Over the centuries the forest's edge ebbs and flows. Sometimes it rolls over homes and villages, stranding them amidst the trees. Though most of the residents leave rather than remain adrift in the great green wood, some remain. Those who do are secretive, clinging to customs older than the rule of law.
Available actions[]
1.
Speak with the inhabitants What have they heard?
Difficulty: Rulership*2
Success: Woodslore The hermit who lives in the hovel knows countless secrets of the Applewoods: their gloomy dells, their wriggling paths. He's proud to share them, along with a cob of grainy black bread and a plate of gnarled vegetables. He cackles as he eats, spraying you with crumbs.
-1 Hour Remaining, +1 Closing In, (+1 Woods-wise or +5 Clues)
Success (alternate): Surprisingly well informed A crone huddles in the leaning hut, tugging a ragged cloak tight against the drafts that whistle through the numberless cracks in the walls. In a dull voice she tells you a trickle of titbits about the wood, and a torrent of gossip from every corner of Serault.
-1 Hour Remaining, +1 Closing In, + Woods-wise, +5 Clue
Failure: Secrets The straggle-haired, pale-eyed couple who live there regard you with frightened eyes. Are they husband and wife? Brother and sister? They do not speak. Are they mute? You leave them to their lonely secrets. The woods exact a toll from those who linger too long under the leaves.
-1 Hour Remaining, +3-4 Freedom, +2 Twilight
2.
Ignore the shack Continue the chase.
Difficulty: Derring-Do*6/5
Success: Undeterred Unwilling to grant your prey even a moments respite, your push on in pursuit. The shack is silent. Perhaps its inhabitant fled at your approach.
-1 Hour Remaining, +2 Closing In
Success (alternate): Undeterred Unwilling to grant your prey even a moment's respite, you push on. Suspicious eyes peer at you from the shack's one dark window, but their owner does not trouble you.
-1 Hour Remaining, +2 Closing In
Failure: Astray You press on, irritated by the huts you glimpse through the trees. Your quarry is likely to avoid populated places. If it passed this way, it wouldn't have lingered.
-1 Hour Remaining, +1 Closing In
