Vaelor brings you up to the upper level at an unhurried pace and settles you against the bed’s pillows, keeping water within reach before stepping back.
The room remains quiet, though movement stirs below. Arven leaves the covered entry and rises to the upper window, folding his broad wings beside the frame.
Arven
I have been watching the spring path. Someone, or something, has circled the lodge boundary twice without approaching.
Vaelor
Did it leave a trail, a scent, or any sign that it understood the lodge was occupied?
Arven
Only disturbed needles and pauses where the watcher stopped to listen. It has not threatened anyone, and I saw no weapon or clear shape.
Below, the two mountain lion cubs shift beneath the hall bench, answering a faint sound outside with a brief, uncertain chirp. Vaelor glances toward the stairs, then back to you.
Vaelor
We can alter the spring routine, keep the cubs nearer the lodge, or post watches without turning your care into a fortress. How much watchfulness do you want?
“thank you arven”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
umbralia
Thank you, Arven. I’m grateful you noticed and warned us.
Arven lowers his broad wings and dips his head from the upper window. The tension in his watchful posture eases beneath your direct appreciation.
Arven
You are welcome. I will keep watch without turning your home into a prison.
His answer settles warmly between you. Arven remains at the window, alert but no longer rigid, while the quiet room returns its attention to your recovery.
Vaelor
That is exactly the balance we need. Thank you, Arven.
Vaelor adjusts the water within your reach, then settles nearby. Above him, Arven keeps the spring path in sight without making the lodge feel watched from every wall.
“leave me, both of you, I need some space to think”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
umbralia
Leave me, both of you. I need some space to think.
Vaelor
Of course, love. I will be downstairs if you need water, help, or simply someone to listen.
Vaelor gives you room at once, backing through the doorway without argument. He leaves the water within reach and closes the door only partway.
Arven
Understood. I will watch from the outer roofline, far enough away that this room remains yours.
Arven folds his broad wings and slips from the upper window to the roof beyond it. His talons make one quiet tap, then disappear into the stillness.
The room settles around you. No voice presses through the doorway, no footsteps linger on the stairs, and the spring path remains only a distant memory.
umbralia
The silence is mine for as long as I need it.
“does an enemy network know where I live?”
YES, BUT (Even, rolled 47)
The silence holds until a faint scrape sounds at the partly closed door. Beneath it, a narrow black thread slides across the floor, tied to a tiny copper token marked with the Ashen Eye.
umbralia
They know where I live, and someone reached the upper hall without being seen.
The token bears a fresh smear of lodge dust and a single redwood needle, proving the watcher crossed the boundary and reached this door. The warning is not a rumor; the network has mapped your home.
Arven
Umbra, I saw no one approach the upper window. Whoever left that mark came by a route I did not cover.
From the roofline, Arven’s talons tap once, then fall silent. The concrete cost arrives with the answer: the watcher has learned a blind approach to the lodge, and your private room is no longer beyond their reach.
Vaelor
I heard Arven. I will stay downstairs unless you call, love, but the household needs to know that someone crossed our boundary.
No footsteps follow Vaelor’s words. The door remains partly open, the token lies where it fell, and the lodge’s quiet now carries the clear knowledge that its location is compromised.
“I ask Arven where the blind approach lies”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +1)
umbralia
Arven, where is the blind approach?
Arven
Along the north side, Umbra. A dry streambed runs beneath the redwoods, then disappears behind the old root wall below the upper hall.
Arven leaves the roofline and circles once above the lodge, tracing the route with his broad wing before landing beyond the north window.
Arven
The root wall masks anyone approaching from the streambed. From there, a narrow servants’ stair reaches the upper hall behind the linen cupboard.
The route becomes clear: water-worn stones lead beneath a curtain of roots to a concealed stair, entirely outside the sightlines Arven has been guarding.
Arven
I will mark the root wall from above, then watch that approach instead. No one will reach this door unseen again.
Arven folds his wings and turns toward the northern trees, leaving you with the exact route and a clear understanding of how the token reached your door.
Quest Complete
Learn whether an enemy network knows where Umbralia lives
Skill Upgrade: Intimidation Mediocre→Fair