The side door opens into an abandoned waystation. Blue witchlight reveals a stone bench, a dry cistern, and faded wall diagrams that echo the packet's route marks.
Alleria
Sit a moment. Your palm is healed, but river grime has a way of becoming trouble if we ignore it.
Alleria settles opposite L'Sara and cleans the already closed scrape with a damp cloth, then places the black-bound packet between them. Its binding feels strangely warm beneath the witchlight.
Alleria
The crowned serpent repeats here, but the inland mark has changed. See the fork? One route follows the old river road, while the other disappears beneath the hills.
The iron key rests beside the packet. Its teeth match a tiny diagram near the cistern, while a second symbol has been scraped nearly away from the wall.
Alleria
If this waystation was abandoned, someone still kept the diagrams current. That means the route is not merely old history.
A faint step sounds beyond the sealed entrance, followed by another. Dust sifts from the lintel as someone pauses outside, listening in the dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify whoever is listening outside
“I press my ear to the sealed entrance and listen for movement.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -2)
L'Sara presses her ear to the sealed entrance. Stone chills her cheek as the waystation falls quiet, while Alleria remains motionless beside the packet.
L'Sara T'Lvanni
One person is standing just beyond the door, listening rather than passing by.
Through the stone, L'Sara catches a careful shift of weight, the faint brush of cloth, and a restrained breath. The listener is alone and close enough to hear movement within.
Alleria
You heard them clearly? Then they are waiting, not searching blindly.
L'Sara keeps her ear against the stone long enough to separate the quiet from the distant settling of the old waystation. The listening costs precious time, and the stranger gives no name or clue.
At last, the presence beyond the entrance shifts back half a pace. The movement confirms someone is deliberately monitoring the sealed door, though their purpose remains hidden.
“I open the entrance and confront the listener”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
L'Sara draws the iron plate inward and opens the sealed entrance. Blue witchlight spills across the threshold, revealing a lean young man in a weather-dark cloak, one hand lifted away from a short knife.
The stranger, his weather-dark cloak hanging over a close-fitted charcoal tunic and travel-worn trousers, with a pale scar at his jaw stands just beyond the waystation, narrow-faced and pale beneath damp black hair. He does not retreat; his eyes move from L'Sara to Alleria, then settle on the packet between them.
Deren
My name is Deren. I heard the key turn, and I came to learn whether its bearers understood what they had opened.
Alleria
You were listening at a sealed door. That is a poor beginning if you expect trust.
Deren lowers his raised hand, showing empty fingers, but keeps his body angled toward the dark passage behind him. The old diagrams seem to draw his attention as much as the packet does.
Deren
Trust is not what brought me here. The crowned serpent has watchers in Sanctuary, and your route marks have already been noticed.
Alleria
Then speak plainly. Who sent you, and what lies beneath the hills?
Quest Complete
Identify whoever is listening outside
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Great→Superb