Five years have passed since the forest road. Alerie and Garran enter Grimwood’s old graveyard side by side, their steps falling together with the ease of long practice.
Their partnership has become a quiet legend among those who still hire witchers. Now married, they move like a single careful thought beneath the dead trees.
Harlan waits beside a freshly opened grave, his crooked lantern hanging from one hand. The new headstone bears Alerie and Garran’s names beneath a date that has not yet come.
Harlan
I did not carve it. I swear that by every grave entrusted to me.
Before noon, the bell tower rings once. The sound rolls over Grimwood without warning, stirring mist between the crooked stones and sending birds whispering from the bare branches.
Garran
The date is still ahead of us. That means the grave is not a memorial.
Harlan
No. It is an invitation, or a warning. Which of you will look beneath the stone first?
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what the grave’s inscription means
“"That date is much further ahead than I think I'd like to live..." *She mutters crouching down to look at the engravings.* "They didnt even give me your last name whoever made it, rude of them really." *She grumbled before looking down the hole.* "Illusion magic, I can smell it, its shallower than it looks."”
SUCCESS (Fair Perception, rolled +0)
Alerie
That date is much further ahead than I think I'd like to live...
Alerie crouches beside the open grave, her golden eyes tracing the damp engravings. She mutters about the missing surname, then leans over the hole.
Alerie
They didn't even give me your last name, whoever made it. Rude of them, really.
Alerie
Illusion magic. I can smell it. It's shallower than it looks.
Her senses pierce the false depth. Beneath the apparent shaft lies a narrow stone-lined chamber, its darkness folded upward by illusion; a second inscription waits below the headstone.
The magic snaps against her senses like bitter smoke, leaving blood warming one nostril and a sharp ache behind her eyes. The illusion nevertheless falls clear.
Garran
Then the grave has given us its truth. Harlan, step back. Alerie has found the name beneath the lie.
Quest Complete
Reach Grimwood
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Fair→Good
“*Alerie closed a hand over her nose quickly as the world began to tilt.* "Garran." *She mumbled before tumbling into a heap beside the grave.*”
FAILURE (Fair Health, rolled -3)
Alerie
Garran.
Alerie closes her hand over her nose as the graveyard tilts around her. Her knees give way, and she tumbles into a heap beside the open grave.
Garran
Alerie.
Garran catches her shoulder before her head strikes the stone rim, lowering her carefully onto the damp earth. Her breathing remains steady, but she does not answer.
Harlan
The blood opened something. Look beneath the stone.
As Garran checks Alerie’s pulse, the false grave shudders. The hidden inscription brightens, and the narrow chamber below exhales a cold breath that carries the toll of a bell.
Garran
She is alive. But the grave has taken her measure, and the illusion is closing around the name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Alerie from being claimed by the grave
“*Alerie twitched softly just once, before a gurgling sound came from the back of her throat, blood was pooling at the back of her throat, she was choking.*”
SUCCESS (Fair Health, rolled +1)
Alerie twitches once. Blood gathers at the back of her throat, and a wet gurgle catches there as her body struggles for breath.
Garran rolls her carefully onto her side and supports her jaw. She chokes hard, coughing the blood free onto the damp earth, though the effort leaves her throat raw.
Garran
There. Breathe, Alerie. Slowly. The blood is out.
Her breathing steadies into harsh, shallow pulls. A thin red smear remains at her lips, and each swallow brings a sharp rasp, but her airway is clear.
Harlan
The grave heard her struggle. The inscription is dimming, but the chamber below has not closed.
Garran wipes the blood from Alerie’s mouth with a strip torn from his sleeve, then keeps one hand braced beneath her shoulder while the hidden stone exhales again.
Garran
The grave measured her, marked her, and nearly made her swallow its answer. I will not let it take another breath.
“"We.." *She coughed spitting out blood onto the dirt.* "We need to stop this." *She winced as she tried to stand but rose anyways.* "I don't want to die."”
SUCCESS (Fair Health, rolled -1)
Alerie
We need to stop this. I don't want to die.
Alerie coughs, spitting blood onto the dirt, then plants one hand against the grave’s stone rim and forces herself upright. The effort leaves her throat raw and her breath ragged.
Garran
Then you will not face it alone. Lean on me, and do not spend more strength than the grave demands.
Garran steadies her by the shoulder. Beneath them, the hidden inscription flares in response to her standing, exposing a narrow seam beneath the headstone.
Harlan
There. It answered her resolve. The stone is open to the marked one, but the cost is already written in blood.
Alerie
The chamber is still beneath us.
A cold draft rises through the seam, carrying the muted toll of a buried bell. Garran draws his blade, while Harlan lifts his crooked lantern toward the revealed darkness.
“*Alerie slowly shuffled around the grave and towards the steps below before beginning to make her way down with garran. She looked pale, moreso than normal, her actions all laced with the flinching a twitching of being in severe pain. She shouldn't be doing this but she was.*”
FAILURE (Fair Health, rolled -2)
Alerie shuffles around the grave’s rim, one hand dragging along the cold stone. Her face has gone unusually pale, and each step comes with a sharp twitch of pain.
Alerie
The stairs are closer than the chamber is deep.
She reaches the revealed steps and starts down with Garran beside her. The first two hold, but the third gives beneath her weight, dropping her hard against the stone wall.
Garran
Stop. Do not force another step. The grave is not merely measuring you, it is taking your pain as permission.
Garran catches her before she slides farther. Below, the stairwell narrows into darkness, while a pale thread of light leaks from a side passage behind the loosened stones.
Harlan
That passage was hidden by the false depth. It leads beneath the headstone, but it bears no blood-mark. Perhaps the grave cannot claim you there.
The descent is blocked for now, but the side passage stands open, revealing worn steps that angle beneath the graveyard instead of toward the bell’s toll.
“"Heal me then, Please, Garran I don't want to die." *She said holding onto the wall.* "We're supposed to Visit tovin and Mira, see how they're doing, I want to at least do that."”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +3)
Alerie
Heal me, please, Garran. I don't want to die. We're supposed to visit Tovin and Mira, and I want to at least do that.
Garran
You will. Hold to the wall and let me work. This passage bears no claim, so the grave cannot take payment from you here.
Garran sheathes his blade and presses two fingers beneath Alerie’s jaw, checking her breath. A pale Sign gathers over his hand, warm and steady against her throat.
The magic eases the rasp in her breathing and settles the pain in her chest. Color returns to her face, while the blood-mark beneath the headstone fades to a dull ember.
Harlan
The unmarked passage reaches the old rootway. From there, a forest track leads toward the cabin where Mira was sheltered, then onward to Veyrfen.
Garran
We visit them first. Tovin will know we kept our word, and Mira will remain under protection. Afterward, we return with clearer breath and a safer route beneath this graveyard.
Garran offers his arm, and the three enter the pale-lit passage. Behind them, the false grave seals shut, leaving the hidden inscription visible only to Alerie’s keen eyes.