Three days later, the household reaches Hearthhollow, where red-stone cliffs cradle a valley of wind-bent ash trees, terraced fields, and smoke rising from round, low dwellings.
The treaty seals open the guarded gate without challenge. Sava, Theon, Krae, and Veyra begin examining shelters near the spring, speaking quietly over roofs, walls, and winter stores.
A middle-aged beastfolk woman steps from the gatehouse, tall and broad-shouldered, with russet fur, swept-back ears, a white muzzle, and a dark green cloak pinned with red stone.
the Hearthhollow matron
I am Marra, keeper of Hearthhollow’s welcome. Willowmere’s seals grant you entry, shelter, and protection beneath the old compact.
the Hearthhollow matron
They do not decide what place you take among us. That is learned through shared work, witnessed conduct, and the trust of those who will call you neighbor.
Marra gestures toward a broad gathering court cut into the valley floor. Beastfolk pause beside ovens, workshops, and garden walls, watching with guarded curiosity rather than hostility.
the Hearthhollow matron
Raedwulf, the residents will hear you there. Speak of what you seek, what you can offer, and what life you mean to claim in Hearthhollow.
✓ Quest Accepted
Earn Hearthhollow’s welcome
✓ Quest Accepted
Build a life in Hearthhollow
Director's note
I step into the gathering court and introduce myself. And tell them what work I can offer.
Director's note
I offer my skills as a ranger and hunter
Director's notewhole tale
After my speech, I let Sava, Theon, Krae, and Veyra say there parts
Raedwulf steps into Hearthhollow’s gathering court beneath the red cliffs. Wind moves through the ash trees as residents gather around ovens, garden walls, and the central well.
Raedwulf
I am Raedwulf. I come with Sava, Theon, Krae, and Veyra beneath Willowmere’s treaty protection. I seek a life freely chosen, and I offer honest work in return.
Raedwulf
I am a ranger and hunter. I can patrol your borders, track threats, guard travelers, hunt game, and help keep your roads safe.
Sava
I am Sava. I can keep a household, tend stores, and teach what I know of the roads and the people who travel them.
Theon
I work with wood and pack animals. Give me a roof to repair or a trail to clear, and I will make myself useful.
Krae
I can haul, build, and stand watch. I ask only that our work and conduct be judged fairly.
Veyra
I know old roads and warded paths. I can guide travelers, tend boundaries, and help Hearthhollow remain difficult to surprise.
“Does crowd agree with our offers?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 58)
For a moment, only the well rope creaks. Then several residents nod, and murmurs of agreement pass from the ovens to the garden walls.
the Hearthhollow matron
Your offers are useful, and your household has spoken plainly. Hearthhollow will judge you by shared work, not by the blood that drove you here.
A broad-shouldered badgerfolk elder steps forward from the crowd, his gray-brown fur silvered at the muzzle. He studies Raedwulf with guarded, practical eyes.
Dorran
I agree to shelter and work, but not to blind trust. Our border stores have been raided twice this month. Patrol the eastern ridge before winter, and let your conduct answer for you.
the Hearthhollow matron
So it shall be. The household receives shelter, rations, and standing beneath the compact. In return, the first month’s stores will be drawn from the common reserve.
The agreement earns a steadier murmur, though several residents glance toward the grain sheds. Hearthhollow can receive them, but the cost is concrete: its winter reserve loses one month of grain.
the Hearthhollow matron
Welcome, Raedwulf, Sava, Theon, Krae, and Veyra. At dawn, we begin learning whether your promises can become neighbors’ safety.
Director's note
I ask for names of the maton and elder bagerfolk
Raedwulf
Before we begin at dawn, may I know the names of the matron and the elder who spoke for Hearthhollow?
the Hearthhollow matron
I am Marra, keeper of Hearthhollow’s welcome. You have already heard my name, though formal introductions matter here.
Dorran
And I am Dorran, keeper of the eastern ridge and grain stores. I speak plainly because winter punishes courtesy without preparation.
Marra inclines her head, while Dorran plants his staff beside the well. Around them, residents resume their work, listening without pretending not to listen.
the Hearthhollow matron
At dawn, Dorran will show you the eastern ridge. Marra will arrange shelter and the first ration allotment for your household.
Dorran
Bring back knowledge, not boasts. If the raiders left tracks, find them. If they left none, learn why.
