Before the bronze door can answer Cye, a muffled voice drifts down the ice passage above. Vael turns sharply, one hand tightening around his vellum.
the frost-covered pilgrim
Do not open it. The guardian hears the bearer through the seal.
A frost-covered pilgrim stumbles onto the lower shelf, an elderly woman in white, crusted robes with a bronze cord at her waist. Her hollow cheeks and silver-braided head emerge from the rime.
Vael Thorn
By the ravine's oath... Mara? You vanished three days ago.
The pilgrim clutches a torn parchment strip marked with crawling crimson ink. Its trail points toward Cye, then recoils from the bronze eye-seal.
the frost-covered pilgrim
The arches changed behind me. I found no road back, only voices beneath the stair, counting every step.
Vael Thorn
Cye, stay clear of the seal. I remained above to guard the passage, but this changes what waits beyond that door.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reunite the map fragment with the living map
“I ask the pilgrim if I can see the torn parchment strips she has”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Cye
May I see the torn parchment strips?
The pilgrim studies Cye through the rime crusting her lashes, then lowers the parchment strips from her chest. Crimson ink crawls across their ragged edges.
the frost-covered pilgrim
Yes. Take them, but keep them beneath your own map. They remember one another only in the bearer's hands.
She places the strips into Cye's waiting grasp. The fragments are brittle with cold, yet their torn edges soften as they touch his parchment.
the frost-covered pilgrim
I carried them from the third arch. The writing changed whenever the voices counted, but this mark remained.
The strips align across Cye's map, revealing a narrow red branch beneath the bronze seal. Tiny symbols gather along it like footprints descending into warmth.
Vael Thorn
That branch was not on my vellum. Whatever the guardian hides, the fragments have shown you its entrance.
Quest Complete
Reunite the map fragment with the living map
+ New Item Acquired
map fragments