Radagast’s chant sharpens, and the dark thread beneath Eldred’s forearm answers. It swells with sickly light, no longer hiding as flesh-burden, but as a live anchor sunk into Dol Guldur itself.
Eldred
So that is how it has followed me.
The illusion of Haldir flickers at the hedge, caught in the same pulse. Outside, the firs bow and groan, as if a distant eye opens among them.
Radagast the Brown
It is not merely on him. It is tied through him, a road for watching.
The glow races along the thread and into the sample in Radagast’s hand. Tuiwen sees the pattern at once, the forest trail, the stalking shadow, the false turns, all of it answering the same hidden tug.
Tuiwen
The White Council must hear this at once.
Haldir
Then the message is urgent beyond delay. If Dol Guldur can mark one traveler so, it can mark many.
The hedge holds, but only just. Somewhere beyond it, the woods lean inward, listening.
✓ Quest Accepted
Sever the Dol Guldur anchor in Eldred
“"Before we go anywhere, I must share with you my secret. I have no message for Isengard. That was a ruse to deceive the enemy and I am happy that it succeeded. My true mission is to scout Dol Guldur and learn whether the enemy has returned, after being defeated by the White Council. It is a very dangerous mission, and I would not blame you if you do not wish to come."”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Tuiwen
Before we go anywhere, I must share my secret. I have no message for Isengard. That was a ruse to deceive the enemy. My true mission is to scout Dol Guldur and learn whether the enemy has returned. It is dangerous, and I would not blame you if you do not come.
Eldred
His face goes still, then tightens with grim respect. "Then you have been walking into the dark on purpose. I can respect that, even if I hate it."
Radagast the Brown
Radagast lowers his hand from the chant, eyes sharpening on Tuiwen at once. "A clever deception, and a costly one. Yet if Dol Guldur stirs again, it must be named plainly."
Haldir
Haldir leans more fully against the hedge, relief easing into sober concern. "Then your road is wound with purpose, not duty alone. That is harder to bear, and harder to break."
Eldred
He looks from Tuiwen to the trembling thread, as if weighing her against the forest's verdict. "If the mark has been passing her name onward, then her lie may have bought us time."
Radagast the Brown
"It did more than that." Radagast turns the bark sample in its ring of light. "The thread is answering her now, not just him. It is speaking our place aloud to whatever listens in Dol Guldur."
Haldir
Haldir's gaze lifts toward the hedge, where the branches shiver as though a hand has passed over them. "Then we stand in the open together, and we choose what that means."
“"What it means for me is quite simple. My people can never live in peace so long as evil dwells in Dol Guldur."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Tuiwen lets the silence settle first, then lifts her chin toward the dark trees. Her voice is calm, but it lands like iron.
Tuiwen
What it means for me is simple. My people cannot live in peace while evil remains in Dol Guldur.
Radagast stills. The light around the bark sample shivers, and the ash in the circle stirs as if it remembers old fire.
Radagast the Brown
A hard truth, and a true one. You do not speak as a messenger now, but as one who sees the wound itself.
Eldred
Then we name it together. If that place is the root, no hedge or lie will save us by pretending otherwise.
Haldir
There is courage in saying it plainly. The forest hears such words, and so do the shadows.
The dark thread on Eldred’s arm flickers, then falls dim for a breath, not broken, but checked. Around them, the hedge quiets, as if waiting for what they choose next.
“"What you say is true, but the ruse has bought us some time, which we must not waste. Let us follow the path, wherever it leads us."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Tuiwen
What you say is true, but the ruse has bought us some time. We must not waste it. Let us follow the path, wherever it leads us.
The ash ring gives a small, brittle sigh as Radagast lowers his hands. The bark sample’s glow stays caged, but the dim thread on Eldred’s arm twitches once, like something listening from far away.
Radagast the Brown
Then we move before it learns more. I will not let the forest pay for our hesitation.
Eldred
Good. If the trail is laid for us, we answer by taking it on our terms.
Haldir
I will walk with you. Let the shadow find only empty ground.
Tuiwen turns first, and the others follow at once. The hedge opens onto a narrow lane of bent leaves and bruised moss, where the air tastes faintly of ash and old memory.
Behind them, Rhosgobel falls still again. Ahead, the marked path darkens beneath the firs, waiting for their next choice.
“Tuiwen continues to follow the path, using her senses to detect and tricks or traps.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -1)
Tuiwen slows at the first bend, and the lane answers with silence. Her eyes pick out a hair-thin thread of black grit stretched low between two roots, set where a careless step would drag it loose.
Tuiwen
A trigger line.
She shifts her weight aside, and the others follow her warning without a word. The hidden strand stays taut, glinting once in the ash-colored light.
Radagast the Brown
Well seen. It is meant to tell something we are here.
Eldred bends over the roots, then stops short as Tuiwen’s gaze catches a second sign, a smear of damp bark pressed into a knot of moss, fresh enough to have been laid since dawn.
Eldred
Then it is not merely a trail. It is a message.
The forest seems to hold its breath around them, but the path is clear now, and clearly watched. Somewhere ahead, the markers lead on toward the firs, and whatever laid them knows the group is moving.
“She casts a spell of unbinding to remove the tripwire and continues.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled +0)
Tuiwen lifts her hand over the black line and speaks the old shape of unbinding. The thread loosens at once, as if the spell finds a knot already waiting to come apart.
The grit snaps free from the roots in a soft scatter of ash-dark crumbs. Eldred jerks back as the lane gives one quiet shiver, then stills.
Radagast the Brown
It is cut. Hold fast, both of you.
The black strand withers to dust in the roadbed, and the smear on the moss pales to a dead stain. For a breath, the forest’s pressure breaks.
Eldred
That was not a snare. It was a line to Dol Guldur.
Then the far treeline answers with a low stir, as if something beyond sight has felt the loss. Ash and old memory linger in the air while the road lies open ahead.
Quest Complete
Sever the Dol Guldur anchor in Eldred
New Gift: Anchor Breaker