The gathering loosens into purposeful motion. Hearthhollow has offered no effortless welcome, but its terms are clear, lawful, and open to proof.
Director's notewhole tale
I help Marra organize our shelter. Once everythingis settled. I speak to Sava, Theon, Krae and Veyra
Before sunrise, Hearthhollow’s eastern gate opens onto frost-stiff grass and red stone. Dorran leads with his staff, while Marra remains behind to settle the household’s shelter and ration allotment.
Dorran
The raids began at the grain terraces. We found broken latches, missing sacks, and one set of tracks descending toward the ashwood ravine.
He points toward the ridge. Thin snow lies undisturbed across the upper path, but below, windblown soil shows several deep impressions near a collapsed boundary marker.
Dorran
That marker stood upright yesterday. The raiders knew where our ward-stones ended, or someone showed them.
From the terrace, a young wolfkin woman in a russet scarf calls that the eastern storehouse has been checked. No resident is missing, but another latch hangs open.
Dorran
There is your first test, Raedwulf. Track the intruders, learn whether they are desperate thieves or organized scouts, and return before nightfall.
The broken marker casts a short shadow over the trail. Beyond it, the ashwood ravine descends into mist, carrying faint scents of wet earth, grain dust, and unfamiliar fur.
“Can raedwulf pick up her scent of the wolfkin female?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 43)
The wind shifts across the broken marker, carrying the scent of russet fur, damp wool, and grain dust from the young wolfkin woman above the terrace. Her trail is distinct beneath the ravine’s wet earth.
Raedwulf
Her scent reaches the marker, then turns downslope toward the ashwood ravine.
The impressions below are not the only trail. Smaller disturbances thread beside them through the frost, where someone approached from the storehouse and crossed toward the collapsed ward-stone.
Dorran
You have her trail. The young wolfkin checked the storehouse before calling to us, but she did not descend into the ravine.
Dorran lowers his staff toward the overlapping marks. The scent remains strongest near the boundary, mingling with unfamiliar fur and the sharp odor of disturbed grain.
Dorran
That means the open latch may not belong to the raiders. Someone from Hearthhollow came here first, and may have seen where the strangers went.
Above them, the young wolfkin woman pauses beside the terrace wall, scarf bright against the pale morning. She looks toward the ravine, then raises one hand in warning before speaking.
“Did a Hearthhollow resident see the strangers?”
YES (Likely, rolled 35)
young wolfkin woman
I saw them. Three figures came through the ashwood ravine before dawn, carrying sacks and moving beneath the ward-stones.
The young wolfkin woman descends from the terrace, her russet scarf pulled tight against the wind. Frost clings to her dark boots, and her wary gaze stays on Dorran.
Dorran
You saw strangers and raised no alarm. Why?
young wolfkin woman
I was checking the storehouse. They stopped when I called, then vanished below the marker. I thought they were watching me.
Dorran’s grip tightens around his staff. The witness confirms the broken marker was part of the strangers’ route, and that they knew the ward boundary before entering the ravine.
young wolfkin woman
One carried a red cord around his wrist. Another limped. The third looked back toward Hearthhollow, as if waiting for someone inside.
Dorran
Then these were not desperate thieves. Someone may have guided them to our stores, and the eastern ridge is no longer secure.
“I ask Dorran. Who here in Hearthhollow has ties to the outside world to?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Raedwulf
Dorran, who in Hearthhollow has ties to the outside world? Traders, messengers, anyone who might guide strangers to the ward-stones.
Dorran
Three households deal regularly beyond the valley. The salt traders know the western roads, the smith’s family visits Elarin Vale, and the gatewarden receives travelers.
Dorran turns from the ravine toward Hearthhollow, weighing each connection against the broken marker and the strangers’ knowledge of the ward boundary.
Dorran
Mirael, the gatewarden, is the first to question. She records every visitor. Tovan the smith sends ironwork east, and Orra’s salt caravans reach the treaty roads.
Dorran
None are accused. Their ties are practical, not treacherous, but one of them may know who has been asking about our stores or eastern wards.
The young wolfkin woman lowers her scarf and glances toward the gate, while frost lifts in pale curls from the ravine below.
Dorran
Begin with Mirael. She will know who entered Hearthhollow before dawn, and her ledger can tell us which outside ties matter.
Director's notewhole tale
I head over to Mirael first
Dorran leads Raedwulf back toward Hearthhollow’s gate, while the young wolfkin woman follows at a cautious distance. Frost glitters along the terraces as the valley wakes.
