy kneels at the base of the Obsidian Spires and sets out desert silk, rare ores, and a sealed scroll before the red boundary line.
Behind her, the elders bow low, keeping their eyes on the line. Above, the nursery glows steady and warm, the blessing at the threshold shining pale against the stone.
Nomad Envoy
Keeper Huarti, we bring tribute for the brood, and thanks for the road you have held.
Annika Mal stays half-hidden in the shadow of the entrance, watching the offering without moving. Her wings are still, but her gaze never leaves the strangers.
Nomad Envoy
If you descend, I will speak our people’s safeguard plainly. If you do not, I will leave the gifts at your gate and carry your silence home.
Huarti remains above them in the high sanctuary, a towering red shape against the spire light, reading the envoy and the gifts for hidden intent.
✓ Quest Accepted
Receive the nomad safeguard plainly
✓ Quest Accepted
Inspect the tribute for hidden intent
“I casually inspect it”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +3)
Huarti takes the tribute in silence, letting his attention pass over the silk, the ore, and the sealed scroll. His long fingers hover, then still, as if weighing more than weight.
The cloth is clean, the ore is honest, and the seal is unbroken. No poison, no curse thread, no hidden token waits inside the pile.
Huarti
The tribute is plain.
Yet the scroll carries a second scent beneath the wax, a formal binding, old desert law pressed into the fibers. It is not a trap. It is a safeguard, written to be spoken aloud and witnessed.
Nomad Envoy
My people send it openly, lord Huarti. The safeguard is theirs, and they ask that it be heard plainly.
Elder Two
If it pleases you, the words are meant to stand before all who serve under these spires.
Huarti turns the scroll once more, and the seal catches the light like dark amber. The gathering waits, suddenly very still.
Quest Complete
Inspect the tribute for hidden intent