The bandit captain straps a sword over his weathered green coat and gathers two villagers beside the watchpost gate. Beyond them, a muddy track disappears into rain-dark woods.
The Bandit Captain
Defending this land means finding whoever abandoned the watchposts. We follow the track and learn what drove them away.
The two villagers take up packs and lanterns, joining the bandit captain near the path. The remaining villagers stay within the tower yard, sorting grain and securing the brazier.
The Elderly Villager
No. The map is missing the piece that explains why this road was left behind.
The elderly villager plants herself in the gate, her brown shawl stirring in the wet wind. She does not touch a weapon, yet none of the waiting villagers moves past her.
The Bandit Captain
Then we find that missing piece as well. The others remain here. They will hold the tower until we return.
The bandit captain waits at the edge of the woods with the two villagers beside him, leaving the gateway guarded by the elderly villager and the remaining villagers. Rain whispers through the branches as the path opens before Rand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn why the watchpost was abandoned
✓ Quest Accepted
Find whoever abandoned the watchposts
“For now, I follow the lead of the bandit dude and go with him into the forest.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
Rand follows the bandit captain into the forest, keeping pace as the muddy track narrows beneath rain-heavy branches. Two villagers trail close behind with packs and hooded lanterns.
The Bandit Captain
Stay near. These woods conceal more than weather, and I want every pair of eyes watching the trail.
The party passes under dripping firs. Water darkens the bandit captain's coat and beads on the villagers' packs, while the watchpost fades behind curtains of gray rain.
Rand
The trail is old, but recently used.
Ahead, the track bends around a moss-covered standing stone. Freshly broken branches mark the bend, and shallow bootprints press through the mud toward deeper shadow.
The Bandit Captain
There. Someone came through after the last rain. We follow, carefully.
The bandit captain leads the group around the stone and farther beneath the trees. Rand enters the forest fully, with the trail and its recent signs clear before him.
undefined / undefined
The fresh bootprints abruptly fill with clear water, though no stream crosses the track. Beneath the mud, something answers with a slow, resonant bell.
The Bandit Captain
Stop. Do not step across those marks.
The two villagers halt behind him, n1 a young woman with a slim build, freckled face, dark braid, and rust-red wool cloak, lanterns trembling in their hands. Water rises from every footprint and threads together around the moss-covered standing stone.
Villager 1
Captain, the stone is turning.
A narrow seam opens down the stone's center, revealing a depthless blue glow. The rain stops within a few paces of it, hanging motionless in the air.
The Bandit Captain
Back toward the track. Slowly. Whatever made those prints knows we are here.
From beyond the standing stone comes the faint scrape of boots on stone, followed by a second bell deeper in the forest. The blue seam widens by a finger's breadth.
Director's note
imobalize whatever comes out of the store in bonds of air
Director's note
sword fight whatever comes out of the stone
“Observe, then or whichever seems most likely to work.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +3)
Rand studies the stone, the water-filled prints, and the suspended rain. The bell answers from below, but the blue seam is a doorway, not a crack: its glow reveals a dry passage beyond.
Rand
The prints were made from the other side.
The seam opens wide enough for a tall, hooded figure to step through. It is an adult man, lean and marked by a pale scar beneath one eye, with ash-pale skin, a narrow face, and layered blue-gray mail beneath a soaked black cloak; a bronze bell hangs at his throat.
Air coils around the bell-bearer before his boots fully clear the stone, binding his arms and legs in invisible bands. He jerks once, held upright and motionless, while the blue passage remains open behind him.
The Bandit Captain
Hold the line. Rand has him.
The bell-bearer strains against the air and draws a short, hooked sword with one freed hand. Rand's heron-marked blade clears its scabbard, and he steps into precise measure before the captive can cut toward the villagers.
Rand's first stroke knocks the hooked sword from the bell-bearer's hand and pins its point against the standing stone. The captive's cloak falls open, revealing a ring of dry footprints leading through the passage to a lit watchtower beyond.
“I severely question the bell bearer at sword point about who he is, what he's doing, and the portal and what's beyond it. Then I lead a defense against the wolves that show up and start attacking using my bow.”
SUCCESS (Good Ranged Combat, rolled +3)
Rand
Who are you? What are you doing here, and what lies beyond that portal? Answer plainly.
Serren Vale
Serren Vale. I keep the old crossings. Beyond this one stands a watchtower under siege, and the wolves follow its scent. The bells called them.
The captive's eyes flick toward the lit tower beyond the passage. At his admission, the bronze bell at his throat gives one muted note, and six wolves burst from the trees behind the party.
The Bandit Captain
Wolves! The villager on the left, take the left. The villager on the right, protect the lanterns. Stay behind Rand!
Rand summons a silver-white bow and looses in one fluid motion. The first arrow drops the lead wolf; the next two strike the creatures flanking it, breaking their charge before they reach the villagers.
The remaining wolves wheel toward the bell-bearer, but Rand's arrows drive them back into the rain. The bandit captain rallies the villagers as the pack retreats, leaving the path clear to the portal.
Serren Vale
You have defended both sides of the crossing. The tower's ward-key is beneath its brazier. Take it, and the old watchposts can answer one another again.
“Ask Vale at sword point imposing my will about exactly who and why they abandoned the old watch post that we were at a minute ago. Then after figuring out this information have the bandit leader secure the watch tower that's beyond the portal, and you head straight to where the people are that abandoned the first watch tower using a portal. The villagers may descide where they want to go.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Serren Vale
The old watchpost was abandoned by Warden Halric Venn and six keepers. They fled when the bells revealed something beneath the foundations, then carried the ward-key toward the eastern ravine.
The air tightens around Serren's limbs as Rand's sword remains at his throat. The bell hangs silent, and the blue passage shows a tower yard under distant flashes of pale light.
The Bandit Captain
I will secure that tower and recover its ward-key. Villager on the left, take the right flank. Villager on the right, stay with the lanterns.
The bandit captain crosses through the portal with the two villagers. He spreads them through the tower yard, bars the gate, and sends one lantern up the stair while the brazier's darkness begins to stir.
Villager 1
We will hold here with the captain. Find the keepers before whatever drove them away reaches this tower.
The villagers choose the watchtower, while Serren remains bound beside the standing stone. Rand opens a second gateway, its far side revealing rain, wagon ruts, and a ravine road eastward.
Rand steps through toward the abandoned keepers' trail. Behind him, the gateway narrows to a silver line, leaving the bandit captain and the villagers to secure the besieged tower.
Quest Complete
Learn why the watchpost was abandoned
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb