The last ogre shapes vanish into the trees. Ash drifts over the Long Road, and the broken wagon settles with a creak of splintered wood. Starlight stands near the wreckage, fingers raw around her bow.
Laurel
They ran sooner than I expected. That’s a blessing, for now.
Laurel lowers her bow and eases her shoulders, though her eyes keep moving over the road, the brush, the smoke-thinned ridge.
Starlight Clearbottom
These attacks are becoming common.
Laurel
Too common. The road used to feel open, even at dusk. Now every trip feels like we’re counting shadows.
She glances toward the forest edge where the ogres fled, then back to Starlight’s reddened fingers.
Laurel
Hold still a moment. Your hand is torn. I can bind it before it stiffens.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bind my wounded hand
“Allows Laurel to tend to her hand”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Starlight lowers her bow and offers her injured hand. Laurel kneels beside the wagon’s scorched wheel, opening a small leather roll of clean linen and salve.
Laurel
Easy. The cuts are shallow, but ash will make them angry if it stays there.
Laurel rinses the raw fingers with water from her flask, careful and methodical. Gray streaks run into the mud while the smoke thins above the road.
Starlight Clearbottom
The water stings, but the fingers still move.
Laurel
There. Keep the hand loose. You’ll want your grip ready if BamRock returns with more raiders.
She spreads cool salve across the torn skin and binds Starlight’s fingers in a snug linen wrap, leaving each joint free. The ache settles to a dull throb.
Laurel
Done. It should hold through the night. We need to decide whether these merchants survived, and what trail the ogres left behind.
Quest Complete
Bind my wounded hand