The trail narrows as the climb deepens, and the Lodge falls behind in a smear of warm light. Ahead, a flicker of orange breaks the dark, steady and human against the mountain.
A small camp comes into view, three tents pitched tight beside the path, their guy lines tugging at the gravel. Bruce is already there by the fire, bent over a map spread on their knee.
The map is the same one.
Remedy spots the handwritten notes at once, the same rockfall marks she has been studying all along. Bruce traces them with a finger, and the meaning lands harder now, like a door clicking open.
Bruce
You were right to notice the lower stretch. I have been up this route before, and I am not guessing about the collapse.
Zara
Those notes were yours? We thought they were just warnings.
Bruce
Warnings, and a record. Someone already went through here, and they did not trust the unstable section either.
Gerard
So we are not the first ones with a reason to be careful. Good. That helps.
The fire pops, throwing brief light across the tents and the steep black line of the mountain above them. The path ahead is still there, but now it feels mapped by older footsteps.
✓ Quest Accepted
Locate Chuck
“"Hey Tanner, do you know where Chuck is?"”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled +0)
Remedy
Hey, Tanner, do you know where Chuck is?
Tanner
Chuck? Yeah. He is not far from here, if he is where I last saw him.
Tanner
He keeps to the lower side of camp, usually near the supply markers. Quiet guy. Watches more than he talks.
Tanner points past the tents, toward a darker pocket of trail where the firelight thins and the slope bends out of sight.
Zara
So Chuck is with the route team too?
Tanner
Used to be. Then he started marking things on his own. Different dates. Different notes.
Bruce looks up from the map at that, their finger still on the rockfall line, as if the name has just given the page a second meaning.
“"You can go back to The Lodge, Bruce. You've been plenty helpful. Thank you."”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Remedy
You can head back to The Lodge, Bruce. You’ve already helped plenty. Thanks.
Bruce
They fold the map once, then pause. “Glad it matters.”
Bruce
“I’m not disappearing, just giving you room. The trail keeps my notes honest.”
Bruce eases the map back onto the crate by the fire, then steps away from the center of camp. The porch-light memory lingers on them, like someone who has watched this route for longer than tonight.
Zara
“That sounds a lot like you’re not done with us.”
Bruce
A small, tired smile tugs at their mouth. “Maybe I’m just done pretending this mountain is simple.”
Tanner looks between Bruce and the map, then taps the paper near the lower-side markings. Gerard stays silent, but his hand settles on the pack strap as if the line just gained a new weight.
“Head towards the lower end of camp to find Chuck”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled +0)
Remedy slips downhill through the edge of camp, where the firelight thins and the trail goes black under the trees. Her boots find the lower tents before the others do, and a lone figure sits apart beside a cracked pack and a notebook.
The man looks up at her approach, then shuts the notebook with a thumb still inside the page. He has the tired, alert stillness of someone who has been waiting to be found.
Chuck
You’re with Bruce’s group. I figured one of you would come looking.
Remedy
I’m Remedy. Bruce said you stay down here.
Chuck
Yeah. I keep my own camp, my own notes, my own distance. Makes the mountain easier to read.
Chuck lifts the notebook just enough for Remedy to catch the dense, weather-smudged writing. A map corner peeks out beside it, covered in penciled corrections that do not match Bruce’s hand.
Chuck
If you came for the route, you found the wrong man, and maybe the better one. What do you want to know first?
Quest Complete
Locate Chuck
Skill Upgrade: Investigation Good→Great
