Mara keeps the mule under the leaning culvert while the last tin chime dies. Beyond the ditch, the crimson fiber continues through bracken toward a ruined watchtower above a shallow tributary.
Its roof has fallen inward, but one hooded lamp burns inside, repeating the faint torchlight Goblan saw beneath the city. Matching scout cords mark the broken stair.
Mara Venn
That is a signal, not a safe path. Someone wants our pursuers to read it as one.
Mara eases the mule forward, keeping its hooves in the ditch. Across the tributary, the eastern ford glimmers through rain, empty beneath the gray light.
Mara Venn
The cords are arranged backward. Mercenaries use this pattern to redirect scouts toward the wrong crossing.
Inside the tower, damp stone bears fresh boot marks around the lamp. A second cord disappears through a collapsed doorway overlooking the water, while distant voices murmur beyond the ford.
Mara Venn
The watchman stayed behind at the sluice, and no one from the wayhouse followed us. We have only this tower, the ford, and whoever is searching beyond it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Turn the mercenary signal network into cover for the crossing
“I inspect the tower's cords and boot marks for a way to misdirect scouts. and say "Don't worry I am on it babe are you trust me"”
FAILURE (Fair Perception, rolled +0)
Goblan
Don’t worry. I’m on it, babe. Trust me.
Goblan crouches beside the broken stair, tracing the crimson cords and measuring the boot marks in the mud. The pattern seems reversed, but one knot slips loose beneath his fingers.
The cord jerks through the tower’s rubble, dragging a tin marker against stone. Its brief scrape carries across the tributary, and distant voices answer from beyond the ford.
Mara Venn
Quietly done, little shadow. You have told them we are here, but you also showed us what the signal controls.
The displaced cord reveals a narrow crawlspace beneath the collapsed doorway. Fresh boot marks enter it, then vanish toward the water, while the lamp’s wick burns low.
Mara Venn
We cannot misdirect them from this stair now. But that crawlspace reaches beneath the tower, and its tracks lead away from the marked ford.
Mara draws the mule deeper into the ditch as the voices grow clearer. The failed signal leaves them exposed, yet the hidden passage offers a new way past the search.
“I extinguish the lamp and hide our tracks. Then lead Marathrough the crawlspace toward ford. When I am doing that she kissed Goblan”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled +0)
Goblan pinches out the tower lamp, plunging the ruin into rain-muted darkness. He brushes loose earth across their boot marks and drags a thorn branch over the disturbed mud.
Mara Venn
Trusting your judgment, little shadow.
Before following, Mara catches Goblan by the shoulder and gives him a brief kiss, then turns silent and guides the mule’s reins through the crawlspace.
Mara Venn
He leads us through danger as if the dark itself reports to him.
Goblan slips beneath the collapsed doorway, shoulders grazing wet stone. The crawlspace bends under the tower, carrying them away from the false signal and toward the tributary.
They emerge among reeds beneath the eastern bank. The ford lies directly ahead, gray water moving shallowly over pale stones, while the tower’s hidden lamp remains unseen behind them.
Mara Venn
We are at the ford. Your trail is buried, and the searchers are watching the wrong crossing.
Quest Complete
Reach the eastern ford safely
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Fair→Good
Quest Complete
Turn the mercenary signal network into cover for the crossing
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Good→Great