Fully healed, Issac climbs into the mountain pass with Mikka, Siegfried, Marcus, and Lillia. The Hall’s lone clue remains in Lillia’s journal: a garden where nothing grows.
The trail narrows between leaning slabs of stone. Ahead, small cuts and stacked pebbles appear at deliberate intervals, fresh enough to guide travelers through the broken ground.
Lillia Rhen
These are not natural marks. Someone wants the path followed, but they are careful not to leave a written message.
Far above, Charlie “Chuck” Averbinng, a medium-built young man with a gentle face, shaggy gray hair, and a calm smile, watches from behind a weathered outcrop. His oversized pack and dwarven rune axe remain hidden in the rock’s shadow.
Chuck slips away unseen, leaving one final guide mark where the pass bends. Beneath it, tangled brush conceals the top of an overgrown stone stair descending into darkness.
Marcus Rhen
There. Stairs beneath the pass. If the garden is a refuge, this may be its entrance.
A second set of recent footprints crosses the first step and disappears below, confirming that someone reached the hidden entrance before them. Mikka studies the descent, waiting.
✓ Quest Accepted
Follow the mysterious guide's trail
Director's note
Charlie reveals himself with a jovial pep in his step
“I descend the hidden stone stairs, following the recent footprints. Siegfried takes up the rear, while Lillia and Mikka follow behind me followed closely by Marcus”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +3)
Issac descends the hidden stone stairs with careful, swift steps, following the recent footprints into the mountain’s cool darkness. The worn edges offer solid footing.
Siegfried brings up the rear while Lillia and Mikka follow Issac, with Marcus close behind them. Their formation moves quietly beneath the shadowed pass.
Siegfried Taloss
Keep moving. I have the rear covered.
The footprints continue unbroken down the stairway. Issac’s sharp balance lets him avoid loose stones, and the party reaches a broad landing without a stumble or sound.
Lillia Rhen
The marks continue below. Whoever passed through here knew these stairs well.
At the landing, Issac discovers a narrow side passage hidden behind hanging roots. It descends toward a faint green glow, while the footprints continue directly ahead.
Marcus Rhen
Good eyes. That passage may give us another way through if the main descent closes.
Quest Complete
Follow the mysterious guide's trail
Director's note
The Green lit passage is actually a living quarer, where the party finally meets Charlie 'Chuck' Averbinng
“I inspect the green-lit passage”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled -1)
Issac crouches beside the root-veiled passage and studies the green light. Moisture beads on living roots, whose slow pulses carry the glow deeper below.
Issac Rivendohr
The light comes from the roots themselves, not a lamp or spell-stone.
Beyond the roots, the narrow descent opens into a warm chamber of moss, broad leaves, and pale vines twined through old masonry. Shelves hold dried herbs, tools, and carefully stacked provisions.
A medium-built young man steps from behind a curtain of hanging greenery, shaggy brown hair bouncing as he walks with a jovial spring. His calm face carries a broad smile, and his oversized pack rests beneath the shadow of a concealed rune axe.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Well met, travelers! Careful on the roots. They dislike hurried feet, but they have no quarrel with guests who mind their manners.
Lillia Rhen
You made these marks, did you not? We followed them from the pass.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Aye, that was me. Charlie Averbinng, though the mountain folk call me Chuck. If you came seeking the forgotten garden, you have found its first shelter.
Quest Complete
Identify who left the mountain footprints
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great
Director's note
Charlie leans in
“Marcus speaks up first, "If you're here, does that mean we have found the Garden that Never Grows?" Chuck bellows laughter, "They still call the Hold of Karak Orag 'the garden that never grows'?" My ears perk up, "The Garden is a Hold?" "Sure is," Chuck answered, "Where you are right now is basically the entrance to the Dwarven Hold of Karak Orag, the 'Garden that Never Grows', because all the stunty folk refuse to change.”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled -1)
Marcus Rhen
If you are here, does that mean we have found the Garden that Never Grows?
