The ward holds around the anchor chamber, its blue lattice whispering through the stone. Violet residue clings to Verner’s casting hand, fading in slow, smoke-like threads.
Kynes
That residue is not corruption. The summons carried fragments of a memory, impressions torn from someone who knew this refuge and feared what followed.
Kynes
The spell showed me a door, a silver mark, and voices arguing beneath the hills. It wanted witnesses, not rescuers.
The Wayhouse Keeper
Two riders brought me here. One wore a weathered watch cloak and carried a hooked staff. The other kept a crossbow beneath a brown travel mantle. They went north through the inner passage.
Erin
The copied testimony mentions a false watch escort, a hooked weapon, and a witness transferred north under sealed orders. Their gear fits the pattern, but not the authority they claimed.
The wayhouse keeper’s breathing steadies as the anchor’s pulse settles. Beyond the inner door, no sound answers them. The trail is gathered, the refuge secure for now, and the next passage waits.
“Does Kynes recognize the memory’s silver mark?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 53)
Kynes studies the fading violet residue on Verner’s hand, then turns toward the inner door. The blue lattice casts a silver shape across his ashen face.
Kynes
Yes. I know that mark. It belongs to an old refuge made by surface elves who hid testimony from corrupted courts.
His certainty barely settles before the silver shape twists. A dark line cuts through its center, and the anchor gives one sharp pulse beneath the chamber.
Kynes
But this mark is reversed. Someone sealed the refuge from within, and the memory carries the act of that sealing.
The inner door unlocks with a low stone groan. At once, the ward’s blue lattice thins along the northern wall, leaving three fractures glowing violet.
The Wayhouse Keeper
That door was closed when the riders passed. If it opens now, they may have left something behind to follow us.
Erin
Then we enter before the ward loses more of itself. The witness is beyond that door, and the mark tells us this refuge was built to protect their truth.
“I enter and secure the witness’s testimony”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Verner enters through the opened inner door, with Erin close behind and Kynes reinforcing the blue lattice at the threshold. The chamber beyond is dry, lamplit, and carefully warded.
An elderly elf woman sits beside a stone table, wrapped in a dark green shawl. Her silver hair is braided close to her scalp, and an ink-stained hand rests over a sealed testimony chest.
The Witness
You carry Maelin’s authority, and you came through the failing refuge instead of abandoning it. That is enough for me to speak.
Verner presents the escort order and the recovered evidence without disturbing her guarded papers. His calm presence, Erin’s oath-marked blade, and Kynes’s restored ward persuade her that the refuge remains protected.
The Witness
I am Lethira Vaun. I witnessed the northern transfer, and I can name the magistrate who ordered it, the couriers who carried it out, and the place where the records were altered.
Lethira opens the chest and gives Verner three written depositions, each bearing dates, names, and the copied seal of the corrupt court. Erin receives the testimony for safekeeping.
Kynes
The refuge recognizes the exchange. Its memory is settled now, and the testimony is secured under its protection.
Quest Complete
Secure the surviving witness’s testimony
Skill Upgrade: Lore Good→Great