The concealed group reaches home beneath the pine-shadow veil. Andromeda guides the magic around herself, Aurora, and the masked courier until the familiar shelter closes around them.
Inside, the courier places the red-wrapped wooden case on the floorboards. He keeps one gloved hand pressed over its leather ties while Aurora watches the entrance, bow ready.
Masked Man
The case carries a Concord instrument and a sealed message. Opening it may reveal who caused the disturbance on the northern trail.
Aurora Rose
May reveal, or may announce us. Tell us what kind of danger follows before anyone touches the ties.
The courier tilts his iron mask toward the shuttered window. Beyond the home’s concealment, leaves shift in a faint repeating pattern, advancing from the northern trail.
Masked Man
That pattern is not wind. Someone is searching by intervals, testing for the path we used. They may already suspect this shelter.
Aurora Rose
Then we have little time. Keep your hand where it is, courier. Andromeda, the next choice belongs to you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the courier and Concord case from the searchers
“"You two should go to our family grotto and bunker down. Ill encounter the pursuers and see if I can mislead and direct them away."”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +2)
Andromeda Ambrosius
You two should go to our family grotto and bunker down. I will meet the pursuers and mislead them away.
Aurora studies Andromeda for one taut moment, then nods. She gathers the red-wrapped case while the courier keeps his gloved hand over its ties, and together they move toward the concealed grotto path.
Aurora Rose
We will secure the grotto and keep the case hidden. Do not let them turn you toward the house.
Masked Man
The Concord owes you more than thanks. I will guard the instrument and message until you return.
Aurora and the masked man disappear through the rear passage, their steps fading beneath layered wards and stone. The family grotto receives them, and its concealed entrance settles shut behind them.
Andromeda leaves by the northern side, crossing the damp ground where the searchers expect a fleeing group. She scuffs fresh tracks toward the old ravine, then breaks a dead branch and lets its crack carry through the trees.
Beyond the shutters, the repeating leaf-pattern stops. Several figures answer from the mist, and their pursuit angles away from home toward the ravine. Andromeda has drawn them off the shelter's trail.
Quest Complete
Protect the courier and Concord case from the searchers
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Good→Great
“I attempt to notice what group or faction the pursuers are associated with as they pass by me along the false trail I expertly gave them.”
FAILURE (Good Perception, rolled -2)
Andromeda crouches beside the false trail as the pursuers pass through the mist. Their spacing is disciplined, but cloaks and hoods conceal faces, colors, and insignia.
She tracks boots, weapons, and hand signals through gaps in the brush. A sudden turn of one searcher forces her lower, and wet leaves blur the only clear view.
Andromeda Ambrosius
Their formation is trained, but I cannot identify the faction.
The group continues toward the ravine, following her expertly planted signs. As the last figure passes, a cord at their belt catches briefly on a thorn.
The cord bears a small clay token stamped with a split circle, not the Concord’s three-pointed mark. Its underside is smeared with blue-gray chalk.
Andromeda cannot name their allegiance, but she now knows they are not Concord agents and that their searchers mark routes with the same chalk. The group disappears downslope, leaving the token snagged behind.
“I collect the token and quickly go to the grotto once they have gone far enough away to be safe. I mean to ask the masked man what he may know about this faction from this new piece of evidence.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +0)
Andromeda lifts the clay token from the thorn and closes her fingers around it. The split circle is rough beneath her touch, its blue-gray chalk still faintly powdery.
Once the searchers fade beyond the ravine, she retraces the concealed route toward the grotto. Layered wards admit her, then settle quietly behind her.
Aurora stands near the grotto entrance with her bow lowered but ready. The masked courier remains beside the red-wrapped case, one gloved hand guarding its ties.
Andromeda Ambrosius
I found this on one of the searchers. What do you know about the faction using the split circle and blue-gray chalk?
Masked Man
The split circle belongs to the Severance, a clandestine faction that disrupts treaties and isolates communities before pressure becomes open conflict.
Masked Man
Their route-marking chalk is mixed with ash and river clay. It lets their agents recognize prepared paths, though it does not reveal who commands them.
Aurora Rose
Then the search was deliberate. They were not merely hunting the courier. They were testing whether this shelter connects to the Concord.
Secure the courier's cooperation in protecting the grotto
Quest Complete
Discover who is behind the disturbance
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Good→Great
+ New Item Acquired
Severance Token