The party rides hard along the river road, capital lights still hours distant. Hooves churn wet earth until a wounded wolf-bonded inquisitor stumbles from the dark and collapses across their path.
He is an adult man in pale, blood-stained armor, lean beneath a torn white cloak, with cropped dark hair and a silver wolf clasp hanging broken at his throat. One hand raises a sealed warning.
Ser Caelan Voss
Do not enter Oakhaven. The hearing is bait, and the ancient blood has already been marked.
Before anyone can question him, a star-wolf steps between the roadside trees, its pelt shimmering with cold points of light. Elena Dryad’Fang follows, a middle-aged elf woman in dark green leathers, silver-brown hair braided with bone charms, her poised face sharpened by a hunting scar.
Elena Dryad'Fang
Cregan. You brought him to the threshold they prepared. The corruption reaches beyond your House’s law.
Cregan reins in beside Raegar, while Fortis, Will, and Aiko form a wary line around the road. Behind them, the wounded inquisitor’s seal begins to glow beneath cracked wax.
Cregan Lycaon
Elena, tell us what hunts him. We have hours, not answers, before the capital closes its gates.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach Oakhaven
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what hunts Raegar
“I look towards my father and ask "Father is Elena my mother?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -1)
Raegar
Father, is Elena my mother?
Cregan’s reins go taut. The star-wolf watches him through the rain, while Elena stands motionless beneath the trees, her bone charms whispering in the wind.
Cregan Lycaon
Yes. Elena Dryad’Fang is your mother. I kept her name from you because the corruption hunting her would have followed it to you.
Elena steps from the roadside shadows into the pale wash of the clouded moon. The star-wolf lowers its head beside her, silver light rippling through its fur.
Elena Dryad'Fang
I am your mother, Raegar. I left you in Cregan’s protection while I crossed the Veil to track what was poisoning our bloodline.
Cregan Lycaon
Your maternal blood carries an older danger than House Lycaon understands. I guarded your name and sword while Elena hunted the source beyond the Veil.
Behind them, the inquisitor’s sealed warning flares brighter, casting wolf-shaped light across the road. Far ahead, Oakhaven’s bells begin to mark the hearing’s approach.
“I yell at the inquisitor "Stop! Why are you warning me about the trap if your just going to set up warning flares?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled -1)
Raegar
Stop! Why are you warning me about the trap if you're just going to set up warning flares?
Raegar’s shout cuts through the rain. The inquisitor flinches, and the silver wolf-clasp at his throat answers with a sharp pulse of pale light.
Ser Caelan Voss
I did not set the trap. The flares are a countermark, meant to show the corruption that I refused its command.
Ser Caelan Voss
They marked the hearing road with your ancient blood. I triggered the warning light so Elena could find you before the mark ripened.
The glow crawls across the cracked seal, revealing a dark thread wound through the wax. Elena’s star-wolf bares its teeth at the hidden stain.
Elena Dryad'Fang
He speaks truth. The flare exposes the mark, but it also announces that we have seen it. That is the cost of his warning.
Ser Caelan Voss
My order will know I betrayed the command. Take the seal, and show it to the House. It proves the hearing’s road was prepared against you.
Quest Complete
Learn what hunts Raegar
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Superb→Legendary
“we add the evidence to rest we have prepared. "we should get to cover and help out the inquisitor with his injuries."”
SUCCESS (Good Health, rolled -1)
Raegar
We should get to cover and help the inquisitor with his injuries.
Raegar gathers the glowing seal and the prepared evidence, then guides the party beneath a collapsed wayhouse roof. Rain and branches conceal them from the open road.
Fortis helps carry the wounded inquisitor inside while Will secures the forged claim, the blackened glove, and the countermark together in oiled cloth. Aiko watches the road through broken stone.
Ser Caelan Voss
The wound is shallow, but the corruption tightened when I crossed your trail. Keep the seal near the evidence, not against living skin.
Elena cleans and binds the inquisitor’s injured side with poultice and linen. Raegar helps hold the bandage firm, while the star-wolf’s silver light reveals the dark thread.
Elena Dryad'Fang
He will survive the ride. But the flare has cost us secrecy. Whoever marked this road now knows the evidence escaped their hands.
The party reaches cover with the inquisitor stabilized and every piece of evidence secured. The cost is clear: their hiding place is temporary, and Oakhaven’s watchers may already be searching.
+ New Item Acquired
Glowing countermark seal
“"Inquisitor what is your name and how do you and my mother know each other?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -1)
Raegar
Inquisitor, what is your name, and how do you and my mother know each other?
The wounded inquisitor rests against a broken beam as rain whispers over the collapsed roof. Elena finishes tying the bandage and watches him without lowering her hand from her knife.
Ser Caelan Voss
My name is Ser Caelan Voss. I served the Wolf Lantern, an inquisitorial order sworn to guard the Veil’s borders and expose corruption within them.
Elena Dryad'Fang
Caelan found me years ago, tracking the same corruption that poisoned the old groves. He could have reported me. Instead, he broke ranks and warned me.
Ser Caelan Voss
Your mother saved my life beyond the Veil. I returned the debt by hiding her trail from my superiors, then followed the corruption’s servants into Oakhaven.
The star-wolf lowers its muzzle beside Caelan’s shoulder. Its silver radiance catches the broken clasp at his throat, revealing a tiny fang-shaped mark beneath the wolf.
Ser Caelan Voss
Elena and I are allies, not servants of the same order. The mark on your blood is the reason I abandoned mine, and the reason I came to find you.