The spring runs clear again, threading silver over mud and roots. Elidi stands in the shallows while the villagers keep a respectful ring around her, no longer recoiling, only watching.
The Elder
That staff was meant to guard the threshold, not command a guest. I did not know its full old word until today.
The Elder
He grips the glowing staff lower now, as if ashamed of how little he understood.
A Villager
So the grove was never safe from you. It was safe from what was done to it.
Another villager kneels by the exposed rune shard, tilting it toward the light. The symbol looks less like a weapon now and more like a forgotten warning.
The Villager
We buried the path, then forgot why. Perhaps we fear what our own hands once built.
The Elder lowers his staff to the mud beside the shard and watches Elidi with quiet, measured curiosity, as if waiting to hear what a dreamwalker makes of such a relic.
✓ Quest Accepted
Adhere the stone to your body
“Elidi finds this stone interesting, so she picks it up and adheres it to her body.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Physical Matter Absorption, rolled +3)
Elidi reaches into the shallows and lifts the rune shard free. Water streams from its carved face, and the spring’s pulse seems to quicken against her palm.
The stone answers her touch at once, sinking into her mossy skin as if it has always belonged there. The edges vanish cleanly, leaving only a faint, newly set pattern along her body.
The Elder
By the old threshold... it accepts you.
The villagers lean in despite themselves, one breath held across the ring of wet roots. The restless fear in their faces loosens, replaced by stunned, unwilling relief.
A Villager
Then the charm was never a cage for her alone.
Where the shard was, the mud lies bare. Beside it, a sliver of brighter stone catches in the spring light, revealing a second cut in the earth, half-hidden beneath the flowing water.
The Villager
If she bears it without harm... perhaps our hands can stop fearing what we built.
Quest Complete
Adhere the stone to your body
+ New Item Acquired
Rune shard