~ start 0e95e21a-9518-40ba-934f-8bd50d6aab50 if is_quest_accepted and are_quest_requirements_met Leon: *He glances at the bundle at your belt, then back to his column.* [#end] Woodard is fifty paces from this desk and you are standing at mine. Deliver. elif is_quest_accepted Leon: *He looks at your hands first. Then your face.* - I lost the badges [#get_lost_quest_items] Leon: *He takes one slow breath, opens the drawer, and strings a second set without a word until the knot is tied.* *He sets it down in front of you.* [#end] The Institute does not usually restock grief. Do not make me do it twice. - The knot still stands Leon: Then the entry is still open, and it's yours to close (location 32,19). [#end] Go. Daylight is billable. else Leon: There is a final entry. The replay is broken, but the heart of the site will not disperse. My instruments man calls it a knot. I will call it what it is: the dead of both orders, collapsed into one body. Dusters fused to Sentinel plate. It no longer re-fights the battle. It is the battle. Leon: Put it down and the file closes - the only way a file like this closes. It stands in the deep of the draw, where the creek turns (location 32,19). *He finishes stringing the badges and knots the cord, the way a job is finished properly.* Leon: [#quest_info=561bf92d-5340-419c-9154-a738ae7935ac] if is_quest_accepted: Leon: [quest: accepted] *He pushes the strung badges across the desk.* The badges are the Rangers'. Cleaned, logged, released - the Institute's claim on Dove Creek ends at this string. When the knot is down, take them to Woodard. Leon: TIP: the [enemy: Paradox] answers to the same rule as the echoes - energy washes over it, a SLASH edge opens it up. [#end] His dead. Both ledgers get the entry. else: Leon: [quest: declined] [#end] Then the entry stays open. Entries like this one do not improve with age. => END ~ start 5500b939-2571-47d6-9827-6f4152b35844 if is_quest_accepted and are_quest_requirements_met Wesley: *You put the bundle in his hands. He knows what it is before the string is off.* *He takes them one at a time. Four badges. His lips move on each name, the way a man checks a patrol in.* Wesley: *When he's done, he watches the creek line for a long moment.* The knot's down. The water out there is just water. First time in two winters my roster and my road agree. - Your men were right. The Sentinels started it Wesley: *He shakes his head, slow.* That's the story I told for two years. It bought me nothing but four graves I couldn't visit. A twelfth gun stood on that ridge. Whoever it answered to, it wasn't Keats. And it wasn't me. - Leon's people were doing their jobs. So were yours Wesley: *He weighs that, then nods once.* The bookkeeper and I finally agree on something. Every man at that creek did his duty. That's what somebody paid for. Duty - aimed both ways at once. - Nobody's clean. Someone sold you that battle Wesley: *His jaw works.* Sold. That's the word I've been walking around. Route sheets and schedules moved like freight, and both sides billed for the same funeral. You know what's worse than an enemy? A market. Wesley: *He strings the badges back together and hangs them inside the guard post door, where every Ranger walking out will pass beneath them.* [#complete_quest] The road is open. The dead are home. And whoever filed that ridge smooth is still out there, carrying this territory's mail. *He offers his hand.* The Rangers owe you. So does the Institute, not that Sellard will spend the word. Take the pay - both houses' worth - and keep your eyes on the freight. Wesley: Back to work, then. [#end] elif is_quest_accepted Wesley: *He notes the bundle-shape in your kit and doesn't reach for it.* [#end] The knot first (location 32,19). Then we'll talk about what you're carrying. else Wesley: *He glances toward the Institute desk across the yard.* [#end] Whatever the bookkeeper is cooking in that ledger, bring it to me finished or not at all. => END