Robert remained crouched beside the stream for a while after the system's last response faded from his awareness.
sixty-eight percent. Investigation progress was rising, a new objective was quietly logged where only he could see it, and the confirmation that whatever they had encountered inside the hidden valley was no longer confined to it. He looked at the short sword lying in the wet grass, then at the tree line beyond the water, dark and unremarkable in the fading evening light.
He heard footsteps trailing him and turned around to see Sai, Ronan, and Eissa making their way toward him. Their faces showed the familiar alertness of those who had noticed he was missing and had come searching for him without needing an invitation.
"You should have called us over," Sai said.
"I wanted to look first," Robert said. "Before anything else disturbed it."
