The blue channels flare. The unreadable mark beneath the altar splits the floor, opening a narrow stair into darkness where faint golden light pulses like a distant heartbeat.
The Cloaked Traveler
That pattern is a map-sign. The oldest powers beneath the river used it to mark roads no kingdom was meant to claim.
Stone grinds beneath the altar as the stair widens by a handspan. Golden pulses travel down its walls, revealing submerged carvings of crowned reeds and winding rivers.
The Cloaked Traveler
Edrin remains above, holding the tavern’s attention. He cannot follow us, and the sign below may punish any who descend without its leave.
The golden light beats again, stronger this time. Each pulse casts the stair’s lower darkness into a different shape, as though the passage itself is remembering a route.
The Cloaked Traveler
If this is truly a map, it leads toward something buried, not merely somewhere. We should read its next sign before choosing whether to descend.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover what power lies beneath the river
“I nod, and ask him if he was guided to this place as I study the carvings for the next sign.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -2)
Faralda nods and bends over the stair’s wall carvings. She follows the crowned reeds beneath the golden pulses, comparing their turns with the river-lines etched beside them.
Faralda
Were you guided to this place?
The next sign resolves beneath her attention: three crowned reeds point downward, then curve toward a broken circle marked below the river’s course. The carving identifies a buried road, not a destination.
The Cloaked Traveler
Not by any guide I could see. I followed a summons in dreams, always ending at this river and this sealed gate. I believed it meant to lead me alone.
Faralda finds the route’s entrance: a narrow stair branching beneath the altar, its first stones concealed by the shifting light. Reading it has cost her time, and the lowest symbols remain indistinct.
The Cloaked Traveler
You have found the way down. Yet the final mark still refuses us. Perhaps the road chooses what it reveals, and to whom.
The golden pulse fades to a steady glow, leaving the discovered branch visible. Beyond it, darkness waits beneath the riverbed, while the unreadable mark continues its slow tremor.
✓ Quest Accepted
Have the cloaked traveler commit to facing the buried power with Faralda
“I ask him if he will face this buried power alongside me”
FAILURE (Fair Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Faralda
Will you face this buried power alongside me?
The Cloaked Traveler
I will not descend beside you. The summons brought me here alone, and the road has made that boundary plain.
The golden light withdraws from his boots as he nears the stair, leaving the stones beneath him dark. The buried mark answers with a sharp tremor.
The Cloaked Traveler
But I will stand at the threshold and read what the road reveals. If it opens against you, I may find the handhold that frees you.
He places one hand against the altar’s edge, not touching the luminous channels. A concealed line brightens beneath his palm, curving toward a narrow side passage.
The Cloaked Traveler
There is another road here, hidden from the map-sign. It may let me guide you without crossing the boundary it set.
The side passage remains sealed, but a single rune has awakened within its stone. The stair downward waits before Faralda, while the traveler’s discovery offers a different way forward.
“I wish him luck and then descend the stairs to confront the buried power, remaining vigilant as I descend below.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +0)
Faralda
Luck to you. Read what you can, and keep the threshold safe.
The Cloaked Traveler
And to you, princess. If the buried power answers, give it no fear to use against you.
Faralda turns from the hidden side passage and descends the revealed stair. She tests each stone before trusting it, watching the walls, shadows, and faint currents of dust for any concealed movement.
Behind her, the traveler remains at the altar, his hand withdrawing as the side rune dims. The stair closes around Faralda’s silhouette, carrying her beneath the riverbed while golden pulses mark the way.
Faralda
The pulses come from below, but the stones around them are undisturbed.
The stair ends in a vast buried chamber. A dark, rootlike mass rises from the stone at its center, encircled by ancient river carvings, and turns its unseen attention toward Faralda.
The golden mark answers with a single deep flare. Faralda stands before the buried power at last, alert and unbowed, while the chamber’s silence gathers around her.