Evening settles over the hospice. Sella places bowls of spring water at the table’s corners and draws thin salt lines between them, while Elian keeps Mara’s ring beneath his palm.
Sella Marr
These barriers will not stop the heir, but they may show us when its influence crosses the room. Watch the water, and do not disturb the salt.
Sella unlocks a second compartment beneath the ledger and removes several folded testimonies, each sealed with dark wax. Their edges are worn from years of hiding, not reading.
Rowan
Mara carried this ring back here. What did Oren learn before he became the chain? Surely the account says more than how he was lost.
Sella Marr
It says he discovered the heir cannot take a person whose name is unspoken, but it can wear the shape of someone trusted. Oren warned Mara too late.
Elian turns the ring toward the lamplight. A hairline symbol inside the band catches the spring’s reflection, and one salt line trembles though nothing touches it.
Sella Marr
We prepare without speaking names. We use signs, written marks, and agreed gestures. Trust will matter more than courage when the heir borrows a familiar voice.
“"We must call each other by different names then. Even introducing ourselves to people we don't know. And why did that line of salt move when we saw the hairline symbol inside the band?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Davis of Carmathen
We must call each other by different names, even when introducing ourselves to strangers. Why did the salt move when we saw the symbol inside the ring?
Sella sets the ledger aside and studies the ring without touching it. Elian keeps his palm over the band as the trembling salt line settles into a narrow curve pointing toward him.
Sella Marr
Because the mark is not decoration. It is a blood-sign, and the heir recognized the old bond when the ring caught the spring’s reflection. The salt answered that recognition.
Sella draws two blank slips from the ledger compartment and places them between the bowls. She writes no names, leaving the choice unclaimed by ink or magic.
Sella Marr
Use names chosen only for this road, and never write them beside your true ones. Speak the false names aloud only to one another, then let strangers hear nothing true.
Rowan
Then call me Rowan. If the heir borrows my voice, you will know that Rowan is the name it must not hear from me.
The ring’s inner symbol darkens beneath Elian’s palm. This time, the salt remains still, confirming Sella’s explanation: the mark reacts to recognized blood and awakened influence, not to every movement nearby.
“"Call me Gaston." I put my hand over the band to see if it reacts to me.”
FAILURE (Good Perception, rolled -2)
Davis of Carmathen
Call me Gaston.
Davis places his hand over Elian’s palm, but the ring remains beneath it, held by Elian rather than within Davis’s reach. The band stays covered and cannot answer him directly.
Rowan
Gaston, then. But you are touching my hand, not the ring. I cannot tell whether it recognizes you through me.
The ring darkens beneath Elian’s palm. A nearby salt line bends sharply toward their joined hands, while the bowls of spring water remain perfectly still.
Sella Marr
Remove your hand. The sign is answering the bond through Elian, not testing the name you chose. Do not give it another path.
Elian lifts his palm away, keeping the ring enclosed in his fist. The salt straightens at once, but the dark mark remains visible through the gap between his fingers.
Rowan
We need a sign that reaches the ring without blood, touch, or a spoken true name. Gaston is safe for now, but the band has not accepted it.
Sella Marr
The ring is listening through the old bond already.
“"So nothing changes when one is holding the ring. Only one can be bonded. May we see what happens when I hold it?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Davis of Carmathen
So nothing changes when one is holding the ring. Only one can be bonded. May I see what happens when I hold it?
Sella Marr
Yes. Elian, place it in Gaston’s open hand. Keep your true name unspoken, and watch the water before you watch the mark.
Elian opens his fist and sets Mara’s ring in Davis’s palm. The metal is cold, yet its inner symbol brightens at once beneath his fingers.
Every salt line bends toward Davis’s hand. The spring water shivers in all four bowls, and a dark reflection gathers inside the ring like a pupil opening.
Rowan
It answered you directly. The bond is not only between our bloodlines. It can recognize the hand carrying the sign.
Sella Marr
And it has not chosen you. Recognition is not possession. Remove the ring, Gaston, and we will learn whether the influence follows the bearer or the bond.
The ring remains securely in Davis’s hand, its symbol dark against his skin. The water continues trembling, giving him a clear measure of the heir’s attention.
+ New Item Acquired
Mara's Ring
“I turn my hand upside down and set the ring on the table. I wonder if this means that I may have some kind of magical tie, but that worries me. "What do you think this means?"”
Davis turns his hand over and sets Mara’s ring on the table. The dark reflection inside the band narrows, and every bent salt line slowly straightens as the spring water grows still.
Davis of Carmathen
What do you think this means?
Sella Marr
It means the ring can recognize you as a bearer, Gaston. That is not the same as choosing you, and it does not prove the heir has formed a tie with you.
Sella leans over the table without crossing the salt. The ring remains dark and quiet, while the water reflects only lamplight and the pale rafters above.
Rowan
It recognized your hand before it recognized my bond. That worries me too, but the silence after you set it down is a good sign.
Sella Marr
For now, the safest conclusion is simple: the ring responds to awakened blood-signs and to the person carrying it. We can test nothing further tonight without giving the heir another invitation.
The ring rests between the bowls, harmlessly still. Elian keeps his hand near it without touching, and Sella begins copying the result into a blank testimony, leaving Davis’s chosen name unwritten beside the sign.
“"How long until Rowan should be healed from his wounds? Once he is healed, we should head to the nearest village for more help. What would you suggest? Are there others that know of this curse and have helped or would help?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Davis of Carmathen
How long until Rowan is healed? Once he is, we should reach the nearest village for help. What do you suggest, and who else knows this curse?
