The Forest Guide stands at the sanctum passage, one hand wrapped around his travel staff. Beyond him, the Archives groan softly, and the returning footsteps have faded into distant corridors.
Forest Guide
I can still reach the outer halls and bring the others here. Give me one practical reason to stay, and I will hear it.
The Cloaked Figure remains beside the rune-etched brace, their attention divided between the sealed floor and the guide’s poised departure. The far-hand bond hums faintly through the stone.
The Cloaked Figure
There is a watch gallery above the outer approaches. Neglected stairs lead there. Its instruments may show how the sorcerer is advancing before he reaches these doors.
Forest Guide
A gallery gives us sightlines, records, and perhaps a way to call reinforcements without abandoning the seal. That is practical enough to test.
He shifts his staff toward a narrow stairwell choked with dust and hanging cobwebs. Rain-stained ledgers and brass observation lenses glimmer faintly above, waiting in the dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the watch gallery
“Thank the guide for coming back to aid me in this dire situation were he could have just abandoned me in my lead towards the dark magician, also asking if he could help tend my burnt hand”
FAILURE (Mediocre Reasoning, rolled -1)
Dyria
Thank you for coming back. You could have abandoned me, but you returned to help me follow the dark magician. Could you tend my burned hand?
Dyria extends her injured hand toward him. The Forest Guide sets his staff against the wall and examines the reddened skin without touching the numbness near her wrist.
Forest Guide
You are welcome. I could not leave you to face this alone. As for the burn, I know trail wounds, not magic bound into flesh.
He searches his satchel and produces a clean strip of linen, but the small travel salve he carries has dried into a useless crust. His practical remedy fails before it begins.
Forest Guide
I cannot properly treat this here. I can wrap the hand to protect it, but that will not draw out the magic. We need someone who understands arcane burns.
He folds the unused linen back into his palm rather than risk binding the injury incorrectly. His gaze shifts toward the dust-choked stairwell and its neglected watch gallery.
Forest Guide
I can still help you reach the gallery and find such a healer among the others. But this hand needs knowledge, not a guess from me.