The Hooded Sentry turns from the road and parts the fir roots with one gloved hand. Beneath them, a narrow path sinks into black earth, aimed straight toward Dol Guldur's looming hill.
Saruman
This way. The road is watched. The roots are not, yet.
Radagast's gaze sharpens on the opening, then flicks to the distant fortress. Sulfur rides the wind now, thin and sour, as if the hill itself exhales.
Radagast the Brown
If you go, go quickly. That path leads under the enemy's sight and nearer to its heart.
A tremor passes through the verge. Ash at the sentry's feet stirs, then drifts west, as though something far off has noticed them looking back.
Tuiwen
The hidden path goes straight to Dol Guldur.
The Sentry holds the dark opening wide, waiting. Beyond the roots, the forest thins into a corridor of dead needles, and the way to the source of the corruption lies open at last.
✓ Quest Accepted
Enter Dol Guldur by the hidden path
“She proceeds down the path, alert for danger.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -1)
Tuiwen steps under the fir roots and the earth swallows the road behind her. The hidden path narrows at once, black soil packed hard beneath dead needles, while the air carries ash and a faint bitterness of stone.
Tuiwen
The path is worked, not grown.
Ahead, the corridor bends through roots and shadow, and the hill of Dol Guldur sits larger in the dark, its foul haze pressing down like a bruise. The forest around the opening stays unnaturally still, listening.
Radagast the Brown
Keep your eyes low and your hand ready. This is the kind of road that remembers footsteps.
Eldred
And it tells someone where to strike. I see the mark line, fresh.
The Hooded Sentry lowers their gloved hand and takes one quiet step after her, no longer pointing now, but following. A thin stir of ash skims west along the path, then settles as if waiting for the next breath.
Tuiwen moves on into the dark opening, and the hidden way holds. For now, the road is behind them, and the path to the hill is open.
Quest Complete
Enter Dol Guldur by the hidden path