Mirael, a middle-aged foxfolk woman with russet-gold fur, a white throat, and a weathered blue cloak, broad-shouldered with a square muzzle and dark eyes, stands beneath the gate arch beside a carved visitor’s ledger.
Dorran
Mirael, Raedwulf is investigating the eastern raid. He needs your visitor records and any word carried in from beyond the valley.
Mirael
Then he may read them. Three travelers entered before dawn: a salt-caravan guard, a peddler from Elarin Vale, and a cloaked guide claiming kinship with Orra’s household.
Mirael opens the ledger beneath the gate’s shadow. The first two names bear ordinary marks, but the cloaked guide’s entry is written in a hurried hand and lacks a household seal.
Mirael
He knew the eastern terraces without asking directions. He also carried red cord around his wrist, though he entered alone and left by the ashwood path.
Dorran
That matches the witness. Orra’s caravan returns at midday. Until then, the unsigned entry is our strongest thread.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the Hearthhollow resident who guided the raiders
− Scene Quest Removed
Earn Hearthhollow’s welcome
“I ask Mirael what the cloaked guide said before leaving by the ashwood path.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Raedwulf
What did the cloaked guide say before leaving by the ashwood path?
Mirael rests one clawed hand on the open ledger, eyes narrowing as she recalls the exchange beneath the gate arch. The morning wind stirs her blue cloak.
Mirael
He asked whether the eastern stores still drew their winter grain from the common reserve, and whether Dorran inspected the ward-stones himself.
Mirael
When I asked why a traveler cared about our stores, he said he carried a warning from the ashwood pass. He claimed raiders were coming.
Mirael turns a ledger page and taps a blank margin beside the unsigned entry. Her expression grows guarded, but her account is precise.
Mirael
Then he asked whether Hearthhollow welcomed outsiders without questioning their past. I told him our gate records every name. He smiled, thanked me, and left toward the ravine.
Dorran
That was no warning. He was measuring our stores, our defenses, and the limits of our welcome.
Director's notewhole tale
Me and Dorran, go to the smith Tovan
Dorran closes Mirael’s ledger and leads Raedwulf across the waking court toward the smithy. The gatewarden watches them go, one claw resting over the unsigned entry.
Dorran
Tovan’s forge opens onto the eastern lane. If the guide used Orra’s name, the smith may know whether strangers asked about ward-iron or repaired tools.
Tovan, a middle-aged badgerfolk man, with a broad muzzle and dark eyes, stands broad and soot-darkened beside his open forge, with black-and-gray fur, a leather apron, and one chipped iron tusk.
Tovan
Dorran. I see the ridge has given you another question. If this concerns the eastern raid, ask plainly and keep your accusations outside my workshop.
Dorran
Three strangers entered through the ashwood path. One wore red cord and knew our ward boundary. Did anyone seek ironwork, directions, or news of the stores?
Tovan sets down his hammer. Behind him, newly repaired hinges and ward-stone brackets hang from the rafters, their surfaces marked with fresh reddish dust.
Tovan
A cloaked guide came before dawn asking for a boundary hook. He carried his own, but wanted to know whether our eastern markers were iron-bound or merely carved stone.
Director's notewhole tale
Me and Dorran, go to the smith Tovan
Tovan
A boundary hook is ward-work, not ordinary iron. I told him our markers use both stone and metal, then asked who sent him. He claimed Orra’s name and left without buying anything.
Tovan points to a shallow red smear on the forge floor. Beside it lies a curled shaving of iron, stamped with a three-pronged maker’s mark unfamiliar to Dorran.
Dorran
That is not Hearthhollow iron. Could the guide have carried a replacement piece, or was he testing whether our ward-stones had been tampered with?
Tovan lifts the shaving with iron tongs and turns it beneath the forge glow. A faint residue clings to its edge, glittering like ground red crystal.
Tovan
This was cut recently. The mark belongs to a smithy beyond Elarin Vale, not to Orra’s caravan. Whoever made it knows treaty-border fittings.
Dorran
Then we question Orra when she returns, but we do not wait for her. Raedwulf, inspect the eastern marker with Tovan. If that fragment came from it, we may still catch the breach.
Beyond the forge, a bell sounds once from the eastern gate. Mirael raises her voice, calling that Orra’s salt caravan has reached the valley road.