The guild office smells of wax, parchment, and rain-damp cloaks. Beyond its tall windows, the orange, square-patched sky of the crystal hand Forest glows on a painted map.
& hovers beside the assignment table, a diminutive, slim-framed fairy with pearlescent skin and broad iridescent wings. Her eyes remain fixed on Stella;).
&
So this is the one they send into the Forest? The one whose magic escaped the Fey Wild?
Santana stands opposite her, a young African American man of average build, his massive dark-brown mane falling nearly to the floor. He steadies the map with one hand.
Santana
The guild sends whoever can reach the heartwood before the blight spreads. Suspicion will not mend sapphire hands or save the doll's-eye flowers.
&
Something is poisoning the patterns beneath the roots. I can feel it from here, and it is not ordinary decay.
Santana turns the map toward Stella;), revealing marked clearings, a vanished trail, and a red circle at the Forest's center. He waits for her response.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the forest's heartwood
✓ Quest Accepted
Contain the forest's blight
“I ask Santana how to reach the heartwood and contain the blight.”
SUCCESS (Superb Charm, rolled -3)
Stella;)
Santana, how do I reach the heartwood, and what can contain the blight?
Santana studies Stella;) across the marked map, then draws a path through three sapphire clearings toward the red circle at the Forest's center.
Santana
Follow the vanished trail until the doll's-eye flowers bloom upside down. Beneath the oldest hand-tree, its roots form a stair into the heartwood.
Santana
At the center, place a living melody against the poisoned pattern. Your magic can answer it, but you must hold the rhythm while the blight recoils.
He tears a narrow strip from the map and marks the route in charcoal. The inked trail briefly glimmers, revealing hidden turns between the forest's crystal trunks.
Santana
Take this guide, but the guild will lose the complete chart. If the path shifts, we will have no second map. Do not mistake a clear road for a safe one.
+ New Item Acquired
Charcoal map strip
“I ask Santana to teach me the melody”
SUCCESS (Superb Charm, rolled +0)
Stella;)
Santana, teach me the melody.
Santana folds the charcoal-marked strip beneath his palm and listens to the rain ticking against the tall windows. Then he steps beside the assignment table.
Santana
It begins below the speaking voice. Three low notes, then two rising, like roots finding water through stone.
He hums the opening phrase, steady and unadorned. The painted sapphire hands on the map seem to angle toward the sound, while the doll's-eye flowers gleam faintly.
Santana
Now answer it. Do not force the magic into the tune. Give the melody room, and let your power carry what ordinary breath cannot.
Santana
If her rhythm holds, the heartwood may recognize her before the blight does.
He repeats the complete melody until its shape settles clearly: three low notes, two rising, a long turning phrase, and a final tone held like a lantern in darkness. Stella;) knows it.
“I follow the marked trail toward heartwood”
SUCCESS (Good Survival, rolled -1)
Stella;) leaves the guild office and follows the charcoal-marked trail into the crystal hand Forest, where sapphire fingers arch overhead beneath the orange, patchwork sky.
The route bends through three clearings. Doll's-eye flowers turn their pale faces downward, and the charcoal marks shimmer whenever the vanished path crosses between crystal trunks.
&
The forest is listening to you. Keep the melody ready, even if you do not sing it yet.
A crystalline twig catches Stella;)'s sleeve and snaps, leaving a shallow cut along her forearm. The marked strip darkens, then loses its route as the final charcoal fades.
Stella;)
The guide is blank, but the upside-down flowers mark the way.
She reaches the oldest hand-tree. Its immense sapphire roots spread apart, revealing a descending stair into the heartwood, where poisoned light pulses beneath the bark.
&
There. You found it. Whatever waits below already knows your name.