Rift Plate 023 · Lantern Codex
Roadash
A prepared band turns helpful road signs and caravan momentum into an ambush that collapses on unfamiliar ground.
- Plate group
- Lantern Codex
- Classification
- Humanoid
- Field account
- Recovered
Recovered natural history
Field record
Burned-cut ambush
The improved road led into the burned cut. New markers showed the way. There were safe shoulders and useful supplies, with a bright ribbon at the fork.
Ash-colored figures rose out of the ditch. They went for the caravan's straps and traces. Maps were taken; buckles came apart. Kicking their guide stones aside stopped the impossible cutbacks. After that, their speed was ordinary.
Prepared-road tactics
Roadash studies who repairs a problem before springing the next one. Signs are altered, harnesses loosened. Supplies placed as help guide the burdened traveler where the raiders want them. The first rush takes movement and communication away. Rehearsed ash routes make the band fast, but the traps also borrow the convoy's own momentum.
Read the environment
Signs of its presence
New mile markers are made from wood older than the road.
Useful supplies are visible only from the most burdened traveler's position. Ashy footprints stop at wagon shadows.
Survival doctrine
Field precautions
01
Stop, then leave the prepared road
A disciplined halt breaks the handoff between traps. Away from the marked ash routes, the impossible cutbacks fail. They have to fight there as mortal raiders.
Recovered Field Plate
01
Primary form
A thin seated humanoid gathers elongated limbs beneath a broad hood or burdened upper frame.
02
Detail studies
Separate head and gear fragments preserve the wrapped, skeletal quality of the design.
Continue through the folio
023 of 100 recovered plates