The guardian's shadow withdraws from the ancient seat, exposing roots wrapped around clay tablets. Beyond them, a narrow passage descends into darkness; above, Rovan and the villagers remain with the mound and its remembered names.
The guardian's vast outline settles among the roots, no longer blocking the chamber's hidden way. Black water laps once against the stone, then becomes still.
Alwin's sigil pulls toward one clay tablet. Its surface is crowded with shallow impressions, yet its inscription has been worn completely blank, as if the name itself were erased from memory.
Alwin
The mark is drawing me toward the blank tablet.
Inside the sigil, the stolen thread of Alwin's voice trembles like a plucked string. It carries no words, only the shape of a name that refuses to return.
The Buried Guardian
The forgotten one lies where remembrance was severed. The witness must find what the village could no longer speak.
A faint warmth gathers beneath the blank tablet, while the narrow passage exhales air scented with dust and old rain. The sigil tugs again, waiting for Alwin's next choice.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the forgotten name
“Before forging ahead, deeper into the burial mound Alwin wants to prepare a few things. First, he would like to prepare a sigil of return on the ground in this entry way. He will search for an elevated high ground to draw the sigil and infuse it with arcana so he can return at a moments notice in an emergency.”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +1)
Alwin searches the entryway and finds a raised shelf of dry stone above the black water, broad enough for a careful circle. The buried guardian remains silent among the roots below.
He clears dust and loose clay from the shelf, then scores a ring into the stone with the tip of a tool. Four breaks in the circle mark the directions of return.
Alwin
The stone is dry, stable, and high enough to keep the mark above the water.
Alwin sets the Arcane Conduit at the circle's center and feeds his will through it. Fine blue light follows the carved lines, joining each break without spilling beyond the ring.
The sigil of return locks into the stone with a muted chime. Its magic recognizes Alwin's presence and fixes this elevated shelf as a place he can reach again in urgency.
The conduit cools beneath his hand. Behind him, the narrow passage waits in darkness, while the completed sigil shines steadily at the mound's entrance.
“Use arcana to craft a wooden sword infused with the shadow magic of the dark waters to banish any undead Alwin might encounter. This sword is used as if it were a melee weapon, but utilizes arcana to make attacks and inky tendrils come off of it when it is used, lashing out at the undead.”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +1)
Alwin pries a straight length of dark root from the shelf's edge, stripping away brittle bark until its grain forms a rough sword shape. The black water reflects no movement.
He lays the wooden blade across the Arcane Conduit and draws shadow from the pool through the carved circle. Inky darkness climbs the root, filling its grain without consuming the wood.
Alwin
The shadow answers the conduit, but it is taking the shape of my voice.
The magic knots into a sword-length edge. Tendrils coil along it like living script, then lash outward and snap back when Alwin closes his hand around the hilt.
The Buried Guardian
Shadow remembers the dead. Wield it against what refuses its rest, but spend no name you mean to keep.
The sword settles into Alwin's grasp, light and hard as seasoned ash. Its first pulse tears a silent strand from the sigil's stolen voice, leaving one portion of that nameless shape permanently absent.
The completed weapon's tendrils fold close to the blade, waiting for undead flesh or bone. The Arcane Conduit dims, while the return sigil continues shining behind him.
+ New Item Acquired
Shadow Root Sword