Rellian pulls Ambrose beneath the beeches as the fresh watercourse widens across the animal run. Muddy water swirls around their boots, carrying leaves and broken twigs toward the hollow.
Rellian Blackblade
The run is flooding. Through the alders, then beneath that fallen timber. Follow my path and do not stop.
He forces through a screen of alder, crouching beneath wet branches and guiding Ambrose toward a narrow gap between the fallen trunks. Behind them, voices sharpen above the ravine.
Eastern Assassins
They are below the roots. Close the hollow and watch both banks!
At the timber, Rellian stops. He points Ambrose toward the darker bank beyond the alders, then turns aside, stamping through shallow water where the trail divides.
Rellian Blackblade
Go. I will draw them toward the wrong bank. Reach the safer trees, and wait there only if the ground holds.
Rellian splashes west, making his passage plain as the assassins descend toward the watercourse. The alder screen closes around Ambrose, while the pursuit veers after the false trail.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach safer woodland
“is safer woodland”
YES (Likely, rolled 37)
Beyond the fallen timber, the darker bank rises into firm woodland. Beech roots knot the slope, and the spring runs clear beneath fern, leaving the ground sheltered from the flooding run.
Rellian Blackblade
There. The ground holds, and the water cannot reach those roots. The safer trees are close.
Rellian's false trail draws splashing pursuit westward. The Eastern Assassins pass beneath the alders without seeing the firm bank beyond them, their calls fading behind rain and timber.
Eastern Assassins
He is heading west! Keep after him and search the far bank!
The hollow settles into concealment again. Water roars through the animal run, while the beech roots and thick fern break every clear view from the ravine.
Rellian Blackblade
The trees will keep him hidden until the search moves on.
For the moment, the safer woodland is real refuge rather than a dead end. The pursuit follows Rellian's noise away, and the spring-fed hollow remains open beneath the beeches.