The young man remains beneath the leaning gray slab, bronze horn lowered across his knees. His startled gaze moves from Mara to the old cairns.
The Cairn-Keeper
I am a cairn-keeper. The cadence is mine, but the warning is older than Ashbridge. Something is moving beneath the northern burial ground.
He sets the horn carefully on the stone and points toward a grass-choked cleft beyond the last cairn. No corpse stirs, yet the earth there trembles faintly.
The Cairn-Keeper
Not among the dead. Beneath them. It has crossed two sealed hollows since dawn, and the old markers are carrying its pressure toward the foothills.
The Cairn-Keeper
We have a narrow window before darkness. If it reaches the lower stones tonight, Ashbridge and Chief Raska’s camp may both stand above its path.
Behind Mara, the watch captain has returned to Ashbridge with the warning and agreement. Seren and Lessa remain far away on their own work; no companion stands beside her now.
The Cairn-Keeper
I can show you the buried markers, but I cannot promise the ground will remain quiet. Decide quickly, stranger.
Director's note
We know that Mara has left her other companions
“I summon 2 black butterflies to relay a message to the goblin chief, and the town captain to explain what I found and that I will investigate further. Then turn to the cairn keeper " let's go, show me."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +1)
Mara raises her healed hand, and two black butterflies unfold from shadow. Each carries her warning: the buried movement is real, she will investigate, and Ashbridge and the camp must prepare.
One butterfly flies toward Chief Raska’s camp, the other toward Ashbridge’s northern gate. Their dark wings vanish into the gray afternoon.
Chief Raska
We will move the families clear of the marked ground and keep watchers on the hills. Tell Mara we understand.
The Watch Captain
Ashbridge will hold the gates and warn the townsfolk. If the earth shifts, we ring the return bell.
The butterflies complete their messages and dissolve into harmless flecks of shadow. The cairn-keeper retrieves his bronze horn and steps toward the grass-choked cleft.
Mara
Let’s go. Show me.
The Cairn-Keeper
Stay close to the markers. They remember the safe ground, even when the thing below does not.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the buried markers with the cairn-keeper
“" what is a Carin keeper, dear" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -3)
Mara
What is a cairn-keeper, dear?
The cairn-keeper pauses beside the grass-choked cleft. Mara’s question carries through the hollow, and a faint tremor answers from beneath the burial ground.
The Cairn-Keeper
A cairn-keeper tends the stone markers of the dead. We remember who lies beneath them, preserve the safe paths, and warn the living when those paths are disturbed.
The Cairn-Keeper
We are not priests, and we do not command the dead. Our duty is to keep burial ground from becoming forgotten ground, and to keep travelers from walking into danger.
As he speaks, the bronze horn slips against the stone and strikes it with a sharp note. The sound rolls through the cairns, drawing a deeper tremor from below.
The Cairn-Keeper
That is why I sounded the warning. The old markers remember pressure, and I listen for changes. What moves beneath us is crossing places no living traveler should cross.
The tremor fades, but Mara’s recently healed hand goes numb again from the horn’s resonance. The cleft remains open before them, its buried route marked by leaning stones.
“"in a way we perform the same function." I say . " I'm a necromancer, but I tend to the sports and help them move on if they wish, I do not command or raise the dead." I say plainly. "Well unless I need to ask some questions, the saying dead men tell no tales doesn't apply much to me." I smirk”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Mara
In a way, we perform the same function. I’m a necromancer, but I tend to spirits and help them move on if they wish. I do not command or raise the dead.
Mara
Unless I need to ask some questions. The saying that dead men tell no tales does not apply much to me.
Mara gives a small smirk. Beneath the leaning slab, the tremor fades, and the cairn-keeper studies her without reaching for the horn.
The Cairn-Keeper
Then you tend the boundary as I do, though your paths begin where mine end. I mark the dead. You listen when they choose to answer.
The Cairn-Keeper
That distinction matters here. Nothing beneath these stones should be commanded, and nothing should be dragged into speech against its will.
His guarded expression eases. He gestures toward the grass-choked cleft, where leaning markers form a narrow route through the disturbed ground.
The Cairn-Keeper
If questions become necessary, ask plainly. The old markers will show us where the willing dead may be heard, and where silence must remain silence.
“I follow the cairn-keeper through the markers”
SUCCESS (Legendary Survival, rolled +3)
Mara follows the cairn-keeper through the leaning markers. The stones guide her feet across firm ground, while the earth trembles in muffled pulses beneath the grass.
The Cairn-Keeper
Good. Keep your steps within the remembered path. The ground beyond it has forgotten what belongs above and below.
They pass between three weathered cairns and descend into a shallow hollow. Pale lines appear across the stones, revealing a buried route curving safely around a collapsed shaft.
The Cairn-Keeper
There. The markers have opened the old way for you. This path reaches the burial center without crossing the disturbed hollows.
At the hollow’s center, a ring of standing stones surrounds a narrow stair descending beneath the earth. No seal bars it, and the tremor fades below.
The Cairn-Keeper
The hidden center lies beneath those steps. I have never reached it safely, but the markers recognize your manner of listening.
A small black butterfly settles on the nearest cairn, carrying a faint echo from Ashbridge: the return bell remains silent, and both settlements hold their ground.
Quest Complete
Reach the buried markers with the cairn-keeper
Skill Upgrade: Athletics Superb→Legendary