The Vanished Warder

Quest · Chapter 1 · Old Camp

Quest Parts

  • The Vanished Warder:
  • Fletcher knows something about Nek.:
  • Guy knows something about Nek.:
  • Snaf could know something about this.:
  • I gotta find Nek.:
  • I should inform Sly.:
  • I can bring the amulet to Sly.:

Following Nek's trail

Sly asks you to find the missing warder Nek and promises a recommendation after you do. Fletcher says Nek covered his area in the arena district, had collected levies, and had been missing for about a week.

Fletcher points you to Guy. Guy suggests that Nek may have joined the New Camp or gone hunting, while Snaf says Nek left through the south gate and never returned. Snaf suspects betrayal, but the dialogue treats that as suspicion rather than proof.

The confirmed outcome

Nek is dead in a cave near the camp, killed by molerats. Sly asks for an amulet as proof before accepting the report and giving his recommendation.

A warder who simply failed to return

Nek's disappearance unsettles the routines of the Old Camp. Fletcher has to cover his district, the levies have already been collected, and the people who knew Nek can offer only fragments. He may have joined the New Camp, gone hunting, or decided he no longer wanted to serve the warders. The camp's first instinct is to turn absence into suspicion.

Sly sends the hero through those rumors because he wants more than a guess. Fletcher remembers Nek as a friend, Guy lists the possible routes he might have taken, and Snaf believes he left through the south gate. None of them can prove betrayal, which leaves the hero to follow the trail beyond the camp's assumptions.

Proof beneath the speculation

The trail ends in a cave near the camp, where molerats have killed Nek. His amulet is the solid evidence Sly has been asking for, transforming a story about a possible turncoat into a confirmed death. The object matters because the Old Camp's reputation system is built on what can be shown to another person.

Sly accepts the amulet and gives his recommendation, but the outcome is not entirely comforting. Nek was neither a secret recruit nor a dramatic traitor; he was a warder who went into the wilderness and did not come back. The investigation exposes how quickly a camp fills the silence around a missing person with whatever explanation protects its own assumptions.

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