As Twyla and Corin follow the reeds, the ground beneath the brushed waystone gives a soft, wet shudder. Mud slides into a hidden drainage hollow.
A middle-aged woman climbs out, lean and rain-soaked, with gray-streaked black hair plastered to her face. A torn brown cloak hangs over her mud-dark dress, and one eye bears a pale scar.
Mara Venn
Corin? Little Corin Vale, is that you?
Corin stops so sharply that his boots sink into the marsh. His hand finds his sword, but he does not draw it. The woman clutches a broken bronze pilgrim bell.
Corin
Mara Venn. You were keeper of the chapel road. They said you drowned with the pilgrims.
Mara Venn
They were wrong. I am the last living keeper, and I heard Edran speaking beneath the water. He called your name.
Mara Venn
If you seek your brother, adventurer, do not follow the bell. Follow the voice below the chapel.
✓ Quest Accepted
Stop the drowned door from opening
“I wonder if Corbin’s brother is a spirit can I hear him”
YES, BUT (VeryLikely, rolled 70)
The marsh falls silent around Twyla. Beneath the reeds, water trembles without wind, and a voice rises through it, thin as breath against a grave.
Twyla Selene grim
That is a spirit’s voice. Edran is beneath the chapel.
Edran
Corin... do not let the bell open the drowned door.
The broken bronze bell in Mara’s grasp answers with one deep note, though she does not move it. Ripples spread across every pool in the reeds.
Corin
Edran? You heard him too, Mara. Tell me where he is.
Mara Venn
Below the chapel, but the voice is not alone anymore. Something heard you listening.
A second voice stirs beneath the mud, too low for words. The fog closes around the three travelers, and unseen water begins moving toward the chapel.
“Attempts to summon something to cover it”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Twyla raises one hand toward the broken bell. The cold around her tightens, and pale funeral veils gather from the marsh mist, folding over its bronze mouth.
The summoned veils settle across Mara’s hands and the bell, muffling its deep resonance beneath layers of whispering gray cloth. The ripples slow.
Edran
Corin... quieter now. I can hear you.
Corin
Twyla, you covered the bell. Good. Whatever waits below cannot use it while that veil holds.
The effort leaves Twyla’s focus wavering. For one breath, her fingers forget their shape, and the veils shiver before obeying her again.
Mara Venn
That is no common spell, child. Keep it closed, and the drowned door may remain asleep.
Corin
Then we go to the chapel without the bell. Edran is still below, and now he knows we are listening.