Lo pi reaches the northern caves beneath a weathered stone arch. The descent token’s inscription matches the ledger’s map, confirming the authorized route.
Fresh blood darkens a torn strip of red silk beside two passageways. Boot prints enter one tunnel, while clawed drag marks diverge into the other.
Lo pi
The tracks separate at the arch, and both signs are recent.
Cold air moves from the left passage, carrying damp stone and a faint metallic scent. The right passage is quieter, its floor marked by deeper furrows.
No living witness appears among the rocks or scrub. The caves hold only echoing drips, disturbed dust, and the narrow evidence of hurried movement.
His aunt and the cousins remain behind at Sheotite, with the record room and descent token’s authority entrusted to him. No companion followed Lo pi.
The arch stands between the diverging trails. Beyond it, the cave darkness conceals whoever made the prints, leaving Lo pi’s next examination open.
“I take the left, watching for alarms and traps”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +1)
Lo pi enters the left passage, keeping his weight light and his gaze moving across the floor, walls, and low ceiling. Damp stone glints ahead.
Lo pi
The passage is quiet, but the dust has been disturbed recently.
He pauses at each change in the stone, examining hair-thin cords, loose chips, and shallow grooves before placing his boots. No alarm mechanism catches his eye.
A silver thread spans a narrow bend at ankle height, almost hidden against the rock. Beyond it, three black feathers lie in a deliberate line.
Lo pi steps over the thread without touching it and continues through the bend. The feathers remain undisturbed, and no bell, spell, or shifting stone answers his passage.
The tunnel opens into a low chamber where cold air gathers around a collapsed shrine. Fresh boot prints cross the dust toward a dark doorway beyond it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the collapsed shrine conceals evidence of the assault
“I search the oni shrine”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled -1)
Lo pi approaches the collapsed oni shrine, where cracked stone horns frame a recessed altar. Dust lies thick over old offerings and splintered wooden charms.
Lo pi
The dust is disturbed around the altar, not around the fallen stones.
He searches the shrine methodically, checking the offering bowl, the carved recesses, and the gaps beneath the broken altar slab. A sharp stone edge opens a shallow cut across his palm.
Blood darkens the dust, and the shrine answers with a low stone murmur. One cracked oni mask shifts aside, revealing a narrow compartment behind it.
Inside rests a black cord wound around a bronze seal marked with the same outward-reaching curse symbol recorded in Sheotite’s ledger. A few fresh grains of cave grit cling to it.
Lo pi takes the bronze seal and cord, completing his search. The murmur fades, but the disturbance carries through the chamber toward the dark doorway.
The shrine has yielded a tangible link to the recorded curse, at the cost of blood and a noise that may have announced his presence.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the collapsed shrine conceals evidence of the assault
+ New Item Acquired
Bronze seal
+ New Item Acquired
Black cord