Seth steps out of the inn and into the market glare. The square hums with carts, fruit, haggling, and the white ghost-train threading distant streets like a bad omen no one can fully see.
Near the fountain, the pale stranger stands apart from the crowd. His shimmering clothes seem to thin the air around him, and the buyers and porters drift wide without quite meaning to.
Seth closes the distance. The stranger turns his head, then his whole gaze locks on Seth with that same chilling, knowing focus.
Alric
You came.
A beat of silence follows. The fountain splashes between them, and the market noise tightens around the gap as if the whole square is listening.
Alric
If you want the truth of your name, come closer. I was sent to find you.
Now Seth has a lead, not just a watcher. Whoever sent this man knows him, and the answer to where he is begins here, at the fountain, in the middle of the city.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who sent the stranger
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn where Seth is
“"Can I have your name?"”
SUCCESS (Fair Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Seth
My name is Seth. Whose word sends you to me?
Alric
Names carry weight here. Mine is not the first you should fear, but it is mine to give.
Alric
I am called Alric.
The market keeps moving, but the space around the fountain feels narrower now, as if the answer has drawn a line in the dust between them.
Alric
I was sent by the Caretaker.
A few nearby shoppers glance over, then quickly look away. Alric does not lower his voice, and the blurred sheen around him ripples in the sun.
Alric
He said you would ask. He said you would want the truth before you believe anything else.
The stranger waits at the fountain, openly named now, while the square listens in uneasy silence.
Quest Complete
Learn who sent the stranger
“"Your eyes do not glow red, so you are not under any control to do anything."”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +3)
Seth studies Alric in silence. The blur around the man stays in place, but his eyes are clear, steady, and human. No red glow answers the morning light.
Seth
His gaze is ordinary. Whatever is on him, it is not that sign.
Alric gives a faint, humorless nod, as if he has been measured before. He does not flinch from the scrutiny, and that confidence itself reads like proof.
Alric
You are looking for a chain. I wear none that can be seen.
One bystander at the fountain pauses mid-step and stares harder at Seth, then at Alric. The stranger’s answer travels farther than his voice, and the square starts to lean in.
Alric
If you want the truth, come away from the fountain. I can show you who sent for you, and why they chose me.
He turns his shoulder, half inviting Seth to follow, half exposing himself to every watching eye in the market.
“"Yet I know I will be found either way, Alric."”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Seth
Yet I know I will be found either way, Alric.
Alric
Then you understand the shape of it better than most. Yes, you will be found.
Alric
Not by chance, and not because the city is kind. By the hand that already has your name.
A few onlookers stop pretending to shop. The fountain splashes softly, but the square has gone quiet around the pair of them.
Alric
I was sent to bring you to the truth before it reaches you in a worse shape.
Alric
My master is the Caretaker.
At the name, the blur around Alric seems to tremble, though his face stays calm. Several heads turn at once, waiting to see what Seth does with it.
“"Yet I have a shepherd as well, a forever friend."”
FAILURE (Good Willpower, rolled -2)
Seth
Yet I have a shepherd as well, a forever friend.
The words leave Seth’s mouth, but the confidence in them thins as the market listens. A few faces harden into interest. Others look away too late.
Alric
Then you are not as alone as he meant you to be.
Alric
His blur wavers at that. Seth catches it, a tiny slip in the calm.
Alric tips his head toward the fountain’s stone lip, as if offering cover from the circle of eyes around them.
Alric
If you speak that name again, do it where these people cannot count your breaths for him.
Alric
Come. I can tell you one thing in safety, and it may be the thing you need most first.
“I follow Alric to somewhere quieter”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled -3)