"The wind stinks of charcoal and old blood. Ash drifts like snow across the green fields. In the hills, something faint sings — a tune with no voice, just heat and hush. And everywhere, scorched bootprints that start… but never end."

Hired to investigate a blight harming crops, the party follows the smoke to an abandoned farmhouse. The field is burnt in perfect circles. Inside the home, a diary ends mid-sentence… and in the ashes beside the hearth lies a white gauntlet.

Significant NPCs:

• Farmer Jallik Wern – Claims to have seen a man with no tongue “singing” the smoke into the earth.

• Captain Velce of the Tempestmen – Camped in the hills, officially on a “navigation exercise.” She has not spoken in a week.

• Perr Brindle – Local hedge-witch whose family kept an old funerary cairn — now split open and empty.

Rewards:

• A smoked jawbone that allows once-per-day command — but costs one memory.

• A sealed scroll that burns when read aloud, revealing one lie someone told nearby.

• The Whisper-Mask: grants powerful advantage on persuasion… and slowly replaces the wearer’s voice.

Lore Tie-Ins:

The cairn once held the Warlock Ashroven, burned alive for crimes against the crown. His tongue was cursed to speak truth even to his enemies — and Faramond seeks that truth now.