Tall grass claws at Unrok’s boots as he lurches along the broken road, the wounded comrade sagging in his arms. Ahead, the main way is still choked by the fallen signal frame, and the watchfires of the war camp flicker far beyond it.
A shape parts the brush. The Stranger steps out with his weapon lowered, eyes darting past Unrok to the ruin-strewn fields. He looks ready to run, or bargain, whichever buys him one more day.
The Stranger
You keep taking the hard road, you’ll die in it. The side track bends under the frames. I know a gap. We move now, or we stay here for their next trap.
The Scout
Trap line on the grass. Don’t trust the open ground. The Archivist is still ahead of us, and I do not like that silence.
From somewhere behind the ruin, a sharp crack answers, then another. The grass quivers as if something has been set loose in it, and Unrok’s route to the camp narrows to a desperate choice between the marked road and the hidden track.
The Archivist
Let them choose. The field will do the rest.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure a safe path to the war camp
“"you keep my wound safe behind me i will clear the path and enything the slows us will die to my blade"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled -1)
Unrok shifts the wounded comrade higher, then heaves the fallen frame aside just enough to make a lane. Broken beams scrape stone, and the hidden cord in the grass snaps taut behind him, useless now.
Unrok
You keep the wounded behind me. I clear the path, and anything that slows us dies to my blade.
He drives forward at the side track, broad shoulders forcing through reeds and splintered timber. The narrow route opens where the main road chokes, a ragged gap that leads toward the camp.
The Stranger
Good. Then move before the field wakes up again.
The Scout
That line is spent. The gap holds, for now.
Dust bursts up behind them as something shifts in the ruins, and the signal frame groans where it fell. Unrok gets his people through, but the jolt of the frame’s collapse jars the wounded comrade and fresh blood darkens the cloth at his side.
The Archivist
There. He chooses survival after all.
Quest Complete
Secure a safe path to the war camp
Quest Complete
Protect the wounded comrades
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Fair→Good