The cart ruts descend through reeds to the abandoned ferry-house. Its warped doors stand open above a silted landing, where river damp darkens the timbers.
Hadrik remains beneath the third alder with the older ledger fragment. Seren leads Mara inside, while Lessa follows closely, one hand guarding the oilskin packet beneath her coat.
Lessa Orin
The ferrymen used this place before the river shifted. If the loyalists moved people through here, they needed more than the visible landing.
Behind a collapsed counter, Seren uncovers a concealed pulley fixed into the wall. Coded route marks circle its iron housing, and fresh mud streaks a narrow compartment below.
Seren Vale
The marks match the gray thread, but the pulley is newer than the house. Someone used it recently, then disturbed the compartment to hide the mechanism.
A taut cord disappears through the floor toward the riverbank. The pulley’s counterweight hangs ready, and a faint vibration travels along the line from somewhere beyond the landing.
Lessa Orin
Operating it may reveal their method, but the sound could carry along the river road. We should decide whether knowledge is worth announcing that we are here.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the loyalists’ transport method
“"I'll move us down telekineticlly." I tell them " I'll levitate us down, no nose from the pulley." I share”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -1)
Mara
I’ll levitate us down. No noise from the pulley.
Mara gathers violet force beneath herself, Seren, and Lessa. Their feet leave the floor together, while the pulley and its taut cord remain perfectly still.
The three descend through the ferry-house shaft in a controlled silence. Damp stone closes around them, and the faint vibration along the cord fades above.
Seren Vale
Clean work. The mechanism never moved, and no one on the river road should have heard us.
Mara sets all three gently onto a cramped lower landing beside the hidden compartment. The effort leaves two fingers of her casting hand numb and a thin tremor in her wrist.
Lessa Orin
The lower route is here. Whatever they moved through this place, they did not want the landing seen.
Seren Vale
Mara got us down safely, but that working cost her. I will watch the passage, not press her hand.
“I inspect the hidden compartment and transport line,also I asorbe magical energy through my hand to release the numbness and heal myself”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +1)
Mara examines the hidden compartment and transport line. The mud reveals a narrow cargo cradle below, sized for bundles or a restrained passenger, with recent river silt on its runners.
The cord passes through a bronze guide and descends toward a submerged bank tunnel. Its knots mark lowering, stopping, and retrieval, while gray thread identifies the loyalists’ handling.
Mara
The line carries weight beneath the river, and the mechanism records movement without speaking for anyone.
Mara places her numb hand against the guide and draws its stored enchantment inward. Cool current travels through her palm, unwinding the stiffness without disturbing the cord or compartment.
Sensation returns to all her fingers. The tremor leaves her wrist, and the bronze guide settles into ordinary silence as the remaining charge disperses harmlessly through the stone.
Seren Vale
A hidden transport line beneath the river, and no fresh disturbance below. We know how they moved people, but not yet where the lower tunnel emerges.
Lessa Orin
Then we have the method without exposing the refuge names. I can bring this account to Councilor Merrow, and the evidence will travel with us.
Quest Complete
Identify the loyalists’ transport method
New Gift: Mastered Chamberwise Egress
“"seren, take less to Councilor merrow, I'm going to go ahead." I say”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)
Mara
Seren, take Lessa to Councilor Merrow. I’m going to go ahead.
Seren nods and turns toward Lessa, while Mara follows the bronze guide’s line to the submerged bank tunnel. The lower landing remains quiet.
Seren Vale
Understood. Lessa and I will reach Merrow with the route evidence and keep the refuge names concealed.
Lessa Orin
I will go with her. Councilor Merrow should receive the evidence directly, before anyone can recast it.
Seren checks the passage behind them, then leads Lessa back toward the silent shaft. Lessa keeps one hand over her oilskin packet, and neither touches the pulley.
Mara moves ahead alone along the lower landing, entering the narrow bank tunnel beneath the river. Wet stone closes around her, and the transport line continues into darkness.
Seren Vale
We will report what the mechanism shows, not what it implies. Go carefully, Mara. We will meet Merrow and preserve the distinction.
Determine where the submerged bank tunnel emerges
“"seren, take less to Councilor merrow, I'm going to go ahead." I explain.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -2)
Seren leads Lessa up the silent shaft, carrying the route evidence while leaving every concealed refuge name undisturbed. Their footsteps fade toward Councilor Merrow.
Seren Vale
We will reach Merrow safely. Your evidence stays yours, Lessa, and we will report only what the mechanism proves.
Lessa Orin
Then let the council hear the truth before Veyra’s people can reshape it again.
Mara follows the bronze guide alone through the submerged bank tunnel. River water presses cold around her boots, and dim blue seams reveal a narrow dry shelf ahead.
The passage slopes beneath the current and opens into a concealed stone culvert on the far bank. Mara emerges without moving the transport line, but the crossing drains another reserve of prepared energy.
Her casting hand trembles, and two fingers go numb again. The cost is contained, while the tunnel behind her remains open and the ferry-house route is fully bypassed.
Seren Vale
Mara is ahead, and Lessa is with me. Merrow will receive the evidence before the loyalists can reach either route.
Director's note
There was no spell cast, a success but for Persuasion makes no sence for a magic backlash
“I inspect the culvert for watchers and exits.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled +0)
The culvert is narrow but stable, its blue seams revealing a dry shelf above the river’s pressure. Mara pauses at the entrance and studies every shadow.
No watcher waits in the culvert. Dust lies undisturbed along the shelf, and the faint blue light reveals no hidden ward, listening aperture, or recent footprint.
Mara
The culvert has three exits: back to the submerged tunnel, upward through a grated bank shaft, and east through a dry maintenance passage.
Mara traces the eastern passage with her eyes. It opens toward reeds and open air beyond the far bank, while the upper shaft ends beneath a loose stone cover.
The river conceals the tunnel entrance from the ferry-house, and the culvert’s angles prevent anyone above from seeing Mara’s position. No presence answers her inspection.
Seren Vale
The route is clear, then. We will keep to Merrow’s road while you choose whichever exit gives you the safest view.
Mara has a secure retreat and two concealed approaches ahead. The dry eastern passage offers the least exposed route, its blue seams continuing quietly into the reeds.