The ward-lanterns gutter over shattered truce-stones and the fallen, their blue light revealing that the crossroads was attacked after the Council’s deliberation ended. The orc spokesman is gone, departed beneath the recorded truce.
The crimson champion stands rigid among the dead, crimson mail darkened with dust, while the eldest councilor grips her carved staff beside a cracked ward-stone. Neither offers an explanation.
Knights arrive from every realm, each bearing a different sigil on battered cloaks and shields. Their captain, a middle-aged woman in black-and-gold plate, dismounts and surveys the crossroads.
the black-and-gold captain
No arrests. No accusations. We investigate what happened, and whose hands left these marks.
The knights spread through the mist. Some examine shallow tracks veering toward the northern ravine; others study wounds and splintered stone, where several distinct weapons appear to have struck.
Ellana
The tracks do not all belong to one warband.
A green-black rune still pulses beneath the wreckage, carrying a residue unlike the orc spokesman’s magic. The crimson champion turns toward Ellana as the investigators begin arguing over which Rogue Tribe to pursue first.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the attackers at the crossroads
“I compare the northern tracks with the wounds and weapon marks.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -1)
Ellana follows the northern tracks through the mist, comparing heel marks, stride, and weight against the angles carved into the shattered stones. The freshest impressions belong to several sizes of boot and claw.
Ellana
The northern tracks do not match the weapons that struck these stones.
She kneels beside the wounds and traces their direction without touching them. Broad axe cuts face east, narrow spear-thrusts face inward, and a hooked blade scored the ward-stone from the south.
The tracks lead toward the ravine, but none carries the weight or stance of the attackers who made the deepest marks. The ambush came from more than one direction.
the black-and-gold captain
You have separated pursuit from assault. Say it plainly, knight.
As Ellana lifts a splintered rune-stone for closer comparison, its lingering magic bites through her glove and numbs two fingers. A faint green-black stain remains across the leather.
the black-and-gold captain
Then the ravine trail may be a lure, or a retreat by only one faction. I will halt the first pursuit and mark every weapon signature.
+ New Item Acquired
Splintered Rune-Stone
“A smart enemy choose the Battlefield a reckless one lets the enemy choose”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
Ellana
A smart enemy chooses the battlefield. A reckless one lets the enemy choose it.
Ellana holds the green-black-stained glove between them. The numbness has spread into her palm, and her fingers close slowly around the splintered rune-stone.
the black-and-gold captain
Then the ravine is not a trail to follow blindly. It is ground selected for us, or made to look selected.
The captain turns sharply and raises two fingers. The knights at the northern edge halt, their boots sinking into the mist instead of carrying them toward the ravine.
the black-and-gold captain
No one enters that cut until we know who benefits from drawing us there. Mark the approaches and preserve the tracks.
A scribe approaches with wax and cord while the captain studies the broken stones. Green-black residue flakes from Ellana’s glove onto the ground, leaving two fingers stiff and useless for the moment.
“Send a few Scouts to look around to see If they can position on ridges above”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Ellana gestures toward the surrounding slopes, directing several of the knights to scout the ridges above the crossroads while the main force remains among the stones.
the black-and-gold captain
Take the high ground, but do not descend into the ravine. Watch for movement, signal anything unusual, and leave every track untouched.
Four scouts break away in pairs. Cloaks bearing blue, white, and ochre sigils fade into the mist as they climb separate approaches, circling wide around the suspected lure.
From the western ridge, one scout raises a pale signal cloth. Another appears above the eastern shelf, crouched behind a wind-bent thorn tree, while the remaining pair takes the northern crest.
the black-and-gold captain
There. We have eyes over every approach. No hidden host reaches the crossroads unseen.
The elevated positions reveal more than the ground did: narrow lanes cut through the heather toward the ravine, but no fresh column uses them. The scouts hold their ridges, watching.