The island settles into insects, dripping reeds, and the distant thrashing of unseen marsh creatures. Naramu gathers the tablets onto a dry mat, glancing repeatedly at Valtún’s burned scars.
Naramu
Those wounds were made by more than marsh water. You have survived a sorcerer’s work, or something wearing one’s craft.
Samira kneels beside a ring of black stones and coaxes up a small smokeless fire. She sets strips of dried meat near it, then leaves the offering between herself and the towering lizard-woman.
Samira
Food. No chain, no bargain attached. Take it or leave it, stranger.
Naramu
We seek Ibram, the ruin-reader. He entered the old foundations three nights ago and did not return. The tablets say the marsh remembers a buried gate.
Samira
You came from that direction, and the hunters followed you. Did you see the ruins, or anything moving beneath them?
Blue firelight trembles across Samira’s veils. Naramu holds his cracked tablet close, waiting without lowering his eyes, while the offered meat cools on the mud.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find Ibram, the ruin-reader
“I stare almost confusingly at the offered meat for a moment longer than I should have. I cannot even remember the last time humans offered me something, let alone treated me with this level of courtesy. Without warning, my massive hand strikes out and snatches a handful of the morsels up off the ground. I wolf several pieces down my gullet at once. A pause. "I cannot recall seeing ruins, humans. I was moving... I was moving forward without paying attention to details." Another pause. "Perhaps... given your hospitality toward me, I will aid you in finding what you seek."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
Valtún stares at the meat as though its simple generosity were a riddle. Then her immense hand darts forward, snatching a fistful from the mud.
She wolfs several strips down at once, jaws working noisily. The pause afterward is long enough for the blue flame to crackle and Samira’s charms to chime.
Valtún Zalthiss
I cannot recall seeing ruins, humans. I was moving... I was moving forward without paying attention to details.
The words leave Valtún with an exposed hesitation she cannot quickly bury. Naramu’s gaze drops to his tablet, while Samira watches her without triumph.
Valtún Zalthiss
Perhaps... given your hospitality toward me, I will aid you in finding what you seek.
Samira
Then we have found the guide we needed. Naramu, show her the gate-mark. We leave when the fire dies.
Naramu unfolds the cracked tablet and turns it toward Valtún. Beneath faded kings and reeds, a black arch is carved into the clay, matching stones half-swallowed by the marsh.
“I stare at the tablet, analyzing it with a hint of the perception I used to have for observing relics. "The message appears clear. The gate is hidden in plain sight. The reeds will offer no guidance, only the marsh's location, which we are currently in, is the only clue the tablet provides. The gate is underwater."”
FAILURE (Terrible Reasoning, rolled +0)
Valtún Zalthiss
The message appears clear. The gate is hidden in plain sight. The reeds offer no guidance, only the marsh’s location, which we are currently in. The gate is underwater.
Valtún leans over the tablet, studying its faded cuts with the old instinct once reserved for relics. The marks swim together; her claw drags through wet clay and smears a line of reeds into mud.
Naramu
No. You have joined the sign to the water because the water surrounds us. The reeds are not decoration. They are the direction.
Naramu quickly draws the tablet back, shielding the remaining symbols beneath both hands. The smeared groove leaves the carved arch ambiguous, and the scholar’s mouth tightens.
Samira
Then the gate may be beneath the island, not beneath the marsh. We should search the roots and stones before entering the water.
Samira snuffs the small blue flame with two fingers. In the sudden gray light, the island’s black stones seem less like a ring and more like the broken crown of a buried arch.
Naramu
The tablet cannot tell us more now. Ibram entered through stone, if he entered at all. Help us lift the roots, and we may find his path.
✓ Quest Accepted
Uncover the buried gate
“I draw back my arm slowly and adjust back into my crouch. "Forgive me, humans. I once chartered a similar path as both of you, accompanied by familiars." A pause. "My skills of perception are not what they once were. Fear not, my mistake. We shall still accomplish our goal as intended."”
SUCCESS (Great Streetwise, rolled +1)
Valtún slowly draws back her arm and settles into her crouch. Mud slides from her claws as she lowers herself beside the black stones and the cracked tablet.
Valtún Zalthiss
Forgive me, humans. I once followed a similar path with familiars. My perception is not what it was.
Valtún Zalthiss
Fear not my mistake. We shall still accomplish our goal as intended.
The apology hangs plainly in the gray air. Naramu’s guarded shoulders ease, and Samira’s charms give a soft, approving chime.
Naramu
Then let the mistake be buried with the roots. Your strength will serve us better than certainty.
Samira
Good. We search together, and we trust what the island shows us. Begin at the stones beneath the eastern roots.
Samira points toward a tangle of pale roots gripping the island’s eastern edge. Naramu gathers the tablet and steps aside, leaving the buried arch’s first stones clear for Valtún’s hands.
“I turn toward the roots Samira points toward and crawl steadily to the pale roots she's identified. With my hands, I swipe twice at them to shatter the obstruction.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +0)
Valtún turns toward the eastern roots and crawls through wet silt, her immense bulk pressing reeds flat. Samira watches from beside the stones, one hand hovering near her charms.
She reaches the pale tangle and swipes once. Roots split with a harsh wooden crack, exposing black soil and the squared edge of buried stone.
Her second sweep tears through the remaining obstruction. The roots burst apart, mud cascading down the island’s side as a dark archway opens beneath them.
Naramu
By the old kings. There is the threshold. Ibram was right to trust the foundations.
Behind the broken roots, worn steps descend into a narrow passage. Cold air rises from below, carrying the smell of stone, stagnant water, and extinguished lamp oil.
Samira
You have opened his path, Valtún. Let us see whether the ruin remembers where it took him.
Quest Complete
Uncover the buried gate
Skill Upgrade: Streetwise Great→Superb