The spring lies in a bowl of pale stone beneath the marked pass. Fir roots clutch its rim, while the crown-marked stones stand around the clear water like silent sentries.
As Mara brings the folded map near the stones, their edges shine with cold white light. The spring’s surface darkens, then reflects a distant mountain gate beneath moving banners.
The reflection widens: guarded roads wind below the peaks, and tiny figures pass beneath the gate. No sound crosses the basin, yet the image feels deliberate.
Mara
That is no simple reflection. The mountain is showing us its gate, its roads, and the banners beneath its peaks.
Mara
It may be a warning to turn back, or an invitation to approach correctly. Edran’s wardens want us to understand that the way is watched.
Mara keeps the map above the water without touching the shining stones. Oren moves to the basin’s outer rim, scanning the pass, the fir shadows, and every approach.
Oren Vale
The vision may be meant for us, but I will not assume we are alone. Someone could be watching from the heights.
✓ Quest Accepted
Interpret the mountain vision
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn how the mountain gatekeepers judge travelers
“Can the vision show us what Edran’s wardens demand?”
YES (Likely, rolled 42)
The white light gathers above the spring, and the reflected gate draws nearer. Three hooded wardens appear beneath its banners, each carrying a staff crowned with black stone.
Symbols kindle across the gate: an open hand, a sheathed blade, and a seed pressed into a circle of mountain ash. The images hold steady, clear enough to read as deliberate terms.
Mara
There. They demand welcome without seizure, restraint without cowardice, and proof that whoever enters will preserve what the mountain shelters.
The vision changes. A traveler approaches the gate alone, lays down a drawn sword, and offers a small bundle of seeds. The wardens open the way, but only after the traveler bows.
Oren Vale
Then Edran’s wardens demand peaceful intent made visible. They will test whether we seek passage, plunder, or dominion.
Mara
He has given us the terms before we reach him. That is mercy, if we are wise enough to heed it.
The symbols fade, leaving the distant gate reflected in ordinary water. The meaning remains plain: Edran’s wardens will admit those who arrive respectfully, keep weapons sheathed, and protect the mountain’s living stores.
“I keep my daggers sheathed and approach the gate”
SUCCESS (Fair Diplomacy, rolled +4)
Runty leaves both daggers sheathed and approaches the reflected gate with empty hands visible. His orcish form draws wary attention, making his peaceful intent harder to read, but he advances without reaching for steel.
Passwise Judgment reads the symbols as a road-law rather than a challenge: welcome offered, weapons restrained, mountain stores protected. Runty keeps his pace measured and bows when the vision’s traveler does.
The three wardens step from the reflected gate into the shining air, hooded and staff-bearing, their black stones dark against the white light. Mara falls silent; Oren lowers his lantern.
Edran's wardens
You approach without seizure, and your blades remain sheathed. The mountain recognizes restraint. Enter beneath the banners.
The gate opens in the vision, then opens upon the pass itself. Beyond it lies a sheltered road descending into the mountain, untouched by hunters and marked with fresh blue-white waystones.
Mara
They have accepted you, little traveler. And they have shown us a road the hunters cannot easily find.
Oren Vale
Then we pass quietly, with gratitude. Keep your daggers sheathed, Runty, and let the mountain judge us by what we preserve.
Quest Complete
Interpret the mountain vision
Quest Complete
Learn how the mountain gatekeepers judge travelers