The forest of Elden HAIM opens around a ruined shrine, its toppled idols furred with moss. Gandolf with a weathered square face and a short white beard, a broad elderly man in patched gray robes, faces four imperial agents in lacquered armor.
Beside the cracked altar stands Scooter with tousled sandy hair and a narrow, freckled face, a wiry young man in a clerk's brown coat, clutching a leather satchel. Jennifer with a sharp-featured brown face and a scar through one eyebrow, a tall adult woman with cropped black hair and a green cloak, watches the blocked trail.
The Imperial Agents
The map. Now. The trail is sealed by order of the Empire, and none of you leaves this shrine until it is surrendered.
Gandolf
You mistake a stolen record for ownership, agents. Scooter found the landmark; your masters merely learned where to send their jackals.
Scooter
The record named the next shrine, but not the relic's hiding place. If they seize the map, Beelzebub's holy relic is lost to us.
Jennifer
Keep your hands away from the satchel. We came to topple an empire, not feed its officers another victory.
Steel whispers from imperial scabbards. The only visible trail vanishes between black pines, while the agents spread across it and wait for someone to make the first move.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the map out of imperial hands
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover Beelzebub's holy relic
“I step forward and tell the gardens that this is not what they want to do and they want to go fight some bandits”
FAILURE (Good Willpower, rolled -2)
Jannie steps from the cracked altar into the agents' path, red coat bright against the moss and shadow. Four lacquered helms turn toward her. One helm belongs to a young adult man of lean build, his face hidden behind a barred visor and his lacquered armor marked by a red cloak.
Jannie Welcome
This is not what you want to do. Leave the shrine and go fight some bandits instead.
The Imperial Agents
The Empire wants its map. Your counsel is neither wanted nor obeyed.
The words strike the clearing like thrown stones, but the agents do not yield. Their formation tightens, sealing the trail more completely.
Imperial Agent 1
Cat woman, step aside. Speak again, and you will stand with the stolen record when we take it.
Gandolf
A poor bargain, child. They would rather bleed for a parchment than hunt men who might actually resist them.
Scooter draws the satchel tight against his ribs, while Jennifer shifts beside the altar and Gandolf plants his staff. The peaceful appeal has left the agents openly hostile.
“I step forward and tell the gardens that this is not what they want to do and they want to go fight some bandits”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Jannie Welcome
This is not what you want to do. Leave the shrine and go fight some bandits instead.
The Imperial Agents
Bandits are a clearer enemy than shrine-keepers. Very well. We take our authority elsewhere.
The imperial agents lower their blades and withdraw from the trail. Their lacquered armor flashes between the black pines as the formation turns toward the eastern road.
Imperial Agent 1
If the bandits prove smoke, cat woman, we return for the map. Do not mistake departure for trust.
Gandolf
A victory purchased with a guess. Still, child, the road is ours again.
The agents vanish into the trees, but their argument has consumed precious daylight. The eastern trail stands open, while no one here can confirm whether bandits truly haunt it.
Scooter
Then we must move quickly. The shrine is clear, but the map's next landmark still waits somewhere beyond these woods.
Quest Complete
Keep the map out of imperial hands
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Fair→Good