Huarti stands on the high terrace as wind drags his red toga behind him. Below, the scavenger caravan clusters tight near the ward breach, wagons locked in a rough circle.
The Rootbound Caretaker
The outer wards are open. If they press in, the vault will feel it.
Earlise
Give the word. I hold the line.
Huarti’s gaze settles on the breach, and the archive answers with a low, uneasy pulse through the stone. The glow around his mark tightens, then steadies again.
The Lead Scavenger
We came for salvage, not war. Let us take what’s loose, and we leave the rest.
Huarti
The wards are strained, but not broken.
At Huarti’s stillness, the terrace darkens with gathered force. Earlise shifts her blade into ready position, and the caravan’s front line hesitates as the vault waits for his judgment.
“I shock them with red lighting”
SUCCESS (Good Red electric, rolled +0)
Huarti lifts one hand, and red lightning blooms from his fingers in a silent lash.
It strikes the caravan’s front wagons and the packed stones around them, not to burn, but to jolt and stagger.
The Lead Scavenger
Wait. Wait! Lower your weapons, all of you!
The line below breaks at once. Spear points dip, shoulders fold, and one wagon wheel skids sideways in the rush to retreat.
The Rootbound Caretaker
The vault has heard him. They will not press further now.
Earlise
Good. Let them remember this threshold.
A thin crackle still dances across Huarti’s mark in the stone, then sinks inward as the breach loses its challenge.
The Lead Scavenger
We are leaving. Keep the archive, devil.
Quest Complete
Turn away the scavenger caravan