Beatrix Galveston climbs into the cramped passage, quarterstaff ready. Red light pulses through cracks in the foundation stones.
Fresh footprints cross the damp dust, small and familiar, their edges shining faintly as though touched by rift-light. They lead toward the old road beneath Grim Port.
The Ramadi Scout
They passed recently. The trail is not an echo.
The Isoptera Diplomat
The passage is still connected to the tears. If your siblings went deeper, the rift may have carried them toward the ruins.
A low tremor rolls through the tunnel. Ahead, the footprints split around a fallen arch, but only one trail bears fresh dust disturbed from above.
The Ramadi Scout
That way. Something crossed from the surface, and it left the passage open.
Beyond the arch, a narrow red seam flickers in the darkness. Through it, Beatrix Galveston glimpses broken roadstones and the blackened outskirts of Grim Port. The sibling trail enters the seam.
✓ Quest Accepted
Stabilize the collapsing red seam
“Did my siblings pass through the red seam?”
NO, AND WORSE (VeryLikely, rolled 99)
Beatrix Galveston leans closer to the seam, but the glowing footprints abruptly terminate at the threshold, fading into nothingness before they can cross the barrier.
The Ramadi Scout
They did not pass through. The rift is a dead end, and the trail has been severed by the instability.
Beatrix Galveston
The footprints stop here, and the seam is already beginning to warp and collapse inward.
“Search the immediate area for any sign of where they went.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +3)
Beatrix Galveston searches the narrow ledges and broken stones beside the seam, tracing the air where the footprints vanished.
Therefore, beneath a dusting of red grit, she finds a second trail: shallow handprints pressed into the wall, leading away from the threshold.
Beatrix Galveston
The marks continue beyond the seam.
The Ramadi Scout
These are fresh. Someone climbed along the wall instead of crossing the rift.
But the search reveals more than a trace. Behind a loosened stone, a cramped side passage opens, its floor bearing a torn strip of familiar cloth.
The Isoptera Diplomat
The red seam is folding inward. The side passage is stable for now, but we must choose quickly. Do we follow the marks, or withdraw before the opening closes?
“I follow the handprints into the side passage”
SUCCESS (Good Survival, rolled +1)
Beatrix Galveston slips into the side passage, keeping her quarterstaff close as the cramped stone brushes her shoulders.
The handprints continue beneath the red grit, each shallow mark guiding her deeper beyond the seam's reach.
The Ramadi Scout
The trail is clear. They came this way.
Therefore, the passage opens into a low chamber where the marks gather around a blackened, red-etched wood splinter wedged in the floor.
The Isoptera Diplomat
The seam cannot follow us here. But its collapse is pulling the threshold shut.
Behind Beatrix, red light folds through the narrowing gap. Ahead, the handprints turn toward a descending stair, leaving the next choice plainly before her.