Renee slips through the rear service door with the cloth-wrapped tablet beneath her cloak. Mara follows close behind, while Tomas waits last, watching the hall until the latch settles without complaint.
The concealed streambed receives them beneath the thorn hedge. Damp stones mute their steps, and the wardens’ house vanishes behind tangled growth as the first gray light gathers.
Tomas
The circuit begins at the eastern marker, passes the chapel, then reaches this house. The keeper checks each point before dawn, likely using the shorter approach cords.
Tomas draws the route in wet grit with a twig, marking the house, the hidden ditch, and a bend leading north. His reconstruction leaves one branch unexplained.
Mara
There is another marker. Fresh stake, fresh cut. It points beyond the hedge toward that outbuilding, and I have never seen it named in the records.
A narrow stake rises beside the streambed, its pale wood recently shaved and stamped with the same three hooked strokes as the witness seal. Beyond it, a roofline shows between bare branches.
Tomas
Then my circuit is incomplete. We can question the pattern here, follow the marked path, or wait until the keeper arrives and learn who maintains that building.
“I inspect the marked path and outbuilding”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -3)
Renee follows the marked path beneath the hedge, testing each stone before shifting her weight. The fresh cuts point directly to the outbuilding, whose low timber walls and moss-dark roof emerge beyond the branches.
She finds the path is deliberately maintained: pale stakes mark turns, short cords guide distances, and scraped bark identifies the streambed approach. A snapped twig reveals someone used it recently.
Renee
The outbuilding belongs to the same inspection circuit, but it is not named in the older records.
At the outbuilding, Renee discovers an unlatched side door and enters a cramped shed containing spare stakes, measuring cords, lamp oil, and a plank table covered with fresh route notes.
The newest note lists the eastern marker, chapel, wardens’ house, and this shed as a revised circuit. A final line assigns the shed to concealment and emergency access.
While examining the notes, Renee steps on a loose floorboard. It cracks loudly beneath her boot, and a small iron cup rolls across the boards before she catches it.
Mara
That sound will carry. We have the missing branch, but the keeper may now know this shed has been entered.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Tomas to account for the shed’s omission
+ New Item Acquired
Iron cup
“I ask Tomas why the shed was omitted from his circuit.”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Renee
Tomas, why was this shed omitted from your circuit?
Tomas
Because it was not part of the wardens’ circuit when I served it. The shed was added afterward, for concealment and emergency access.
Tomas crouches beside the fresh notes, keeping his voice low. He traces the newer ink without touching it, then points to the altered route marks.
Tomas
Someone revised the old system after my departure. They hid this branch from the formal records, likely because supplies and escape routes were being kept from the wardens.
Mara
Then the omission was deliberate, not clerical. The cracked board has told whoever listens that we found the hidden branch.
Outside, a faint answer comes from beyond the hedge: one short knock against wood, followed by silence. Tomas folds the route notes shut and returns them exactly.
Tomas
We have the reason, and the cost is paid. This shed belongs to a newer keeper’s network, and they now know the branch is no longer secret.
Quest Complete
Get Tomas to account for the shed’s omission