EPISODE 4: The Thing in the Trees
TALES FROM THE VEILWALKER’S LODGE — Season One
The Lodge felt different after the faceless thing.
Not physically—the walls were still the same warm wood, the hearth still crackled with its usual amber flame, the floors still creaked in their familiar patterns. But there was a weight to the air now, a thickness that made breathing feel like work and turned every shadow into a potential threat.
Marra felt it most acutely in the hour before dawn, when she should have been sleeping but instead found herself standing in the eastern hallway, staring at the wall where the door had been.
The door to the room with the bow.
Except there was no door anymore.
Just smooth wood paneling, unmarred and innocent, like the room had never existed at all.
Marra ran her fingers along the wall, searching for seams, for the telltale warmth she’d felt before. Nothing. The wood was cool and solid under her touch, and the hook where the key had hung was gone too.
“Looking for something?”
Marra spun, knife half-drawn before she registered Harl’s voice. The old dwarf stood at the end of the hallway, arms crossed, expression unreadable in the dim pre-dawn light.
“I—” Marra stopped. What could she say? I found a secret room last night with a magical bow that showed me visions of my dead mother? “Couldn’t sleep.”
Harl’s gaze moved from her to the wall and back again. “The Lodge does that sometimes. Shows you things when it thinks you’re ready. Hides them when you’re not.”
Marra’s throat tightened. “And if I’m never ready?”
“Then it’ll wait.” Harl moved closer, his footsteps soft despite his bulk. “But in my experience, the Lodge doesn’t show you something unless you need to see it. Question is—what are you going to do about it?”
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