The rootling goes still in Arya’s grasp. Its amber eye fixes on the road, then one twig-thin limb points toward a buried drainage arch beneath the eastern stones.
The Small Root-Limbed Creature
The Sleeper does not open the route. It flees what wakes deeper below. Loosen me, and I will guide you to the arch.
The roots beneath the road pulse once, and dust trickles from the half-buried arch. Behind Arya, the settlers murmur and draw farther from the gate.
Edric Vale
Convenient. It leads us underground toward the thing it claims to fear, then escapes while we investigate. I distrust every part of that offer.
The Settlement Gatekeeper
No. That creature does not cross this gate, bound or loose. We hold the road here, and you decide what happens beyond it.
The gatekeeper keeps his spear trained on the rootling without advancing. Edric watches the buried arch, while the creature remains pinned against Arya’s restraint, waiting.
The Small Root-Limbed Creature
The deeper dark is moving. Choose quickly, forest woman. The gate will not save these roots.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the rootling's warning is true
“I question the rootling about what is moving beneath the arch.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
Arya
What is moving beneath the arch? Tell me what it is, and why it comes this way.
Arya keeps the rootling pinned without tightening her grip. Her feared reputation makes its amber eye wary, but her Keen Senses catch the faint rhythm beneath the stones before it answers.
The Small Root-Limbed Creature
The Sleeper beneath the mound moves below the arch. It flees a deeper pressure that eats roots, stone, and the warmth of living ground.
A dull vibration travels through Arya’s boots. Her attention follows it beneath the buried arch, where two different rhythms separate: the Sleeper’s retreat and something heavier advancing behind it.
The Small Root-Limbed Creature
It is not the Sleeper that will reach your homes first. The deeper thing has no shape yet, only hunger, and the old roads give it direction.
Edric Vale
Then the prophecy was worse than I understood. The Sleeper is only running ahead of it.
Behind Arya, the settlement gatekeeper keeps the gate barred while the settlers fall silent. Beneath the arch, the heavier rhythm rolls eastward, now clear enough to follow and warn against.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the rootling's warning is true