The traveling bard leads DethStryder beneath a leaning yew, where tangled branches and tilted grave markers conceal them from the northern road. Above, predawn mist gathers.
The bard sets down her hooded lantern and opens one sealed tube by a finger's breadth. Its crimson seal fades as a whisper escapes into the roots.
the whispering voice
The keeper sends names through the ash route. The first mark is Hadrin's Well. The second is the shrine gate before dawn.
the traveling bard
Two routes, perhaps a decoy and a true passage. We should learn which names matter before we risk carrying every tube.
She closes the tube and draws a clean strip of linen from her satchel. Kneeling beside DethStryder, she gestures toward the grazed arm, waiting for permission to bind it.
the traveling bard
Your wound is shallow, but blood leaves a trail even when magic hides footsteps. Let me tend it, then we choose what evidence reaches the keeper's chamber.
Far behind them, the elderly jailer remains at the shrine with the messenger. Here beneath the yew, only the bard, DethStryder, and the fading tubes share the silence.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the route that reaches the keeper
“While my wounds are tended to I study and reason the proper route to the keeper”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +4)
The traveling bard binds DethStryder’s grazed arm beneath the yew, firm enough to stop the trail without hindering movement. Mist beads on the linen.
DethStryder
Hadrin’s Well is the true approach; the shrine gate is a warning meant to draw pursuers.
DethStryder studies the opened tube, the fading crimson seal, and the burial-road map. The ash route aligns with the well’s old watercourse, while the shrine mark lies exposed and ceremonial.
the traveling bard
The well, then. We enter through the ash route and leave the shrine gate untouched. The keeper will expect watchers there.
A faint warmth passes through the ward ring. Beneath the well’s mark, a second line appears, tracing a forgotten drainage passage directly to the keeper’s chamber.
the traveling bard
There is our advantage. The ring has found a servant’s way beneath the road, and the ledger route will not announce our coming.
The traveling bard seals the tube and gathers the lantern. With the route settled and DethStryder’s arm bound, they leave the yew’s shelter toward Hadrin’s Well.
Quest Complete
Identify the route that reaches the keeper