By late afternoon, Sil’Thalis and Bren reach the abandoned wayhouse east of Phandelver. Its shutters hang crooked, and old road dust veils the threshold, but fresh boot marks lead inside.
The common room smells of ash and damp timber. Bren finds a loose plank beneath the hearthstones, revealing a storage pit where a wounded traveler hides among empty grain sacks.
The survivor is a middle-aged man with a gaunt build, weather-darkened skin, tangled brown hair, and a torn ochre cloak. One hand presses a blood-darkened bandage beneath his ribs.
the wounded traveler
Do not call out. Ilyra Voss left recently, before the light failed. She carried sealed papers toward the old road south.
His gaze jerks toward a blackened mark on the plaster, a branching stain that resembles burned ink. His breathing quickens, and his next words catch behind his teeth.
the wounded traveler
She asked questions first. Then the mark answered. Or she did. I cannot tell you which. I only know I followed, and something followed me.
Bren
We will not merge your fear with your testimony. Tell us what you witnessed, and leave the mark’s meaning uncertain unless you can prove it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish whether the survivor provides a reliable lead to Voss’s route
“I reach out with the weaveI inspect the blackened mark without touching it”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled +2)
Sil’Thalis reaches through the weave without touching the plaster. Magic threads across the blackened mark, reading its branching residue while ash stirs faintly around the stain.
The pattern resolves beneath his perception: not a living ward, but a copied witness-channel anchored to the wayhouse. Its branches gathered spoken names, then redirected them toward the old road south.
the wounded traveler
It was not there when I arrived. Voss pressed those sealed papers against the wall, and the mark spread after she questioned me.
The weave shows a second trace within the counterfeit, thinner and angular, bearing the same altered signature found in Dunmire. It records response, not consent, and points toward a concealed route beneath the road.
Bren
I will record the visible mark, your inspection, and the pattern’s resemblance to Dunmire’s counterfeit separately. The channel’s direction is evidence, not proof of Voss’s present location.
The blackened stain dims as Sil’Thalis withdraws the weave, leaving its southern orientation legible in his memory. The wounded traveler watches him, breathing carefully beneath the bandage.
the wounded traveler
There is an old milestone beyond the orchard road. Voss said the next answer waited beneath it, where no bell could hear.
Quest Complete
Establish whether the survivor provides a reliable lead to Voss’s route