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
They still call the Hold of Karak Orag the garden that never grows?
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng bellows laughter, his jovial voice filling the living chamber. Issac’s ears perk at the unfamiliar name, and the others turn toward him.
Issac Rivendohr
The Garden is a Hold?
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Sure is. Where you are right now is basically the entrance to the Dwarven Hold of Karak Orag, the Garden that Never Grows.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng leans in beneath the hanging greenery, lowering his voice as the roots pulse around them. The shelves and provisions confirm this chamber serves as a maintained entrance, not a forgotten ruin.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
The name comes from the stunty folk refusing to change. Still, I cannot tell you yet whether the deeper Hold shelters the successor you seek.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Chuck's guidance through Karak Orag
“I ask Charlie if he nows the successor, Charlie replies yes, the living successor is him.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Persuasion, rolled +0)
Issac Rivendohr
Do you know the living successor we seek?
Issac’s quiet question settles among the glowing roots. Charlie’s broad smile remains, but his jovial posture tightens as he studies the party’s faces.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Aye. I know him well enough. The living successor is me.
The declaration lands heavily despite Chuck’s cheerful tone. Lillia’s fingers close around her journal, while Marcus shifts nearer, alert but not reaching for his sword.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
That does not mean I know every answer you came seeking. Karak Orag kept its own secrets, and I have survived by respecting them.
Lillia Rhen
Then you are the protected successor mentioned in the eastern archive. What can you tell us about Alaxander Rivendohr’s oath?
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Less than you hope, lass, and more than I dare say beside an open rootway. Come deeper into the Hold, and I can show you where the old man let records sleep.
Quest Complete
Secure Chuck's guidance through Karak Orag
Director's note
The party enters Charlie's 'shack', which is just a small lounge room of stone and potterry
Chuck leads them through the living rootway. The green-lit passage opens into a small stone lounge, its walls lined with pottery, stools, and neatly bundled supplies.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Mind the low beam, friends. This shack is humble, but it has sheltered folk who needed somewhere quiet to breathe.
The party enters carefully. Roots thread through the ceiling and curl around clay cups, their soft glow illuminating a squat table crowded with old stones and folded cloth.
Lillia Rhen
You called this a shelter, yet you keep records here. Are they dwarven, royal, or your own account of what happened?
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
A bit of each, lass. The dwarves trusted stone more than ink, and the old royal visitors trusted neither. I learned to listen and remember. And let me tell you, if the stones could speak, the stories they'd tell.
Chuck crosses to a pottery jar sealed with dark wax. He lifts it from beneath the table and sets it between them, his earlier cheer tempered by guarded care.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Alaxander came here seeking a witness, not a weapon. Didn't give my old pops much reason, but he obliged. Before I show you the trail he was searching, tell me what you already know about his oath.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Chuck to reveal the trail Alaxander left
Director's note
I pull out my Dad's journal from Scene 1, and show it to Charlie
“I recount the oath chamber, the archive clue, and the witness's safeguard.”
FAILURE (Great Reasoning, rolled -2)
Issac Rivendohr
I recount the oath chamber, my father’s broken vow, the archive beneath Macedoriak, and the witness’s safeguard that led us here.
Issac’s account falters around the witness’s identity and the safeguard’s exact purpose. He draws his father’s journal from Scene 1 and opens it to the marked pages.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
That is the right trail, lad, but not the whole knot. Alaxander never found the witness here.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng leans over the table. His jovial smile fades as his eyes move between the journal’s marks and the sealed pottery jar.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
The safeguard was not a person’s name. It was a promise carried forward, hidden where only the protected successor could uncover it.
Lillia Rhen
Then Issac’s account still narrows the search. The archive clue and this journal may reveal what the safeguard was meant to protect.
Charlie "Chuck" Averbinng
Aye. I cannot identify the one who caused the betrayal, but I can show you the mark Alaxander left behind. Open the jar, and we will see whether your journal matches it.