Warm gold settles into the palisade stones, filling each split with steady radiance. Xarsthos remains at the boundary, his burned arm throbbing in time with the ward.
Bera hurries from the village square, breath clouding in the cool air. Behind her, frightened survivors gather at a cautious distance, watching the repaired wall.
Bera
You held it. The ward is quiet now, but your arm still carries its rhythm.
Kaelen follows through the breach, carrying a bundle of old boundary stakes. Their wood is blackened with age, each one carved with names worn nearly smooth.
Kaelen
These were kept beneath the elder hall. Forgotten guardians used them when Oakhaven was first marked, before the village had walls.
Across the churned ground, the Hooded Figure watches without approaching. The ward answers his silence with a faint pulse, traveling from stone to stone around the village.
The Hooded Figure
A boundary may endure through one guardian, or through many hands joined in a shared rite. The choice will shape what Oakhaven becomes.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish a shared covenant that sustains Oakhaven’s ward