“The Shrouded Vale”
Episode 8: Price of Patience
March 30, 2025
Pulling a small glass vial from beneath his cloak, Tavi Falconheart moves quickly to stop the bleeding and restore his strength. The liquid inside glows faintly—infused with crushed elderbark and phoenix moss.
Biting the cork free, he downs the contents in a single gulp. The taste is sharp, metallic, bitter. Warmth spreads through his chest and arm, dulling the pain, knitting the torn flesh closed.
He breathes easier now. Clearer. With the haze of pain lifted, his eyes return to the floor.
The runes beneath the dust glint faintly in the torchlight—etched in patterns of duality. It’s definitely a puzzle. Frowning, he brushes aside more dust… and then he freezes.
Gold!
Not much. Just a glimmer. Half-buried beneath one of the pressure plates marked with the more dangerous rune.
A memory surfaces. Years ago—before he left the druids—he had seen this trick before. The elders would set traps in the sacred groves, disguised as lessons. Gold, relics, fragments of bone—just enough to draw a greedy hand closer.
But not all who reached for the treasure were doomed. Tavi had studied the patterns, learned the pressure limits, the balance of weight and touch. He knew how to retrieve them without triggering what waited below.
If this was the same kind of trap… he just might come out of this a little bit richer.
The ceiling groans again—stone grinding ever nearer—as it creeps downward. Time is slipping away.