Drayden leaves the den's road behind with Lord Lord Cael and the scarred thief. Evening gathers beneath the border hills, turning the rutted track copper and gray.
The scarred thief moves ahead through thorn and shadow, while Lord Cael keeps close behind Drayden. The sealed tube rests beneath Drayden's green cloak, its wax unbroken.
The Scarred Thief
Hold. Fresh prints, heading west. Three riders, maybe four, and they passed after the rain stopped.
He crouches beside the road, brushing loose soil from a deep hoofmark. Far behind them, faint bells answer from the darkening slope.
Lord Cael
That is pursuit, not a patrol. Someone followed the road from the den, and they know we left it.
Drayden
The bells are drawing nearer.
The Scarred Thief
We can reach the ravine before them, or cut into the brush and let the riders pass. Either way, their master may already know about your tube.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the riders
✓ Quest Accepted
Remain on good terms with Lord Cael
“"Good call, Their boy. That Ravine got lotsa nooks and outcroppings. Easy to hide if you ain't afraid a fallin."”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled -1)
Drayden
Good call there, boy. That ravine's got plenty o' nooks and outcroppings. Easy to hide if ye ain't afraid o' falling.
Drayden angles toward the ravine, boots testing the crumbling edge. The first shelf holds, but the next gives way beneath him, sending stones clattering into the depths.
The Scarred Thief
Not that shelf. The whole face is rotten. One wrong step and the ravine hides you for good.
Drayden pulls back as loose shale slides past his boots. The ravine offers cover, but not the broad approach he intended. Below, a narrow ledge winds beneath an overhang.
Lord Cael
There. A roadwarden notch in the stone. That ledge may reach an old inspection hollow, if the mark still means what it once did.
The Scarred Thief
It means a path, at least. Narrow, but hidden from riders on the road. We can take it single file.
The bells draw nearer, muffled by the hills. The unsafe shelf is abandoned, while the marked ledge opens a cramped alternative beneath the ravine wall.
Quest Complete
Remain on good terms with Lord Cael
“"Follow the marks, Boss man. You know what yer doin'"”
SUCCESS (Great Survival, rolled +1)
Drayden
Follow the marks, Boss man. You know what yer doin'.
Drayden lowers himself onto the marked ledge, keeping one hand against the ravine wall. The old notches guide his boots beneath the overhang, hidden from the road above.
Lord Cael
I remember this sign. The inspection hollow lies beyond the bend, and the roadwardens built it to escape watchful eyes.
Single file, they follow the weathered marks through shadow and damp stone. Drayden reads each shallow cut correctly, leading them around loose shelves and into a sheltered cleft.
The Scarred Thief
There. No hoofbeats below, no sightline from the track. Your judgment bought us quiet, ranger.
The ledge opens into an old inspection hollow concealed behind hanging roots. A roof of stone shelters a dry floor, a cold hearth, and a narrow stair descending into darkness.
Lord Cael
The marks still lead true. Whatever waits beneath these hills, the roadwardens expected someone to find this place.
Quest Complete
Escape the riders
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good