The festival hum fades to a low murmur as the Elder With Lantern approaches Tenda Wildheart again, grave-eyed and trembling. In his palm lies the broken wax seal pulled from the council steps, its scarlet crest cracked clean through.
The Elder With Lantern
I should have told you sooner. This seal is not just a soldier's mark. It opens what my family hid in the village archives.
He turns the shard over, revealing a sliver of folded vellum tucked inside the wax seam, thin as bark skin. The villagers drift farther back, sensing the weight of old shame.
The Elder With Lantern
I served his father once, and I watched the bargain rot the village from the inside. If I keep hiding now, I become that same man again.
The Elder With Lantern
My father and the Warlord's father used this code for supply routes and secret stores. The archives keep the missing fragment. It points to his primary base.
He bows his head, then looks up with sudden resolve, lantern light catching the wet shine in his eyes. Beside Tenda, Daisy straightens, Zero's hand drifts toward his blade, and Rex lowers his nose to the seal like a tracker catching a fresh scent.
The Elder With Lantern
Come with me now. If we read this together, we can find where he is truly hidden.
✓ Quest Accepted
Read the hidden map fragment with the Elder With Lantern
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the Warlord's primary base
“I nod to the Elder and follow him toward the village archives.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Tenda gives the elder a single nod and falls into step beside him. The broken seal shifts into the elder's robe as they leave the square, while the festival music thins behind them into a distant murmur.
Zero peels off to flank the route, watchful and silent. Daisy lingers a half pace behind Tenda, eyes on the dark lanes between stalls, while Rex pads ahead with his nose low to the stones.
The Elder With Lantern
If there are spies left in the village, this path cannot be walked carelessly.
The elder leads them through a side arch and into the archives, where cool lamplight replaces festival warmth. Dust, cedar shelves, and rolled maps crowd the narrow room.
He lays the shard of vellum beside a larger ledger sheet and presses both flat with shaking fingers. The markings line up, a hidden route unfolding across the paper like a wound opening cleanly.
The Elder With Lantern
There. The fragment fits. This points past the ridge storehouses, to the Warlord's primary base.
Outside, the enemy horn sounds again, muffled but unmistakable. The elder's face tightens, and everyone in the archive turns toward the door at once.
Quest Complete
Read the hidden map fragment with the Elder With Lantern