The shepherd’s track descends between leaning stones to a clear spring. Water threads over white gravel, and morning light warms the hollow after the cold vigil beneath the ash.
Maelin kneels at the pool’s edge and rinses her fingers. The frost-burn has faded to pale, branching marks, but she flinches when the water touches them.
Maelin
Old wards are not always built by kings. Some belong to roads, oaths, or places where promises were broken so often that the land remembered.
She unwraps the oilskin copy and spreads it beside the spring, weighing its corners with smooth stones. The ink remains dry, though a faint blue sheen follows the names.
Maelin
I fear the ward recognized something in me. Not my magic alone, but the kind of work I do, and the people I refuse to abandon.
Maelin
If it was tied to a broken oath, it may have mistaken us for witnesses, fugitives, or heirs to someone else’s debt. I do not know which possibility is worse.
Maelin
The road is quiet for now. Ask what you need before we leave, Cedric. I have kept too much hidden already.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what Maelin has kept hidden
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure supplies for the journey
“Do we have enough supplies for our journey to the next hamlet?”
NO (Even, rolled 61)
Maelin studies the oilskin copy, then glances toward the clear spring and the empty stretch of track beyond it. Their remaining provisions will not carry them to the hamlet.
Maelin
We have water, but little food, and almost nothing for treating wounds. The hamlet is still a day’s walk if the track remains kind.
She checks her herb satchel and turns out its contents beside the ledger: dried leaves, a small salve jar, and a few crumbs wrapped in cloth.
Maelin
This is enough to mend a scrape, not enough to sustain two travelers. We will need supplies before we leave the open country.
The spring offers clean water, but the heathered slopes show no farms, smoke, or grazing animals nearby. Their path remains quiet and exposed.
Maelin
If we reach the hamlet hungry, we become dependent on whoever controls its stores. I would rather know that before the road decides for us.