Fog drifts low over the mill yard. Slaan stands near the churned earth, fingers half-raised, while the road beyond the fence shivers with a faint, distant stir.
A hooded woman steps out of the gray with mud on her hem and a short blade in hand. Her eyes lock on Kynes first, then Slaan, measuring both in a single breath.
The Hooded Woman
Stop tracing that path. You are pulling at something that should stay buried.
Slaan
Then you know what it is. Good. Tell us before it reaches the road.
The Hooded Woman
I know enough to warn you. The thing under that tether does not come alone, and it hates witnesses.
The Road-Born Figure shifts back a step, watching the newcomer with tight, uneasy attention. The fog thickens around the mill, and the distant disturbance on the road grows a shade closer.
Kynes
She knows the tether, and she came armed.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what the hooded woman knows about the tether
“"neat" I suck some air between my teeth. And walk up to the woman, and disarm her with telekinesis " any way, we where going to go for a very enthusiastic walk that way." I point in the know direction of the city of the dead.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +2)
Kynes closes the distance without hurry, and the hooded woman’s blade lifts a fraction before his spell catches it. The short knife yanks sideways out of her grip, skittering into the mud.
She freezes, one hand still out, eyes sharpening as the weapon tumbles away. Slaan holds still beside the churned earth, watching the spellwork land cleanly.
Kynes
We were going to take a very enthusiastic walk that way.
Kynes points toward the road to the city of the dead, calm as if the choice already belongs to them. The fog parts along the lane, and the faint disturbance there answers with a low, uneasy stir.
The Hooded Woman
If you walk there blind, you will bring the crypt’s attention home with you.
The Hooded Woman
Its outer paths are meant to turn the unwary. The tether is not the danger, it is the line that marks what is watching.
The Road-Born Figure edges farther back from the fence, gaze fixed on the dropped blade. Mud clings to the blade’s hilt, and the road beyond the yard seems to hold its breath.
“"uh huh" I say unimpressed " I want to ask Larloch, the head liche , why one of his boys walks up to a mill in the town I reside in and points at it eh" I explain it matter of factly " I'm curious about that." I pause " then you show up."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes lets the silence sit, then folds it around his words like a blade laid flat. The hooded woman’s guarded stare shifts, not softer, but more precise.
Kynes
Uh huh. I want to ask Larloch, the head lich, why one of his people walks up to a mill in the town I live in and points at it. I am curious about that.
Her mouth tightens. For a heartbeat she looks past him, toward the road, as if weighing how much truth the fog can carry.
The Hooded Woman
Because he is not pointing at the mill. He is pointing at what is under it, or what was meant to be under it. Larloch’s dead do not wander for sport.
The Hooded Woman
One of his boys came asking for a buried threshold, a place that answers to old names. He was told to mark the road, then leave before the thing beneath noticed him.
Slaan
So the signal is a warning, not a claim.
The hooded woman gives Slaan a sharp, tired look, then nods once. Far off, the road’s unease settles into a colder stillness, as if something on the route has heard enough and is deciding what the answer costs.
“" well that obviously didn't work," I tell her.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -3)
Kynes
Well, that obviously did not work.
Kynes keeps it mild, but the words land. The hooded woman’s shoulders ease a fraction, then tighten again as if the honesty costs her something.
The Hooded Woman
No. It did not.
The Hooded Woman
The tether is not just a line to a thing. It is a route, laid in old bone and older promise. If you follow it wrong, you do not find the source, the source finds you.
Slaan
And the road-born servant?
The Hooded Woman
Only a husk left walking. The true burden rides deeper, under the mill and beyond it, through stone that was cut to answer a name.
She glances toward the road, then back to Kynes, tired eyes sharp with warning. The fog beyond the fence shifts around a dim shape far off, while dust continues to sift from the mill mortar.
The Hooded Woman
If you want the truth, stop chasing the body of the road and look for the chamber it serves.
“To the hooded woman" why not just send you with a scrying spell instead of Bob here" I turn to the road born " no harsh feeling" I say to the road born”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
Why not send you with a scrying spell instead of Bob here?
Kynes
No harsh feeling.
Kynes’s tone stays even as he tips his staff toward the road-born figure. The hooded woman blinks, caught off guard by the offer before her guarded look begins to loosen.
The Hooded Woman
Because I am already known to whatever listens along that road. A spell would only hand it my shape.
The Hooded Woman
But him, maybe not. If the road takes an image, it may take the wrong one.
The Road-Born Figure
...No harsh feeling.
The road-born figure’s shoulders ease under the reassurance. The woman studies him, then gives a tired, approving nod, as if Kynes has finally named the safer path aloud.
The Hooded Woman
If you want the chamber beneath the mill, send a false face first. The route answers to witness, not flesh.
Fog drifts low over the mud while the mill mortar sheds another small spill of dust. For a moment, the hidden route feels less like a threat and more like a locked mechanism with a key shape Kynes now knows.
Quest Complete
Learn what the hooded woman knows about the tether