The caravan trader leaves his wagons and handlers at Ashroot Waystation, then leads Teef along the ash road toward Cinderhook Ford. The shard rests hot in her hand.
By dusk, the road descends to a muddy riverbank where a half-abandoned camp sags beneath dripping canvas. Cold cookfires, overturned crates, and one tethered mule mark the silence.
the caravan trader
That is where the survivor camped. He was gray-haired, thin as a root, and twice as secretive. I found him gone at dawn.
The trader points toward the water. Clawed tracks gouge the mud between the tents, their edges sharp with freshness. Dark blood spatters reeds and stones beside them.
Teef
The shard burns hotter whenever it points downstream.
the caravan trader
Those tracks were not there when I bought the shard. Whatever took him came after, and it went toward the ford.
The shard pulses crimson through Teef’s fingers, tugging toward the river’s dark current. Downstream, something splashes once, then the reeds settle back into stillness.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find the gray-haired survivor
“Before trying to track down the survivor, Teef crushes the root shard in her hand.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled -2)
Teef closes her small fist around the root shard and crushes. Black grain snaps beneath her grip, breaking into ember-bright splinters and bitter ash.
The shard's heat punches through her palm before dying. Its splinters cut deep enough to draw blood, but the cursed remnant is destroyed in her hand.
Teef
The shard is broken. The root-heart cannot wake through it.
the caravan trader
By the ash-gods. You crushed it barehanded.
A sharp crack rolls across the riverbank, startling the tethered mule into a frantic pull. The animal jerks against its rope while dark ash spills between Teef's fingers.
the caravan trader
Quietly, champion. If the survivor left witnesses downstream, they heard that.
The caravan trader stares at the blood on Teef's palm, then toward the fresh claw tracks. With the shard gone, the river's pull feels ordinary, and the muddy trail remains the only lead.
“Teef follows the trail.”
SUCCESS (Great Survival, rolled -1)
Teef follows the clawed trail downstream, small boots biting into the wet bank. The caravan trader hurries behind, clutching his cloak against the river mist.
The tracks pass beneath leaning willows and over a shelf of black stone. Blood marks the reeds in a broken line, fresh enough to shine.
the caravan trader
There. The ford is just beyond those trees. I never came this far when I found the survivor's camp.
Teef follows the trail across the shallows. The water parts around her calves, revealing gouges in the riverbed where something heavy was dragged toward the far bank.
On the opposite shore, the trail ends at a toppled waystone half-swallowed by moss. Behind it lies the survivor, an elderly man with sallow skin, a weathered face, and a torn brown coat, gray-haired and thin, crumpled beneath the roots of an ash tree.
the caravan trader
Ash preserve us. He made it here, but not beyond it.
The corpse bears deep claw wounds, yet its clenched hand grips a strip of red cloth marked with a black root sigil. Beyond the body, larger tracks lead into the thornwood.
Identify the force behind the black root sigil
Quest Complete
Find the gray-haired survivor
Skill Upgrade: Survival Great→Superb