Three weeks after the withdrawal from Dol Guldur, Tuiwen reaches Lothlórien beneath a pale autumn sky. The Galadhrim admit her through the golden trees and guide her upward toward Caras Galadhon.
The city rises in quiet terraces among the mallorn branches, washed in gold and shadow. At its heart, Galadriel awaits beneath an open pavilion, with no attendants close enough to overhear.
Galadriel
Welcome, Tuiwen. I summoned you because the ward-lights of Lothlórien have changed.
Galadriel extends one hand toward the forest. Far below, countless lights glimmer between the trunks, then fade in scattered clusters, as though drawn along unseen currents beneath the earth.
Galadriel
They are not dying. They are withdrawing, slowly and deliberately, toward one center that no eye can yet find.
A silver basin beside the pavilion catches the reflected pattern. Within its surface, the dimming lights form a shape like branching roots, converging westward and then turning toward the distant mountains.
Galadriel
The disturbance beneath Dol Guldur may have touched an older keeping place. We may learn what stirred there without opening the sealed roads. Look closely, and tell me what you recognize.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine what is drawing Lothlórien’s ward-lights westward
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Lothlórien from the withdrawing ward-lights
“She studies it closely and compares it to The Living Memory of Trees and Hostile Enchantment Paths.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Lore, rolled +1)
Tuiwen bends over the basin and studies the converging lights. She recalls The Living Memory of Trees, then follows the branching signs through the logic of Hostile Enchantment Paths.
Tuiwen
The lights are not being summoned toward the center. They are being guided there by a hidden path.
The comparison clarifies the pattern. The roots beneath Lothlórien are carrying a deliberate redirection, like a defensive path turned inward and made to gather living lights at one concealed junction.
Galadriel
You recognize the distinction. This is not a wound spreading through the forest, but a path imposed upon it.
Within the basin, the pattern resolves into three stages: the lights withdraw along established roots, converge beneath a hidden ward, and turn west toward the mountains. None of the channels are broken.
Galadriel
Then the old keeping place has not merely disturbed the forest. It has become a wayfinder, drawing the ward-lights toward whatever waits beyond the western turn.
The basin’s reflection steadies, leaving the hidden junction plainly marked in silver. Galadriel watches in silence, while the danger remains contained but no longer uncertain.
Quest Complete
Determine what is drawing Lothlórien’s ward-lights westward