The nearer horn echoes through the abandoned stone shelter. Two boundary wardens duck beneath the dripping lintel, their green-and-ochre cloaks dark with rain. Genova stands with the secured pelt in her grasp, her palm marked with blood from the ancient carving.
Hadrik
There. The centaur has taken the deer after my arrow struck it. I claim the kill, and I demand judgment.
Genova
Your arrow struck beyond the claim. When the deer fled into centaur lands, your pursuit crossed the boundary, and your hunt and claim were forfeit.
Genova
Our teachings preserve the older law. Whoever recovers game upon our ground owns the kill, regardless of who first drew blood beyond the boundary.
Genova
The current agreement among the races forbids pursuing game across that boundary. He was trespassing to follow the deer, so the newer law confirms the ancient one.
The Elder Warden
The blood-marked stone speaks for the old law, but the agreement binds every people. The Younger Warden, read the boundary marks. If this human crossed after the deer, his claim may already be forfeit.
The Younger Warden
I will read them. But if the marks contradict the human's account, the wardens must decide whether this is trespass, unlawful pursuit, or both.
“Point out the rival's crossing tracks”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +2)
Genova angles her blood-marked hand toward the muddy threshold, then indicates the staggered bootprints cutting across the stone ring. Rain has softened their edges, but the crossing remains plain.
The Younger Warden
These prints enter from the forest side. The heel marks deepen after the boundary, where the hunter followed the wounded deer.
The Younger Warden kneels and brushes rainwater from a second line of impressions. One boot has slipped against the carved stone, leaving a fresh scrape through the moss.
Hadrik
I crossed only to recover what my arrow had already claimed. The tracks prove pursuit, not theft.
The Elder Warden
They prove you crossed after the deer. Whether that crossing was lawful is now the question before us.
The elder's staff lowers between the rival and the pelt. Outside, another horn answers from the rain-soaked forest, and the wardens turn toward the sound.
The Elder Warden
A second patrol is coming. Before they arrive, state whether you challenge the crossing itself, or only the claim that follows it.
“the law states that wardens are able to cross our lands to enforce the law and our agreement, the hunter is not a warden and his crossing puts the agreement in danger of being broken, you warden should be well aware of what could follow if that agreement is broken, and even then he is free to claim the meat and antlers, my tribe only needs the pelt for our young, i would have explained that to him had he not accused me of wrongdoing”
FAILURE (Good Willpower, rolled -2)
Genova
The agreement permits wardens to cross our lands, not hunters. His crossing endangers that agreement. He may take the meat and antlers, but the tribe needs the pelt for our young. I would have told him so if he had not accused me first.
Genova presents the division plainly, one hand toward the secured pelt and the other toward the rival's muddy tracks. Rain beads on the blood-marked palm.
Hadrik
A generous offer after taking the only proof that mattered. You admit my arrow struck first, yet call my recovery unlawful.
The Elder Warden
She admits the first strike, and the marks confirm it. That truth is not erased by your trespass.
The Younger Warden
If every hunter may cross after wounded game, the boundary becomes a suggestion.
The elder's staff shifts from the pelt toward the rival's bootprints. Genova's offer has not won agreement, but it has narrowed the dispute to the crossing and the danger it poses.
The Elder Warden
Human hunter, will you surrender the meat and antlers while we judge the trespass, or will you make this breach a test of the agreement itself?
✓ Quest Accepted
Have the wardens recognize the hunter’s trespass
“Genova has no quarrel with the wardens nor the hunter, she only wants the pelt, she is willing to allow the hunter to have the meat and antlers.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
The Elder Warden studies Genova's open palm, then the pelt, weighing her restraint against the rival's accusation.
The Elder Warden
You have not denied the first strike. You have denied that it grants him passage. That distinction matters.
Genova keeps the pelt secured and leaves the meat and antlers outside her claim, making the division plain without surrendering the tribe's prize.
Hadrik
You speak as though I crossed for sport. I followed an animal I had wounded.
The Younger Warden
And crossed after it entered their ground. Intent explains the trespass, but does not erase it.
The Elder Warden
The hunter's account remains true about the arrow. It is not true about his right to recover the kill here. His crossing is now the matter before us.
Hadrik
Then hear me as a person, not merely as a trespasser. My name is Hadrik. I will yield the meat and antlers, but I will not call my shot a lie.
The Elder Warden
No one has asked you to. Genova, will you accept that honest account while we mark the crossing unlawful?
Quest Complete
Have the wardens recognize the hunter’s trespass