The farm track bends beyond the roadside fields, and the tutor leads Frumius to a low, abandoned schoolhouse half-hidden by cypress and waist-high weeds. Dusk stains its cracked plaster purple.
Inside, stale dust coats the benches. Clay storage jars line one wall, while neglected wax tablets lie scattered beneath a warped writing board. The air smells of dry reeds, old smoke, and rain-soaked earth.
Gaius Neratius
No one comes here now. That is what I was told, at least.
He shuts the swollen door and lowers his voice. Beyond the thin walls, field crickets pulse in the dark, but a single twig snaps near the rear window.
Gaius Neratius
If Varro found the tablets, he would burn every name before sunrise.
One wax tablet bears a fresh smear across its seal. Near the window, a footprint presses into the dust, sharp-edged and recent.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the tutor safe from the intruder
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify who is tracking the tutor
“I inspect the fresh footprint and the snapped twig by the rear window.”
SUCCESS (Fair Perception, rolled +0)
Frumius crouches at the rear window, tracing the footprint without touching it. The heel is narrow, the sole cut with military hobnails, and the dust holds a faint smear of olive oil.
Therefore, the snapped twig is no accident. A strip of dark wool clings to its splintered end, matching the coarse cloak fibers caught beside the print.
Frumius
The watcher stood here, then moved toward the cypress.
But Frumius's shield edge clips the warped bench as he rises. The bench crashes against the wall, and dust spills from the rafters. His left palm scrapes against a broken reed, leaving a thin red line.
Gaius Neratius
That sound will carry across the fields. Whoever followed me knows we are inside.
The tutor snatches up the sealed tablet and retreats from the window. Outside, cypress branches shiver though the air has gone still.
Gaius Neratius
The print is a soldier's, then. Do we bar the door and read, or flee before he returns?
Quest Complete
Keep the tutor safe from the intruder