The downhill road ends at a small hospice built around a clear spring. An elderly woman with silver braids, a russet shawl, and a carved walking staff steps beneath the covered arcade as Elian enters beside Davis.
Sella Marr
Set him beneath the arcade. The spring water will ease his bruising, and I can clean your hand. No danger follows you here.
The keeper leads them to a stone basin beside the spring. Elian lowers himself onto a bench, while she rinses Davis’s scraped palm and wraps it in fresh linen.
Sella Marr
I am Sella Marr. Your names are already in our oldest records, though I had hoped never to hear them spoken together.
Sella retrieves a leather ledger from a locked chest and opens it beneath the arcade. Several pilgrim testimonies describe Voss and Carmathen travelers arriving separately, then vanishing after asking about the buried heir.
Rowan
My grandmother told us the family hid a disgrace. She never said the Voss line had helped conceal a door, or that Carmathens were part of the warning.
Sella Marr
The records say both families agreed to silence. Before you plan where to go, you must decide whether silence still protects anyone.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover what happened to the vanished Voss and Carmathen travelers
+ New Item Acquired
Linen Bandage
“"Thank you for your help and hospitality. How long has this happened for? This curse?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +0)
Davis of Carmathen
Thank you for your help and hospitality. How long has this curse been happening?
Sella closes the ledger with one weathered hand, then rests her staff against the spring basin. Water murmurs beneath the quiet arcade.
Sella Marr
The curse is older than this hospice. Our first surviving record is seven centuries old, though it describes the same warning in nearly the same words.
She reopens the ledger and turns through brittle pages. Ink has faded to brown, but repeated entries mark Voss and Carmathen travelers disappearing across many generations.
Sella Marr
It does not happen every year, or even every generation. It stirs when descendants meet the old places, and the buried heir begins seeking a door.
Rowan
Then the shrine was not an accident. It recognized us because we arrived together.
Sella Marr
Yes. And now that it has recognized you, the records say its next choosing may come sooner than either family has feared.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Elian from the buried heir’s next choosing
“"Did our ancestors give any guidance on what to do or what to look out for? It's magic, so we need magic. Is it hurt by swords? Anything else that would help us?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled -2)
Davis of Carmathen
Did our ancestors leave guidance on what to do or what to watch for? It is magic, so we need magic. Is it hurt by swords, or is there anything else that would help us?
Sella studies Davis over the ledger, then turns to a page marked by a strip of faded blue cloth. Elian leans closer despite his bruising.
Sella Marr
They advised three things: do not answer a voice beneath old stone, do not spill descendant blood upon a threshold, and never let the heir name you first.
She traces a cramped annotation beside the warning. The ink names iron, salt, and spring water as barriers, but a later hand sharply disputes iron’s strength against the heir itself.
Sella Marr
Swords can break what wears a body, if steel reaches it. They cannot wound the buried thing directly. Salt may bar its passage, and spring water may reveal where its influence lies, but the records disagree on whether either can hold it.
Rowan
Then we carry salt, keep the spring water close, and refuse every voice that asks for our names. What did the final account discover?
The answer costs them an afternoon of cross-checking brittle testimonies. By dusk, they have the guidance, but the oldest account remains incomplete where it should identify the heir’s weakness.
“"Why do you study me? Something on your mind? These things do help though. Do you know what happened to the travelers? It sounds like after they confronted the heir, they were able to pass through here. Is there something you're not telling us?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled -1)
Davis of Carmathen
Why do you study me? Something on your mind? These things help, but what happened to the travelers? Did they pass through after confronting the heir, or are you hiding something?
Sella’s gaze moves from Davis to the blue cloth marking the oldest account. Elian straightens on the bench, his attention fixed on her answer.
Sella Marr
I study you because the records describe a Carmathen with your eyes and your questions. That is not proof, but it is more than coincidence.
Sella Marr
Some travelers did confront the heir and passed beyond this hospice. They did not return. Others vanished before reaching the old places, and their companions came here alone.
She unlocks a narrow drawer beneath the ledger and removes a folded page, sealed with salt-stiffened wax. Its account names the last pair who left the hospice together.
Sella Marr
I withheld this because the final account says the heir learned their names from a guardian who believed silence would protect them. That guardian was me.
Rowan
Then you know what happened after they passed through. Tell us, Sella. We will not walk blind into the same choosing.
“"Please tell us then. Don't let that haunt you any longer."”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +2)
Davis of Carmathen
Please tell us, Sella. Do not let that haunt you any longer.
Davis’s quiet assurance settles beneath the arcade. Sella studies the salt-stiffened seal, then breaks it and unfolds the page with both hands.
Sella Marr
Their names were Mara Voss and Oren Carmathen. They left at dawn, carrying salt, spring water, and the warning never to answer what spoke beneath stone.
Sella’s finger follows the cramped lines. The account says the pair reached a ruined gate beyond the eastern hills, where a voice called each name from below.
Sella Marr
They answered nothing. But I had taught them that silence was protection, and I had written their names in the letter they carried. The heir read it through them.
Rowan
What happened at the gate?
Sella Marr
The gate opened without blood. Mara crossed first and returned herself, but Oren became the chain. He held the passage shut while she fled. She reached this hospice alone, carrying his ring, and never spoke again.
Quest Complete
Discover what happened to the vanished Voss and Carmathen travelers
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary