Mara leads the saddled mule past the first blackthorn milestone, its hooves sinking softly into the rain-dark road. Goblan’s eye catches a crimson cord tied beneath the weathered marker.
Mara Venn
Hold. That is no road charm. I have seen that color before.
The cord matches the Hooded Watchman’s sign exactly. Beneath the milestone’s loose stone cap, a folded scrap rests dry against the masonry, untouched by the rain.
The message bears a single urgent instruction: FLEE EAST IMMEDIATELY. Its ink is fresh, and the placement is too precise to be chance.
Mara Venn
The watchman stayed below while we came this way. If he left this, he knew your route before you reached my door.
The mule snorts and sidesteps, tugging its reins toward the eastern track. Beyond the milestone, blackthorn crowds both ditches, hiding any watcher who chose the road first.
Mara Venn
It may be aid, little shadow. It may be bait. We do not follow a warning merely because it knows our destination.
“I deciphered something from the note and detailed it for Mara and we decided to take the road of east fast. At the sametime Mara impressed and started to fell in love with Goblan because of his abilities”
FAILURE (Good Reasoning, rolled -2)
Goblan
The note hides a second instruction in the ink strokes: east quickly, but leave the main road at the third marker.
Goblan traces the cramped letters and explains the pattern to Mara, pointing from the crimson cord to the faint breaks in the message. The final mark remains smeared beyond certainty.
Mara Venn
So the warning is genuine, but the safe turn is missing. You found more in this scrap than most find in a sealed dispatch.
Mara gathers the reins and urges the mule east. They leave the milestone at a brisk pace, wheels absent, hooves and boots whispering over the rain-dark track.
At the third blackthorn marker, two eastern tracks divide. The note gives no sure answer, and their speed has carried them past the last clear cord before either path can be checked.
Mara Venn
You read danger faster than I read most men. I would trust your eyes, little shadow, if only this cursed message had finished speaking.
Yet Goblan has learned the cords mark departures, not destinations. The left track bears a nearly hidden crimson fiber, offering a usable lead as Mara reins the mule toward it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the Watchman's crimson-cord guidance is a trap
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the eastern ford safely
“"It's not a trap but maybe someone already waiting for us so be alerted babe" I said and we take the road already”
FAILURE (Fair Perception, rolled -2)
Goblan
It is not a trap, but someone may already be waiting for us. Stay alert, babe. We take this road.
Goblan guides Mara onto the left track, keeping close to the blackthorn verge. He scans the wet branches and listens beyond the mule’s careful steps.
Mara Venn
Alert, then. No sudden turns, and no trust in quiet ground.
The track narrows beneath thorn arches. Goblan spots the crimson fiber a heartbeat before the mule’s hoof catches a nearly invisible cord stretched across the mud.
The cord snaps upward, tugging a row of tin charms hidden in the branches. Their sharp clatter breaks the road’s silence, and something shifts deeper in the thorns.
Mara Venn
Too late for silence. Down, little shadow!
Mara pulls the mule beneath a leaning stone culvert as the hidden warning chimes fade. From there, a narrow dry ditch leads east beside the track, concealed from whoever waits ahead.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the Watchman's crimson-cord guidance is a trap