The stair descends beneath the quarry road, dry and intact beneath layers of fallen stone. Celia leads with her sanctified staff, while Maurice guards the rear.
Elianor’s lampglass casts gold across the steps. Black residue threads through old mason signs, slipping between carved lines like ink drawn by an unseen hand.
Brother Caldus
The builders marked several routes here. The corruption has touched each one, but not with equal strength.
Tomas keeps close to Iven, one hand steadying the freed guide whenever the stair narrows. Behind them, Brother Caldus watches the sealed shaft fade into darkness.
Iven Marr
There should be a junction below. The eastern passage carried the burden, but the others may lead toward places it only tested.
Maurice Headsman
Then no one separates. We inspect the junction together, and retreat if the stone begins speaking with a dead voice.
The steps open onto a buried junction. Three passages branch beneath a low arch, each bearing hooked mason marks and faint black traces converging toward the deepest dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the outbreak's path threatens the village
“I inspect each branch for signs pointing toward the eastern source.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -1)
Celia raises the sanctified staff and examines each branch without crossing its threshold. Pale light reveals dust patterns, scraped stone, and residue gathered along the carved marks.
The western passage bears old hauling grooves and scattered grit, but no recent disturbance. The middle route carries a faint black stain that ends at a collapsed masonry niche.
At the eastern branch, hooked symbols continue beneath the dust in a deliberate sequence. Fresh residue points inward, while a thin draft carries the mineral cold of deeper stone.
Celia Graves
The eastern passage holds the active trail; the other routes were only tested.
Iven Marr
That is the burden's path. It passed this junction and kept east, toward the buried places beneath the hills.
Brother Caldus
The signs agree. The eastern marks are newer, and the residue has settled according to movement, not decay.
Maurice Headsman
Then we know which passage bears the sourceward trail. Stay together, and keep the staff ready.
“I follow the eastern passage with everyone together”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
The party enters the eastern passage together. Celia leads beneath the hooked marks, her sanctified staff casting pale light over dust and black residue.
Maurice brings up the rear, broad shoulders nearly filling the passage, while Tomas keeps Iven steady and Elianor’s lampglass holds a golden path between them.
Brother Caldus
The marks deepen, but they do not answer us. Keep moving while the trail remains quiet.
They pass beneath a low lintel and reach a long buried gallery. Mason pillars stand intact on either side, their bases circled by faded warding signs.
Iven Marr
This is farther than I came. The burden went beyond here, toward the inner works beneath the hills.
The eastern trail ends at a tall sealed stone door set into the gallery’s far wall. Its hooked symbol is dark and unbroken, while a narrow stair descends beside it into silence.
Maurice Headsman
We are together, and we have reached the sourceward threshold. No one crosses that door without Celia’s command.
“I dispell the seals and open the door to the source”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +0)
Celia plants the sanctified staff before the sealed door. Pale radiance spreads through the hooked symbol, finding every hidden seal beneath the dust.
The seals unravel without a sound. Black residue lifts from the carvings in thin strands, then burns away as the staff’s light passes through stone.
Maurice Headsman
Hold formation. Whatever waits beyond, it cannot reach the living without crossing us.
The tall door opens inward, revealing a vast chamber beneath the hills. A descending stair surrounds a sunken basin where a dark root pulses beneath clear, motionless water.
Brother Caldus
The sourceward chamber. The seals were keeping its presence contained, not hiding an empty passage.
Cold air rolls through the gallery, carrying no voice and stirring no dust. The hooked marks along the threshold fade, leaving the way open and the source fully revealed.
Elianor Vale
The darkness is quiet. It knows we are here, but it has not touched anyone.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the revealed source threatens the village
Quest Complete
Reach and investigate the eastern source of the undead outbreak
Skill Upgrade: Survival Good→Great
− Scene Quest Removed
Determine whether the outbreak's path threatens the village
“I meditate to sense the nature of the source”
SUCCESS (Legendary Undead Sensing, rolled -1)
Celia lowers herself at the threshold and rests both hands upon the sanctified staff. The chamber’s cold recedes as her breathing settles into stillness.
Her senses pass through clear water, stone, and the pulsing dark root. Beneath its living fibers lies no corpse, but an ancient severed growth drawing death into itself.
Celia Graves
The root is alive, but the darkness feeding through it is not its nature.
The meditation reveals the source plainly: a living subterranean root has become a conduit, carrying accumulated death from distant buried channels toward the basin.
Brother Caldus
Then the basin is not the source itself. It is a vessel, and the root is the path by which the corruption enters.
A faint pulse travels through the water, answering Celia’s awareness. The hostile presence is woven into the root’s channels, parasitic rather than born from them.
Maurice Headsman
You have its nature now. Tell us what must be protected before we touch anything in this chamber.
“I trace the root’s channels toward the village”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +0)
Celia guides her awareness along the root’s living fibers, following each darkened channel away from the basin. The path divides beneath the stone, then gathers toward the west.
The channels pass through buried earth and old watercourses, carrying death away from the chamber. Their convergence forms a clear route beneath the hills, toward the village.
Celia Graves
The root carried the corruption toward the village before it reached the basin.
Brother Caldus
Then the village was not merely touched by the curse. It stood along the root’s first receiving path.
A final branch reveals several weakened offshoots beneath familiar foundations: the manor, the roadside shrine, and older dwellings beyond them. None still carries an active pulse.
Maurice Headsman
We have the direction and the places it reached. We can return without disturbing this chamber.
Elianor Vale
If those channels are quiet, the village may be safe for now. We should make certain the living remain so.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the revealed source threatens the village
Skill Upgrade: Survival Great→Superb