Dawn spills pale gold across the western hills as Nova Male Man, Lethiel, Bram, and Dagna Stonehand leave the guild road behind. Frost glitters on the heather.
Lethiel guides them without a map, matching each remembered moon phase to wind-carved stones. The trail bends where the new moon turn should be, then climbs toward a narrow ravine.
Lethiel
The stones agree with memory. Keep to the shadowed side, and do not disturb the cairns. Someone arranged them to conceal the true path.
At the ravine mouth, thorn bushes veil several chisel marks cut into the rock. Their covered faces bear the three-thorned eye, dulled beneath a careful layer of clay.
Dagna Stonehand
These marks were hidden after they were carved. Not old work, either. The clay remains soft beneath the dust.
Fresh boot prints cross the gravel and vanish beneath the ravine's overhang. Bram kneels beside them, measuring their depth while Lethiel scans the ridgeline.
Bram
At least two travelers, carrying weight. They passed recently, and they knew enough to avoid the open road. We should assume they know this route.
“I examine the carving”
SUCCESS (Fair Perception, rolled +3)
Nova Male Man brushes loose dust from the nearest carving, examining the three-thorned eye, its chisel strokes, and the clay packed into its grooves.
Nova Male Man
The clay is newer than the carving, and the hidden cuts form a direction.
Beneath the softened clay, the marks resolve into three hooked lines pointing beneath the overhang. A narrow seam opens in the ravine wall, concealed as ordinary stone.
Dagna Stonehand
Excellent eyes. That is a way-marker, not a warning. The covenant carvers used hooked lines to indicate a service passage.
Nova Male Man clears the final smear from the lowest symbol. The stone answers with a muted click, and a concealed slab shifts inward, revealing descending steps lit by a faint green glow.
Lethiel
You have found the true entrance before we committed ourselves to the ravine. I can carry this alignment forward and guide us without a map.
Bram
The prints lead toward those steps. At least now we know where the travelers went, and we can choose whether to follow.
✓ Quest Accepted
Ensure the party can safely descend into the service passage
“Lets go”
Nova Male Man steps through the concealed entrance. Lethiel follows close behind, while Bram and Dagna Stonehand descend after them, leaving the ravine's pale daylight above.
The stair runs beneath the overhang in a steady angle, its walls marked by faded hooked lines. Green witchlight glows from shallow niches without heat or smoke.
Lethiel
The alignment continues downward. Three hooked marks, then a turning stone. Whoever made this passage expected travelers to follow the route exactly.
Dagna Stonehand
And expected them to recognize service masonry. No grand gate, no ceremonial threshold. This was built for workers carrying ledgers, tools, and sealed records.
The steps end at a low corridor where old drainage channels divide the floor. A row of painted marks points left, each repeating the three-thorned eye beneath layers of dust.
Bram
The travelers went left. Their prints continue clearly, and the passage is dry. We can follow without forcing any door or disturbing the walls.
Lethiel
Then left it is. Keep the green lamps to our right, and we will reach the ledger-house's outer records hall before the passage divides again.
Quest Complete
Ensure the party can safely descend into the service passage