A roofless wayhouse leans beside the ash route, its broken walls sheltering DethStryder and the traveling bard from the thinning mist. Dawn pales the eastern sky.
The traveling bard spreads the sealed tubes across a fallen stone, setting the ward ring and bloodstained token among them. Their crimson seals remain dark and still.
the traveling bard
The jailer and messenger remain at the shrine, safe for now. We carry their danger with us, but not their footsteps.
She turns the token toward the ash route. Beneath its faded stain, the hidden map glimmers, tracing the drainage passage toward the keeper’s chamber.
the traveling bard
Hunters strike quickly, but witnesses may force the keeper’s network into the light. Which choice protects the names already marked?
the traveling bard
If we enter as hunters, we may silence one throat. If we enter as witnesses, we might learn whose lives depend on it.
Mist withdraws from the road in pale ribbons. No pursuers break the silence, yet the first birds call beyond the graves, and the keeper’s chamber waits below.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn whose lives depend on the keeper’s network
“Enter as witnesses silent but true”
FAILURE (Good Stealth, rolled -1)
DethStryder and the traveling bard leave the wayhouse without a word, following the ward ring’s pale thread into the ash route’s buried drainage passage.
They move as witnesses, carrying the sealed tubes and bloodstained token openly between them. The passage narrows beneath Hadrin’s Well, where old stones bear faded names.
At the keeper’s hidden threshold, the ward ring dims. Their silent approach reaches the chamber, but the truth-bound ward refuses passage and closes the drainage door behind them.
the traveling bard
It heard our silence as concealment. We cannot enter unseen and claim to witness what waits beyond.
A narrow grille opens in the sealed stone, revealing the keeper’s chamber beyond: an elderly elf woman bends over a ledger beneath a circle of listening sigils.
Through the grille, DethStryder sees columns of names and ash-marked routes. One line is freshly written beside Hadrin’s Well, linking the keeper to the shrine gate.
the traveling bard
The ward gives us a witness’s opening, not a hunter’s entrance. We can show the token through the grille and make the ledger answer.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the bard’s agreement to face the keeper together
“I secure the bards agreement”
FAILURE (Great Willpower, rolled -2)
DethStryder
Stay with me. We enter as witnesses, and we protect the names before us.
DethStryder holds the bloodstained token toward the grille, offering the plan without disguising its risk. The ward’s pale lines tighten around the opening.
the traveling bard
I will stand with you, but I will not agree to carry that token across the threshold while it remains in your hand.
The bard places two fingers against the grille. The listening sigils flare, and a second narrow opening appears beneath the first, shaped like a waiting palm.
the traveling bard
The ward demands a witness who gives evidence, not a witness who keeps its proof hidden. Place it there, or we remain outside.
Her agreement stops short of the approach DethStryder sought, but the threshold has changed. The ward now offers a binding exchange instead of passage.
the traveling bard
If the keeper answers honestly, the names may survive. If she lies, the ward will show us where the lie begins.
Quest Complete
Secure the bard’s agreement to face the keeper together
“I will carry the token, give me your oath that you are with me”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +2)
DethStryder
I will carry the token. Give me your oath that you are with me.
DethStryder keeps the bloodstained token in her hand and presents it through the grille. The ward’s waiting palm brightens beneath her fingers.
the traveling bard
By every road that carried my song, I swear it. I stand with you, and I will protect the names this token reveals.
The bard presses her palm to the second opening. Pale script winds around her wrist, then settles into a clear silver mark as the ward accepts her oath.
the traveling bard
There. The threshold knows us as witnesses together. Show the token, and let the keeper answer before the names are moved.
DethStryder raises the token fully into the grille. Its hidden map unfolds across the air, linking Hadrin’s Well to the shrine gate and the fresh ledger line.
the elderly elf woman
You bring my own evidence to my door. Speak your names, witnesses, and tell me whether you seek judgment or warning.