The old watercourse is crowded with cut brush, chalked stones, and Lantern Veil markers circling a sunken junction. Sarthien Pell, a young human man in a mud-stained green coat, stands among the workers with a broad road map tucked beneath one arm.
Vaelis Thorn, Nera, Corven Voss, and Elian Voss remain with Mara, while the elderly elf woman leads them down the ravine. She studies each marker without touching it, her covered eye turned toward the disturbed earth.
The Elderly Elf Woman
These marks came after the burrower passed. The northern crew copied its breaks, then laid the chalk to redirect attention toward this junction.
Sarthien looks up from the map. Its roads cross the local hills, wind toward distant settlements, and converge repeatedly on the buried watercourse.
Sarthien Pell
We intend to open the old crossings, not the sealed arch itself. The routes should connect the hill settlements to Daggerford, if the foundations remain sound.
Sarthien Pell
My crews are clearing two approaches. One follows the burrower’s path from the lime kiln; the other reaches beneath this junction and continues east toward the old watercourse.
The Elderly Elf Woman
His map shows intended roads, not proven passages. Something older lies beneath the junction. If they break the wrong crossing, their trade route may become an opening.