The party emerges from the marsh onto an ancient raised road. Broken stone markers lean among weeds, and abandoned caravan shelters gape beneath the western sun. Distant travelers move like dark beads along the route.
Ibram falters under Naramu’s support, his torn robe dragging through the dust. Naramu catches him before he falls, while Samira scans the old road and its weathered stones.
Naramu
The marsh has spared us only to test the road. Ibram cannot keep this pace without rest.
Samira kneels beside a fallen marker, brushing dust from a carved crescent crossed by three descending lines. The same design appears farther west, repeated along the causeway.
Samira
This is no road-builder’s ornament. It marks the old investigation’s western continuation. Whatever lies beneath the marsh was connected to a greater chain of ruins.
The smell of living travelers drifts downwind from the road. Valtún’s jaws part, saliva threading from her stained teeth, while her claws press furrows into the dust.
Ibram
The shelters may offer shade, but not safety. If those travelers see her hunger, they will scatter before we learn where the western markers lead.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure food for the expedition
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what lies beneath the western markers
“The smell is all too enticing. Since escaping the mercenaries, I have not eaten in over two weeks, save for the tiny morsels Samira first offered. I don't have the patience to carry on with an injured member, and if I can't reach the travelers, may offer to consume the elf instead.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intimidation, rolled +2)
Valtún rises to her full height beside the causeway, jaws open and claws lowered. Her shadow reaches across the road before she takes a single step toward the approaching travelers.
Distant Travelers
Food! Take the food, great one. Only let us pass alive.
The travelers halt as one, then kneel beside their bundled provisions. Their leader pushes forward salted meat, dried dates, and a waterskin with shaking hands.
Ibram
They understand the bargain. Take what they offer, Valtún, and the road remains open to us.
The smell of salt and fat cannot rival living flesh, but it is enough. The travelers remain frozen while Valtún gathers the food, leaving the elf untouched behind her.
Samira
Good. We can move before dusk, and no blood need mark this road.
The Distant Travelers retreat westward only after Valtún turns back toward the shelters. Their fear follows her like a banner, while Naramu settles Ibram into the shade.
Quest Complete
Secure food for the expedition
+ New Item Acquired
Salted Meat
+ New Item Acquired
Dried Dates
+ New Item Acquired
Waterskin
“I wolf down the salted meat and waterskin without a second's pause. In seconds, both are gone. I toss the dried dates toward Naramu and Ibram to consume if they wish, though do not present them as an immediate offering. The food I've received is but a snack. Still nowhere near enough to satiate a stomach accustomed to eating multiple men within the span of less than thirty minutes, but for now, for the sake of the others, it will have to do.”
Valtún tears through the salted meat and drains the waterskin without pause. The provisions vanish in seconds, leaving only a damp leather fold and grease shining across her jaws.
She flings the dried dates toward Naramu and Ibram in a loose arc. The fruit lands beside the shaded stones, available to them but offered without ceremony.
The hunger remains, vast and familiar, scarcely softened by the small meal. Valtún turns from the abandoned road toward the shelter, keeping the expedition ahead of her appetite.
Naramu
A modest mercy, after all. Ibram, take the dates before the dust claims them.
Naramu gathers the dates and places several into Ibram’s hand. The wounded elf eats slowly beneath the shelter, while the scholar studies the western crescent carved into the nearest marker.
Samira
The next marker stands beyond those shelters. If we reach it before dusk, its inscription may tell us which ruin the chain continues toward.
“As we proceed, eventually, down the path, while crawling on all fours at a steady pace with the group, I ask Ibram a question. "Elves are not common in these lands. Your kind belongs beyond the Roman empire, does it not? How is it you find yourself here?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Streetwise, rolled -2)
The party proceeds west along the ancient road. Valtún crawls steadily on all fours beside the shelter line, while Naramu supports Ibram through the dust and Samira follows beneath the hard sun.
Valtún Zalthiss
Elves are not common in these lands. Your kind belongs beyond the Roman empire, does it not? How is it you find yourself here?
Ibram keeps walking for several paces before answering. The delay costs the party time, and the western marker remains indistinct beyond the shelters as dust veils its inscription.
Ibram
You mistake the boundary. My people are scattered beyond the Roman sphere, yes, but I was born east of it, among caravan cities that no longer stand.
Ibram
I came here following inscriptions copied from those ruins. They described a chain of buried gates, and one fragment named this marsh as its first surviving link.
He taps the cracked tablet beneath his robe. His answer settles the question, though the missing caravan names and broken dates leave the wider route uncertain until the next marker can be read.
Naramu
Then our road is older than any empire’s claim. Keep moving, Ibram. The marker may preserve what your tablet lost.
Quest Complete
Leave the marsh with the expedition
Skill Upgrade: Streetwise Superb→Legendary