At the shrine bend, the two bandits still look dead, slumped against stone. Then the cloth on Cactusthorn's finger pulses, once, twice, in a sickly rhythm, like a hidden drum calling something near.
Ash stirs in the ditch. The dark road beyond the cut seems to breathe, and the air thickens with ozone and burnt paper.
The bandits' eyes snap open together, pale and empty, fixed on Cactusthorn's hand. The wrap is not a bandage. It is a beacon.
A Fallen Bandit
Too late... the Abbot knows your steps.
Another Fallen Bandit
That cloth... brought him here.
From somewhere down the road, a heavier shadow begins to gather, drawn straight to the pulse on his finger.
✓ Quest Accepted
Neutralize the tracking charm
“Remove the wrap and rub it in the dirt, trying to fill the cut. Run towards the abbott and confront him. Ask him to submit and tell his story. Or be ready to fight. He he chooses to fight. Use all your ninja skills.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +3)
Cactusthorn yanks the wrap free and smears it into the ditch mud. The glow gutters out under grit, and the cut on his finger is pressed shut with wet earth.
The air lurches. The pulsing answer from the road breaks, then drops away like a snuffed wick.
A Fallen Bandit
He cut the thread... move, before the Abbot sees us all!
Cactusthorn is already moving, low and fast, out of the ditch bend and straight at the heavier shadow on the road.
Cactusthorn
Submit. Tell your story.
The shadow answers with a rush of cloth and ash, but Cactusthorn slips inside the first strike and drives him back with clean, silent speed.
At his feet, the old wrap lies dead in the mud. The bandits stare, and for one sharp moment the Abbot's pull is gone.
From the dark road, a black-thread seal flutters loose from torn cloth and skids into view, showing Cactusthorn the mark on the Abbot's path.
Quest Complete
Neutralize the tracking charm