After a little while, Mara returns with folded homespun clothes over one arm, a heel of bread, and a covered bowl balanced carefully in her hands. She keeps the pantry door nearly shut behind her.
Mara
There. Nothing fine, but clean. The bowl is broth, and the bread is still warm enough to pretend it came from a proper feast.
She places the food on the lowest clear shelf, then folds the clothes beside it. The pantry smells of flour, dried onion, and old wood, with only a narrow strip of common-room light beneath the door.
As you settle inside, faint warmth pulses through the floorboards. Flour sifts from the lowest shelf in a soft white veil, though nothing above it has moved.
Eliz
The warmth is coming from beneath the pantry.
Mara
That pantry is older than the rest of the inn. Older than the walls around it, if the stories are true. It has a ward in the floor, meant to keep harm from crossing the threshold.
Mara
I have felt it hum before, but never like this. The ward may be weakening. Eat first, traveler. Then tell me whether the warmth changes when you touch the floor, if you choose to look.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn whether the pantry ward is failing
“Is the failing ward reacting to my presence?”
YES (Likely, rolled 52)
The warmth answers before anything touches the floor. It gathers beneath the pantry in a slow pulse, brightening with each quiet breath, and the old boards tremble beneath the shelves.
Mara
Yes. It is reacting to you. Not resisting you, traveler. Recognizing you, or the magic carried in you.
A thin line of pale gold appears between two floorboards, then fades beneath the black robe's shadow. The flour settles, but the ward continues its troubled hum.
Mara
I have slept above that ward for years. It stirred for storms, once for a fever, but never for a person simply sitting nearby.
The pulse strengthens whenever the pantry door remains open toward the common room, as though the old protection is trying to hold its boundary around you. No pain follows, only heat and a faint pressure in the palms.
Mara
If it knows them, perhaps the ward knows what chased them too.
Mara
Whatever this means, it does not make you unwelcome here. Eat your broth. We can be careful with old magic without handing you back to anyone.
“I'd nod with a bit of ease scotting away from the wards spot in the pantry. "Thank you..." I spoke softly”
Eliz
Thank you...
You nod with a little ease and scoot away from the glowing seam, drawing your robe clear of the ward’s warmth. The trembling boards gradually grow still.
Mara
You are welcome, traveler. No need to thank me for bread, broth, or a safe corner.
Mara gathers the empty space around the food into order, setting the bowl within easy reach and leaving the folded clothes untouched beside it.
Mara
Rest now. The ward can wait, and so can every question that does not need answering tonight.
The pale line between the boards fades completely. Beyond the nearly closed door, the inn’s quiet sounds continue, ordinary and steady, while the pantry holds its gentle warmth.
“I watched the spot the ward resigned in and then stared at my palms where I felt the strange warmth”
SUCCESS (Poor Perception, rolled +1)
You keep your eyes on the place where the ward’s pale line vanished. The boards look ordinary again, but a faint warmth remains beneath the grain.
Then you turn your hands over beneath the pantry’s dim light. The warmth gathers in your palms, clearer now, following the old ritual markings without pain.
Eliz
The ward is reacting to the runes on my hands.
Thin golden traces glimmer beneath the skin for a breath, outlining the lines of your palms before sinking away. The floor gives one quiet answering hum.
Mara
You saw something, didn't you? Tell me only what you can, traveler. You needn't force an answer.
The warmth fades to a steady ember. Whatever the ward recognized, it has left no wound, and the folded clothes and untouched bread remain beside you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Tell Mara what the ward showed me
− Scene Quest Removed
Learn whether the pantry ward is failing
“I'd tell and show mara the ritual runes on my hands from the Cult of Ichwell and tell her how they reacted”
FAILURE (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled -3)
Eliz
These are the ritual runes the cult of Ishwell put on me. The ward reacted to them when the warmth gathered in my hands.
You hold your palms toward Mara beneath the pantry's dim light. The markings show plainly, and a faint golden trace stirs along one line before fading.
Mara
I believe you saw the ward answer. I do not know what those marks mean, though, and I cannot call that harmless merely because it did not hurt you.
Mara does not reach for your hands. Instead, she pulls the folded clothes and food farther from the glowing seam, her welcome tightening into careful distance.
Mara
Cover them for now, traveler. I will not send you away, but I will not let the ward open further while I do not understand what it recognizes.
The pantry door eases nearly shut between you and the common room. Beneath the boards, the warmth retreats to a dull ember, leaving your explanation heard but not believed enough to earn trust.
Quest Complete
Tell Mara what the ward showed me
“I stayed quietly in the pantry, eating the food that was given and putting on the new clothes given to me by Mara, seeing how they fit and rested on me. After a bit I'd lay down along the floor away from the ward and stared ambiently at the wall.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -1)
You draw the broth and bread closer from the shelf where Mara placed them, eating quietly before lifting the folded homespun clothes into the pantry's dim light.
The clothes fit loosely but securely over your slim frame. Changing beside the shelves makes your shoulder brush rough wood, leaving a stinging scrape across the skin.
You fold the black robe beneath the shelf, then lower yourself onto the floor well away from the ward. The boards are cool beneath the borrowed homespun.
Eliz
The cloth is softer than the robe.
You stare at the pantry wall, following the uneven grain while the broth settles warmly in your stomach. Beneath the floor, the ward stays dim and quiet.
Mara
Those clothes look warmer on you. Leave the robe where it is, if that helps you rest. I will bring water for the scrape.
Mara pauses outside the nearly closed door, then sets a small basin and clean cloth just inside without crossing the threshold. Her footsteps remain nearby in the common room.
+ New Item Acquired
Homespun clothes