The bark-wrapped sample flares violet in Tuiwen’s hand, just as her starlit note rises again. The same sap-dark liquid they pried from the basin answers the light, not as residue, but as a gathered core of malice.
Tuiwen
A concentrated essence. Eldred hid this.
Shadows recoil at the song, thinning from the path edge, yet the hue in the sample only burns brighter. Light spills across Eldred’s cloak and catches on a second stain, a careful wrapping, a secret burden.
Eldred
No, wait. Tuiwen, I meant to keep it from the road. I meant to take it to Radagast.
His amber eyes widen, not at the retreating dark, but at the exposure of what he has been carrying all along. Fear strips the blood from his face, and his grip slips from the cloak’s edge.
Eldred
If she sees how much I kept... if this was ever noticed by Dol Guldur...
The violet sheen gutters along the bark and then steadies, revealing the sample’s true shape in full. Behind them, the forest remains unnaturally still, as if listening for the next move.
✓ Quest Accepted
Decide whether Eldred is a dangerous collector of the dark
“This is too much. She breaks into a sprint.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +4)
Tuiwen turns and runs. The violet flare snaps behind her as the path edge blurs into dark trunks and bent fern, and Eldred’s startled cry is left hanging in the still air.
She clears the first stretch of road in a heartbeat, the bark sample jostling once in her grip. The stained cloak and its secret burden remain behind, pinned in place by the witch-light.
Eldred
Tuiwen, stop. I was trying to take it to Radagast. I was not hiding it for Dol Guldur.
She does not stop. The words fall after her, but the forest ahead opens in a sudden seam of pale roots and moonlit mist, as if her flight has found a hidden way the others never saw.
The sample is still warm, and the violet light is drawing a straight line ahead.
Eldred
Wait. If you are going to judge me, at least hear this. I know the mark of binding spoor, and I know where it leads.
Behind her, the path remains clear but unreadable, while the sample’s glow steadies in her hand. Eldred is left exposed at the forest edge, and the opened seam in the trees beckons toward either answer or pursuit.
“She has to get to Radagast! There is no time for arguments. She keeps running.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)