Orien and Aldren emerge from the side passage beneath the gatehouse arch. Blue light trembles across the stones, and the tablet remains secured beneath Orien’s cloak.
Mara Pell hurries up from the road, breathless and spattered with fen water. Her market cloak hangs heavy, and one fist closes around a small northern token.
Mara Pell
Thanebroken. I knew House Veyr would bring you here. That name has reached farther south than it should have.
She opens her hand. The token is dark northern metal, etched with a broken crest and worn smooth at its edge, bearing no mark of the southern houses.
Aldren Veyr
Mara Pell, where did you get that? The road from Reedmere should not have carried northern signs through the flood.
Mara Pell
It came with the warning. Something is moving toward the next settlement, and it is using the drowned roads. I will not speak further until the gate guards hear me.
The gatewarden steps from beneath the arch as the causeway shudders again. Mara keeps the token raised, waiting for the guards to close around them and receive her account.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who is using the drowned roads
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave the gatehouse
“Is the user of the drowned roads a flood spirit of some sort?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 65)
The gatewarden closes the arch behind Mara as the causeway shudders. Her northern token darkens, and a thread of black water winds across its broken crest.
Mara Pell
It is no raider’s device. The thing using the drowned roads is a flood spirit, or what remains of one after the boundary broke.
Aldren Veyr
A spirit with purpose, then. It carries warnings through water and borrows old road signs to reach the settlements.
The token cracks along its edge. A sharp metallic report rings beneath the arch, and a bead of dark water spills onto Mara’s palm, raising a thin welt.
Mara Pell
It knows the next settlement’s name, but not its people. If the road is not acknowledged, the flood will follow the mark instead.
Aldren Veyr
Then this is not merely a warning. The spirit is seeking a keeper, and the broken boundary is spending what strength remains to make itself heard.
Beyond the gate, blue water climbs over the causeway stones. The token’s broken crest points south, toward the unseen settlement and the drowned road beyond.
“Is the flood spirit being manipulated by someone who opposes Orien and his claim?”
YES (Even, rolled 40)
The token’s black water recoils from Mara’s skin and gathers into a thin thread, pointing not southward, but toward the tablet beneath Orien’s cloak.
Mara Pell
Then someone has taught the spirit your trail. It is not choosing these roads alone. Someone is directing its warnings toward the bearer of the claim.
Aldren’s gaze fixes on the covered tablet. The gatewarden signals the guards to bar the inner doors as another tremor passes beneath the arch.
Aldren Veyr
An enemy of the succession has taken hold of the broken boundary. They cannot erase the record, so they turn the road against whoever carries it.
Mara Pell
The token came from a northern hand, but the shaping is southern. Whoever works this knows the drowned markers and fears the claim reaching a court.
The dark thread burns briefly across the token, forming a broken crown before sinking into the metal. Beyond the gate, the blue flood veers toward the southern road.
Aldren Veyr
The spirit remains a messenger, not the author. Someone opposing your claim has found a way to make its failing boundary serve their purpose.
“Ask what you should do.”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +3)
Orien Thanebroken
What should I do? The boundary is failing, and the token points to the tablet beneath my cloak.
Mara studies the broken token, then the blue flood beyond the gate. Aldren turns toward the southern road, listening as the stones answer beneath them.
Aldren Veyr
Leave Low Fen Crossing before the flood takes the road. Keep the tablet hidden, travel south, and do not let the spirit draw you back toward the old markers.
Mara Pell
Take the raised reed track beyond the east ditch. It reaches the next settlement without crossing the drowned road, and I know a keeper there who will shelter you.
Aldren Veyr
Mara’s route is sound. I will seal a copy of the warning here, keep the gate under charter, and record that you departed carrying the succession tablet in your custody.
Mara presses the cracked token into a fold of Orien’s cloak. Its dark metal cools, and the black thread bends away from the tablet toward the eastern ditch.
Mara Pell
That is your advantage. The token will point along the dry track until you reach the settlement. Go now, before the boundary learns another road.
+ New Item Acquired
Cracked northern token
“Ride swiftly along the raised reed track.”
SUCCESS (Great Riding, rolled -1)
Orien urges the dun gelding onto the raised reed track. Hooves strike the woven causeway in rapid rhythm as blue floodwater spreads through the ditches on either side.
The cracked northern token cools against his cloak and draws its black thread eastward. Behind him, House Veyr’s gate shrinks into blue haze beneath the failing sky.
Orien Thanebroken
The reed track is firm enough for speed, but it was built for lighter traffic.
He rides hard across the raised path. A binding snaps beneath one stirrup, forcing him to shorten the leather and leaving the iron buckle loose against his boot.
The gelding carries him beyond the drowned road and up a final reed-wrapped rise. There, clustered roofs and a dry watchpost mark the next settlement.
Mara Pell
The keeper will see you. Tell them the eastern track held, and show no one the tablet unless shelter demands it.
Orien reaches the settlement before dusk, mud-spattered and riding with one loose stirrup. The token’s dark thread fades, its guidance complete.
Quest Complete
Find a southern settlement where Orien can begin anew
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary
Quest Complete
Leave the gatehouse
Skill Upgrade: Riding Great→Superb