Artania and Al return from the eastern rise as evening settles over the Capital. The brass mark remains hidden beneath the farmhouse paving stone, wrapped in its ward-cloth.
The Adventurers’ Guild has grown quieter. Behind the oak desk, Brunna Coppervein sorts contract slips while Maelin Voss trims her blue-black quill.
Brunna Coppervein
Back already, lad? The eastern farms must have offered more than a pleasant walk if Al looks that watchful.
Al stays close to Artania’s leg, glancing toward the doors. Artania places the marked contract on the desk, its corners damp from the field road.
Maelin Voss
I will begin with the ordinary details. Source of the lights, condition of the farms, and any danger requiring a guild notice.
Maelin unfolds the route record beside the contract. Her quill pauses over the eastern boundary, where several documented roads intersect in an unfamiliar three-hooked pattern.
Maelin Voss
Brunna, these route marks were not on the registry yesterday. They form a hooked pattern, and someone has added them in ink that is not ours.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine what the hooked route marks signify
“I look at Maelin and begin to explain. I searched the fields along road, finding strange residue on the road marker. Next I followed along the road till I discovered a well with a brass object with the hooked mark that you’ve noticed. I jumped into the well with a magic air pocket around my head, but then a trap sprung nearly sucking me farther into the well to drown me. Once I collected myself and looked at the brass mark I checked a farm house. When I called out no one was around. I searched through the house and out the back to find a shrine of all things. That is where some of the lights came from. As I crossed the threshold into the back shrine the mark in my hand cut me. I hid it beneath a stone at the farm as evidence for later. Finally I noted more lights even farther east. But did not have time before it started getting dark to check it out.”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled -2)
Artania Nero Thornson
I searched the fields along the road and found strange residue on the waystone. Following it led me to a well containing a brass object marked with the same hooked sign.
Artania Nero Thornson
I entered the well inside a magical air pocket, but a trap pulled me deeper and nearly drowned me. I recovered the brass mark, then searched a nearby farmhouse after receiving no answer.
Maelin’s quill stops. Brunna leans over the desk as Artania explains the hidden passage, the roofless shrine, and the mark cutting his hand at its threshold.
Artania Nero Thornson
The shrine was one source of the lights. I hid the brass mark beneath a paving stone at the farm as evidence for later. More lights appeared farther east, but darkness came before I could investigate.
Maelin Voss
That is a complete report, Artania. I will record the well, the trap, the shrine, your injury, and the concealed evidence. The eastern lights remain an open danger.
Maelin writes swiftly, but the ink on the route record crawls toward the hooked pattern. Her fingers stiffen around the quill, and a fresh blue-black stain spreads across the parchment.
Brunna Coppervein
You did right to return before nightfall, lad. But that mark has noticed the guild’s record now, and we must treat this report as watched.
Secure the guild’s trust in the report
Quest Complete
Report the findings to the guild