Protesters and Illegal Dungeon Scrolls

While the amphitheater tried to sell order, the edges of the event were already slipping. Gemma Goldgrace watched a group of all-male protesters in matching clothing and felt something off. The uniformity made the protest look less like spontaneous anger and more like a staged piece waiting for the right moment to become unsafe. Nearby, another kind of danger worked more quietly. A vendor with scroll tubes scanned the crowd for likely buyers, sorting people by alignment, associations, and appetite for risk. The offer was illegal but tempting: void dungeon scrolls that could open access to lost, void-stuck places full of off-book loot. The price from the vendor was manageable. The Lawful levy if caught was enormous. That was the real hook. The same homecoming event that announced a public security team also hosted black-market shortcuts for adventurers who wanted unregistered treasure. Protesters threatened the surface. The scrolls tempted the underside. VQU's celebration had become a place where spectacle, security, and crime could all stand within earshot of each other.