Eden hauls herself and the others into harsh daylight as the Underhall shudders behind them. Dust and broken stone spill from the lip of the breach, and the surface air hits like a blade.
The Archivist drops to one knee before anyone can question him. With shaking hands, he starts carving runes into the dirt, fast and frantic, his gaze snapping to Eden again and again.
The pattern is wrong. Those marks are not for warning, or prayer, or repair, they are a hook, laid in haste with Eden's own bound essence in mind.
The Archivist
At last. The key is here.
Nazareth Siranteos
Stop. What are you doing?
Nazareth steps in front of Eden at once, while Araneidan turns, all calm gone from her stillness. The Archivist keeps sketching, as if the collapsing ruin behind them is only background noise.
Araneidan Siranteos
Those runes are not for us. Eden, he means to use you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the Archivist's blood hook
“I grab the Archivist by his collar and demand he explain his betrayal.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +0)
Eden surges up and fists the Archivist by the collar, hauling him off his rune-scratching knees. Dirt tears under his heels as the charcoal skitters away.
Eden Siranteos
Explain it. Now.
The Archivist
You were always the hinge, Eden. I only meant to turn you.
Nazareth stiffens at the admission, and Araneidan’s weaver limbs flare wider, ready to strike. Behind them, the breach grinds and sheds dust, but the daylight holds.
The Archivist
The blood hook was mine. Your line was made to open what should have stayed shut.
Nazareth Siranteos
Then you are exposed before all of us.
Araneidan Siranteos
Say the rest. Who sent you?
The Archivist
No one sent me. I chose the cost, because someone had to.
Quest Complete
Expose the Archivist's blood hook