The grove ends at a black line of broken stone. Beyond it, the Stratoa borderlands breathe ozone and iron, and the dark shimmer in Tenda’s arm answers with a sting. Grugna stands on the path ahead, handaxes low, eyes fixed on the bruise of ki under his skin.
Grugna
Tenda. Tell me why the Warlord’s mark is crawling through your arm.
Tenda Wildheart
I’m asking the same thing. We follow the source of this corruption, now.
Grugna steps closer, not lowering her axes, but angling her body between Tenda and the border. Behind him, Zero shifts his grip and Rex growls at the wind. Daisy watches the shimmer with alarm, already ready to help.
Grugna
Good. Then listen. That stain is not fading, it is being fed. I tracked it here to a ridge crack ahead, where men in war paint were dragging something that bled black ki.
Tenda Wildheart
The corruption is active, and it leads straight into the border.
A pulse rolls through Tenda’s forearm, sharp enough to make the moss shiver. Grugna sees it and tightens her jaw, as if the answer is worse than the question.
Grugna
If you carry that mark into the source, it may burn you open. If you turn back, it may spread.
The path ahead is clear, and poisoned. Grugna’s axes lift in a warning stance as the group stands one breath away from the border ridge.
✓ Quest Accepted
Win Grugna’s trust
“Come on sis. It's Me. You know I wont let anything dangerous happen. Join us. Meet my friends and join us as we solve this!”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -3)
Tenda Wildheart
Come on, sis. It’s me. You know I won’t let anything dangerous happen. Join us, meet my friends, and help us find the source.
Grugna
Sis, he says. You still talk like a shield first and a fool second.
Grugna
But he stands there anyway, blocking the bad path with that same stubborn honor.
Grugna
If I go with you, I am not babysitting bravado. I am calling the signs, and I take point when the ground lies.
The tension in her shoulders loosens by a hair. She lowers one axe, then the other, and steps off the border line to stand with the group.
Grugna
I join the hunt. But if that mark in your arm surges again, I want the truth, not pride.
A sharp sting threads through Tenda’s forearm as he speaks, and the smoke-dark shimmer under his skin flickers. Grugna catches the twitch, then nods once, already watching the ridge crack ahead.
Quest Complete
Reach the Stratoa borderlands
Quest Complete
Win Grugna’s trust
“Tenda introduces Daisy, Rex, and Zero to his Sister Grugna.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Tenda turns the introductions outward, easing the moment into something ordinary. He gestures first to Daisy, then to Zero, then to Rex, making each one a clear part of his circle.
Tenda Wildheart
This is Daisy. That’s Zero. And Rex stays close when things get ugly.
Daisy
Grugna, I’m glad you came with us. If Tenda is carrying trouble in his arm, I want to help however I can.
Zero
So you’re the sister he keeps talking about. Good. Anyone he trusts gets a proper look from me.
Rex steps forward, sniffs once at Grugna’s boots, and settles beside Tenda with a low, approving huff.
Grugna
A healer, a blade, and a wolf. Hm. Better company than I expected from his stories.
Grugna
If they travel with him, they will need a steady hand. Maybe more than one.
Grugna hooks her thumbs under her axe belts and looks from face to face, then back to Tenda’s marked forearm. Her expression softens, but her eyes stay sharp.
“They all walk together deeper into stratoa ready to take on whatever lies ahead........”
SUCCESS (Good Health, rolled +0)
They move off the border stone together, four sets of feet and one wolf track threading into the Stratoa road. The ozone bite hangs in the air, and Tenda’s forearm gives a faint, smoky pulse under his skin.
Tenda Wildheart
Stay close. If the trail speaks, we all hear it.
Zero falls in on one side with a loose, ready stride, while Daisy keeps to the other, eyes on the shifting light across Tenda’s arm. Rex pads ahead, nose low, then glances back as if measuring the path for the group.
Grugna
Good. We travel as one line, then. The ridge crack is west of here, past the burned stones.
Grugna leads without hesitation, axe handles resting easy against her belts. The party crosses fully into the borderlands, and the broken boundary stone slips behind them.
Daisy
The shimmer is stronger in open ground.
Ahead, a dark notch cuts the distant ridge, and a thin thread of dust lifts from it as if something beneath the earth has just shifted. Grugna slows and raises two fingers for silence.