Raven - Stage 1

Stage 1

That night when you drift off to sleep, you find yourself in a forest. Blanketed in the quiet of night and watched over by an oak moon, it feels familiar, though it doesn’t look like any place you know well.

You walk, though you’re not sure why, or where you’re going: until you hear the flap of wings overhead. You pause, and watch as a raven alights on a branch up ahead, cloaked in the shadows. It’s call is sharp, cutting through the silence, and you ignore it at first, continuing to walk. As you pass it without a look, the raven takes flight again, swooping past your ear with a woosh before alighting on another branch, and calling with another caw. It’s almost as though it is trying to get your attention. You look up, and for a moment, you’re sure you see recognition in its beady eyes.

It flaps away, landing on another low hanging branch, deeper within the forest and far from the well-worn path you were wandering. You hesitate, wondering if you should follow it. It does seem to want you to follow, you think, as it caws again- but a light draws your attention away. Farther along the safe, familiar route you were traipsing, there is a strange, blue glow, emanating low to the earth. As you watch, it seems to hum.

It is your choice:

Follow the raven OR investigate the light

Eight wolves follow the raven

Though the light was tempting, you cannot help but answer the raven’s call. You veer away and head into the thicket, following the raven until the branches are so thick overhead that even the last strands of moonlight are blocked out.

You almost don’t see it, stopping moments before your paw touches it, holding your foot aloft. Five stones, arranged in a circle.

The raven flutters down to land upon the earth on the other side of the circle. You notice, for the first time, that it has one blind eye. It caws loudly.

One stone begins to emit a gentle, warm blue light. Curious, you lean forward, and notice that the glow has revealed an etching, some kind of mark notched into the stone. It is an ancient runestone.

The raven caws again, but this time, it speaks your language.

Everything repeats.

You blink, and suddenly the stone circle is surrounded by another, larger circle of five stones.

You blink again, and a third circle, even larger.

You blink, and blink, and blink, and everytime, another circle swallows the one before, until all you can see as far as the horizon are stones. Five stones, arranged in ever growing circles.

AWAKE.

Six wolves investigate the light

The light draws your attention. You move toward it, following as it grows slowly brighter, until you find yourself at the opening of a cavern. You have never seen it before, but it seems indistinguishable from any other cavern.

You pause for only a moment, before following the light inside. The cavern extends backward, and the light seems to be farther away now than it was before. Yet again you follow, and the cavern seems to extend into an endless corridor.

It seems like hours that you are pacing through the darkness, unable to turn back, unable to stop moving forward. Eventually, the corridor opens, and you have to squint your eyes against the sudden bright light.

When your vision adjusts, you find that you are in a large cavern, dimly lit by the blue glow you had followed. When you lift your head, you notice something strange above you. Water. Like the surface of a lake, suspended above you.

As you watch, you see a dark silhouette, their paws upon the water as though they were walking on the surface. Another figure approaches, this one shrouded in light. You cannot make out the features of either one, from where you are below them, but you hear a voice, clear and powerful.

Aperio.

AWAKE.

8 ancient runestones have been found!

It’s enough to earn a clue. When they wake, the 8 wolves who followed the raven can remember the mark on the stone.

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