“You’re Late”

As Kael studies the poster, a town guard approaches from the gatehouse. He is a tired-looking man in a damp gray cloak, carrying a spear and wearing a badge shaped like a cracked bell.

His name is Sergeant Bram Hollow.

Bram stops several feet away and stares at Kael.

His expression shifts from relief to confusion.

“You’re late,” he says. “We’ve been waiting for you to come back.”

If Kael denies ever visiting Greyhaven, Bram becomes visibly unsettled.

“No. That’s not right. You were here yesterday.”
“No… last winter.”
“You were never here.”

Bram looks down at the wanted poster. The ink begins to run, and the image changes slightly. Kael’s horns become shorter. His hair turns white. Then the original drawing returns.

For an instant, beneath the shifting portrait, a second line of text appears:

DESCENDANT OF THE STORMWORKS LINE.

Then it vanishes.

Bram asks Kael to come with him to the watchtower for questioning. He is not immediately hostile, but he is frightened and under orders from Captain Elian Rusk.

Kael may respond in several ways:

• Persuasion: Convince Bram that he is being mistaken for someone else. • Deception: Claim to be a different person using a false identity. • Arcana: Recognize that the poster is affected by unstable memory magic. • Intimidation or magic: Force Bram to back down, though this will make the town guard suspicious.

If Kael uses a false identity, the magic may briefly accept it as true. For the next few minutes, nearby townsfolk remember Kael as that person.

This is the first sign that lies in Greyhaven can become temporarily real.

It is also the first clue that the town is not merely remembering Kael. It is trying to determine which version of his identity belongs to the Stormworks bloodline.

Regardless of how the encounter ends, Bram gives Kael a warning:

“Do not go to the harbor after the Tide Bell rings.”
“Do not trust anyone who claims to remember you.”
“And if you see yourself in town, run.”

After a pause, he adds:

“If anyone asks about your mother, tell them you don’t know her name.”

Before Bram can explain, the Tide Bell rings from the harbor.

The sound is deep enough to shake the ground.

Every person in the street turns toward the water.

For one moment, Kael sees a second Greyhaven layered over the first. The buildings are taller, the streets flooded, and pale figures stand beneath the waves. At the center of the drowned town, a woman with silver-streaked hair stands beside a tower of copper rings.

Then the vision disappears.

Bram whispers:

“It’s starting again.”