The wardens lead Genova and Hadrik through thorn-choked pines to a weathered shrine, where three boundary stones meet beneath a sky the color of old iron.
Fresh red clay smears one ancient symbol. Beside it, boot prints and narrow tool impressions scar the damp earth, all leading toward the human lands.
The Younger Warden
That sign appears in the human account. It marks a claim witnessed by blood, not a hunter's passage.
Hadrik
I have never seen it. Someone pressed that clay here after the deer fell, hoping to turn a lawful crossing into deceit.
The Elder Warden
Then the ground will judge between you. Genova, examine the tracks and the tool marks. If this sign was planted, your proof of Hadrik's trespass may be part of a larger false account.
The impressions sharpen the dispute. One set of boot prints belongs to Hadrik, but a second, lighter trail circles the shrine and vanishes beyond the stones. Whoever marked the symbol may have forged the human version of events.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the shrine mark was deliberately forged
“I follow the lighter trail beyond the stones, watching for disturbed earth. when i find it i take out some paper and writing feather from one of my pouches and draw the scene out as evidence, i then place a large stick vertical by the disturbed earth with some stones around it and head back to the wardens, I respectfully ask that this not take too long as i am needed back at my tribe soon and i have already wasted too much daylight dealing with this human hunters claim.”
SUCCESS (Superb Survival, rolled +1)
Genova follows the lighter trail beyond the stones, reading bent needles, pressed moss, and grains of damp soil disturbed in a careful circle.
The trail ends at a shallow scrape beneath thorn roots. Its edges are fresh, and a narrow tool groove cuts across the older boot marks.
She draws the shrine, the trail, and the altered earth on paper with her writing feather, preserving each mark before the weather can erase it.
A tall stick rises beside the scrape, ringed with stones as a witness marker. The deliberate groove and the late-pressed clay now form one clear trail of deception.
When Genova returns to the shrine, the wardens bend over her drawing while Hadrik watches from beyond the stones, his claim stripped of its convenient mystery.
Genova
I am needed back at my tribe soon. Let this take no longer than necessary. The evidence is here.
The Elder Warden
Then the human account is false in its making, even where Hadrik spoke truth about the arrow. The mark was planted after the crossing.
The Younger Warden
The tool groove passes through the boot trail, and the clay sits above the disturbed soil. We must decide who brought the tool here.
Identify who forged the shrine mark
Quest Complete
Prove the human’s version of events wrong
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great
Quest Complete
Determine whether the shrine mark was deliberately forged