The hollow softens around them, moss and roots cupping a brief pocket of calm. Embers lowers herself beside the courier, and the last of the water passes between their hands.
The Royal Courier
There is not much left. I was meant to know these woods, but the kingdom keeps breaking its own roads.
Her voice stays steady, yet her grip tightens on the skin. Beyond the hollow, the Lost Woods are all shadow and wind, distant and still.
The Royal Courier
First the rains, then the storms, then folk fleeing every direction after the Cataclysm. I keep thinking I will find a clean path, a proper answer.
A tall shape parts from the trees without a sound. The Woodsman stands at the edge of the hollow, weathered and unmoving, watching them with a face like old bark.
The Royal Courier
He has been there longer than I have. I did not hear a single step.
The courier looks to Embers, then back to the Woodsman, her wary calm shifting into something quieter, almost hopeful. No one moves to break the silence.
+ Scene Quest Added
Speak with the Woodsman
“Shyly, and with reverence due to her protector embers gives the Woodsman a single small smile in greeting, the most she has ever been able to give her erstwhile protector. But exhaustion soon claims her for casting while a great Boone seems to suck the rest of the energy from her body near the point of collapse she sits down unable to move trembling with hunger and exhaustion. Fear of both of these two beings permeates every thought every action that they take causes her to remain on guard even now that they have both proven it to be someone that she should trust. Through it all though hunger fear fatigue the trials of casting one thought remains in her brain. I must find a safe place to sleep.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
Embers Firestarter
The Woodsman is real. He is here.
Embers gives the smallest smile she can manage, more breath than bravado, and the Woodsman answers with a still nod.
The Woodsman
You made it through the worst of the trees.
The words settle like a blanket. Embers sags at once, the strength in her knees slipping away as hunger and casting drain her dry.
She lowers herself to the moss, trembling, one hand braced in the roots while the other curls toward her stomach.
The Royal Courier
Then stay here. This hollow is hidden, and the fire keeps watch better than we can.
The courier shifts her pack closer, scanning the dark ring of trees. The Woodsman remains at the edge, quiet and steady, while the dusk deepens around them.
Quest Complete
Speak with the Woodsman
Quest Complete
Find a safer camp before dark
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great
+ Story Quest Added
Find a safe place to sleep