While the white dragon circles high above the canopy, Axat and the wounded traveler make a brief search along the trees’ edge. The lead sage and the scarred elk remain beside the cold fire, watching the disturbed ground and crystal-hidden seam.
About twenty feet from the ashes, the wounded traveler pauses beneath low branches. Half-buried in dark soil lies a white stone, smooth and small enough to fit in one hand, its surface marked by black etchings.
The Wounded Traveler
There is something here, Axat. It looks placed rather than fallen.
She lifts the stone carefully and carries it back to the cold fire. The lead sage bends over it, while the scarred elk lowers his antlers to scent the soil around the place where it rested.
The Lead Sage
These dark lines are deliberate. The seam and the disturbed earth suggest this stone may mark travelers, or help someone follow them.
The etchings form uneven paths around the stone, resembling a trail converging on a single point. A faint chill passes through its white surface whenever it faces the narrow crystal-hidden seam.
The Wounded Traveler
It grows cold toward the seam. Should we test whether it points to the watchers’ hiding place, or leave it untouched and study the ground first?
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the watchers’ trail-marking method
“I channel Arcana into the stone to reverse its chill-and-path magic, making it warm and lead toward the watcher who marked it”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +2)
Axat channels Arcana into the white stone. Vain grandeur first pulls the working broadly toward overwhelming power, but Draconic Heritage gives the reversal precise draconic structure.
Clear Consciousness removes hesitation, while the Speaking Stone lends its paired resonance. The black paths unwind, the chill becomes gentle warmth, and the etchings turn toward the crystal-hidden seam.
The stone pulls Axat forward with steady warmth. The narrow seam opens into a concealed recess, revealing a young adult woman with olive skin, cropped black hair, a gray travel cloak, and a silver thread-mask covering one cheek.
Mara Venn
The marker has found me. I am Mara Venn, and I watched this clearing for anyone following the old routes.
The stone remains warm in Axat’s hand, its final etched line pointing directly to Mara. Behind him, the wounded traveler, lead sage, and scarred elk approach without crossing the marked ground.
Mara Venn
I placed the stone to reveal anyone who could reverse its warning. You have done so. The watchers used this hollow to track the traveler and the paths toward the Chobo refuge.
Quest Complete
Identify the watchers’ trail-marking method
+ New Item Acquired
Watcher Marker