Sella examines Rowan’s bruising beneath the hospice lamplight, then checks his breathing and balance. The ring remains still between the bowls, giving the room no warning.
Sella Marr
His wounds should close well enough for walking in two days, and he should be fully healed within a week if he rests. Do not hurry him before then.
Sella Marr
The nearest village is Bellwater, east along the pilgrim road. Go there after his two days of rest. Its shrine-keeper keeps older records than mine and may know living witnesses.
Sella marks Bellwater on a plain slip of parchment, then adds the names of three places: the hospice, the eastern shrine, and an abandoned gate beyond the hills.
Sella Marr
I am the only keeper who has aided these bloodlines directly. The shrine-keeper at Bellwater has studied the curse, and an eastern archivist may help, though neither has faced the heir.
Rowan
Then we rest two days, travel to Bellwater, and seek both records and witnesses. We will carry salt, spring water, and no true names.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach Bellwater
✓ Quest Accepted
Receive Sella’s aid for the journey
“"Sounds like a plan for me. In the meantime, how can I help you Sella these two days? What can you teach me also? And where are we sleeping?" I go to grab the ring again as we're cleaning up”
Davis of Carmathen
Sounds like a plan. While Rowan rests, how can I help you, Sella? What can you teach me, and where are we sleeping?
Sella gathers the bowls and folds the salt-marked cloths. Davis reaches for Mara’s ring as they clear the table, lifting it carefully from the lamplit wood.
Sella Marr
You can help by copying testimonies, tending the spring, and learning the signs that reveal influence. I will teach you those signs before dawn.
The ring stays cold and quiet in Davis’s hand. None of the salt lines bends, and the spring water keeps reflecting only the steady hospice light.
Sella Marr
There are two sleeping rooms beneath the arcade. Rowan will take the nearer one, where I can check his breathing. You may use the other.
Sella Marr
After supper, I will show you how to read a salt line without touching it, then teach you the old warning signs. Bellwater can wait two days.
Rowan settles back on the bench, while Sella carries the ledger toward the hearth. The hospice grows quiet around them, ready for rest and patient instruction.
“I sit on the bench by Rowan, thinking about how our lives became very entwined. "Rowan, know I will protect you through this. To help me help you, what do you know? Tell me about yourself?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +2)
Davis sits beside Rowan on the bench. The hospice fire murmurs softly, and lamplight rests over the salt-marked table where Mara’s ring lies quiet.
Davis of Carmathen
Our lives are bound together by blood, old warnings, and choices neither of us made.
Davis of Carmathen
Rowan, know that I will protect you through this. To help me help you, what do you know? Tell me about yourself.
Rowan studies Davis for a quiet moment, then shifts nearer, his guarded expression easing. He keeps one hand near Mara’s ring without touching it.
Rowan
Before the grove, I lived by following fragments of my grandmother’s warnings. I traveled from place to place, asking about old shrines and vanished relatives.
Rowan
I know little of my parents. My grandmother raised me, and she taught me that the Voss family survived by keeping its head down and its questions private.
Rowan
But I am done hiding from it. I remember the old places, the family warnings, and the fear in her voice. I will tell you everything I learn, Gaston, and I will stand beside you when we reach Bellwater.
“"I'm sorry you didn't know your parents. What skills did she teach you? What would you say are your biggest strengths?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +2)
Davis of Carmathen
I am sorry you never knew your parents. What skills did your grandmother teach you, and what would you call your greatest strengths?
Rowan lowers his gaze to Mara’s ring, considering the question. Firelight catches the guarded lines of his face as he gathers an answer without retreating behind silence.
Rowan
She taught me to read old maps, remember roads, notice when a place has been disturbed, and listen for what people leave unsaid.
Rowan
I learned some healing from herbs, though not as well as you seem to know it. I can mend clothing, keep a small fire alive, and travel quietly.
He touches the ring’s edge without lifting it, then meets Davis’s eyes. His voice steadies, becoming less an account of survival and more a declaration.
Rowan
My greatest strengths are memory, patience, and recognizing patterns. I know how to endure fear without letting it choose for me. And now I have someone beside me who will tell me when I am missing something.
The hospice remains quiet around them. Rowan’s answer leaves the room no brighter, but the distance between guarded strangers and trusted companions has narrowed.
“"Then you complement me well. I rush into danger without thinking. I have knowledge about all kinds of fighting and weapons. I am very forgetful. I also know how to cook. Speaking of, Sella, do you need assistance with supper?" I stand up to go help her”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +1)
Davis of Carmathen
Then you complement me well. I rush into danger without thinking, but I know fighting, weapons, and cooking. I am also very forgetful. Sella, do you need help with supper?
Davis rises from the bench and crosses toward the hearth. Rowan watches him go, one hand resting near Mara’s ring while the firelight shifts across the quiet hospice.
Sella Marr
I do. Fetch the barley from the lower cupboard, then wash the spring onions. You may take charge of the pot once the fire is steady.
Sella points out the cupboard and sets a blackened iron pot over the hearth. Davis finds the barley, rinses it, and gathers the onions without disturbing the ledger or salt-marked table.
Davis of Carmathen
The hearth is hotter than it looks, but the pot is sound.
Sella Marr
Good hands, Gaston. Add the barley slowly, and keep stirring. Supper will be ready before the second bell.
Davis settles into the work, stirring barley and onions as their savory steam fills the hospice. Rowan’s guarded smile appears from the bench, and Sella begins preparing herbs beside him.