Father's Favor Falls From Above

The thing that fell into the warehouse did not look like rescue at first.

A metallic canister dropped from above on a small balloon-like rig, landing near Dhaz in the middle of the fight. It was five feet tall, armored, deliberate, and impossible to ignore. One of the warehouse fighters tried to reach it. Dhaz got there first.

The mark on it was Pelosh design.

That changed the question from what is this to who sent it.

Dhaz opened the canister, and the answer unfolded around him. Plate armor climbed out and attached itself to his body, covering him in a Pelosh-built shell at the exact moment the warehouse had proven how fragile he still was. Inside was the message that made the gift personal.

No son of mine falls without leaving a mark.

Father's Favor was rare armor, built for someone with artificer-level access or enough techno-genius instinct to make it obey anyway. It could resist forced movement, blunt incoming damage, and fire an arcane force bolt from the chest. Mechanically, it was protection. Emotionally, it was a father's hand arriving late but not empty.

Then the warehouse gave Dhaz a second family wound.

After the immediate fighting broke, the party tried to stabilize the fallen and search the rooms. Dhaz picked a locked side door. Inside, a woman had one leg already out the window. She looked back and said today was not her lucky day.

Then she jumped.

Dhaz knew her.

His sister.

The armor had arrived from family. The next lead ran from family. Stormcall's warehouse had stopped being only a Flesh lead or a Tallyman lead. It had become a Pelosh problem too.