A young adult elf man, with ash-pale skin, angular features, and cropped black hair emerges from the thorn passage, lean beneath a torn charcoal cloak heavy with leaves. Ash-grey bindings circle his wrists, and a pale scar cuts across his jaw.
He stops at the hollow's edge, boots digging into the soil as an unseen force pulls him toward the black seam. His shoulders shake with the effort of resisting it.
The Ash-Bound Stranger
Do not let it draw you closer. It has already learned the shape of this refuge.
The stranger kneels and presses a blood-dark token into the roots. The soil clenches around it, and the seam shivers without widening.
The Ash-Bound Stranger
It is not coming to hunt Alyce alone. It means to claim every refuge that still shelters living magic.
Alyce
Who are you, and how do you know what this place is protecting?
The token sinks another finger's breadth into the roots. Beyond the seam, something presses back, and the hollow's leaves turn toward it as though listening.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn how to defend the hidden glade