Cold breath rolls through the abandoned copper mine. Shakazar Frambling steps over green-stained stones, staff in hand, spore kit rattling at his belt.
Ahead, a side tunnel flickers with lamplight. Frantic sobbing echoes off the ribs of wet rock, then the harsh scrape of wood dragged across stone.
A young pilgrim braces a splintered door with loose ore sacks and broken planks. Dust streaks her cheeks, and she keeps glancing at the black gap beyond it.
Sister Mael
Please, stay back, I cannot hold it much longer!
From the far side of the door comes a steady, clawing rhythm. Something alive tests the wood, patient and hungry.
Shakazar Frambling
The tunnel wall is damp, and the tracks here are fresh.
The pilgrim looks from Shakazar to the door, swallowing terror, then shouts over the scratching.
Sister Mael
Help me bar it, or tell me how to seal this thing away!
✓ Quest Accepted
Hold the barricade
“Shakazar howls in the language of a wolf sending a message of territory claim”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -2)
Shakazar lifts his chin and gives a low, rough howl in the wolf tongue. The mine answers with silence, then the scratching on the far side of the door stutters.
The pilgrim freezes with both hands on the planks, eyes wide, as if she feels the message before she understands it.
Sister Mael
By the saints... they know you mean it.
The clawing slows to a prowl, then drifts backward from the wood. Dust sifts down from the lintel, but the door stays shut.
Sister Mael
I thought I was dead when I heard them. You sound like the mountain itself is speaking.
Her shoulders loosen by a finger's width. She pushes one last ore sack into the gap and tests the barricade with a shaking palm.
Sister Mael
Stay with me a moment, please. If they come back, I do not want to be alone when the wood starts to crack.
“Takes some deer meet from a satchel. Then removes some ground dried up medicinal mushroom and mixes with the deer meet and slips it under the barricade”
SUCCESS (Superb Medicine, rolled +0)
Shakazar digs into his satchel and brings out a slab of deer meat, then crushes dried medicinal mushroom over it in his palm.
He kneads the mash together, the sharp scent of fungi and iron rising in the cold air.
Kneeling by the barricade, he slides the mixed offering into the narrow gap beneath the planks.
The pilgrim leans closer, watching his hands as the bait disappears into the dark under the door.
Sister Mael
If it draws them away from the wood, I will owe you my prayers.
For a breath, nothing moves. Then a low scrape answers from beyond the barrier, farther off this time, as if something has taken the scent and begun to circle.
The planks hold, but the tunnel stays tense and listening, waiting for the next sound from the dark.
Quest Complete
Hold the barricade
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb