Kynes stands knee-deep in fresh masonry beside the river terrace, his staff braced in one hand while the sinkpoint glows steady under the stone. The golden pulse is calm, but the foundations still hum with strain beneath his feet.
Bootsteps clatter on the path above. A stern Deputy from the Reeve’s office arrives with two guards, all three staring past the work and straight at the light in the ground.
Deputy
You are called to answer for unauthorized magical disturbances. This district has felt the shaking for days.
Kynes
This is my land. I am stabilizing what keeps it from collapsing.
Deputy
Then prove it without widening the breach. The Reeve will not excuse a sinkpoint that swallows half of Phandelver.
The warning lands just as the golden current surges against the masonry seam. Kynes feels the choice at once, keep the flow bound here, or let it spike into the riverbank and risk the town.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prove the sinkpoint is stable
“"isn't the reeves not around anymore?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
Is the Reeve not even here to answer for it?
Deputy
No. The office sends me, because the Reeve does not walk every complaint himself.
The Deputy’s eyes drop to the seam of gold under the stone, then back to Kynes’s planted staff. The guards do not move, but their shoulders loosen a fraction as the tremor stays buried.
Deputy
If the magistrate were here, we would argue procedure. Here, I have to judge by the ground in front of me.
Deputy
This one is not bluffing. The terrace is holding.
The golden flow answers with a steady thrum, clean and even beneath the masonry. Dust sifts from the stacked stones, but nothing cracks. The controlled lattice on the terrace holds its shape.
Deputy
Then I mark it contained, for now. Keep it that way, and the office will not call this a seizure.
The Deputy lifts a hand, not in threat now, but in a thin, reluctant acknowledgment. The guards step back from the edge, waiting to see whether Kynes answers or lets the silence stand.
Quest Complete
Prove the sinkpoint is stable