Dax crawls into the narrow green-lit channel. The air thickens with ozone and rot, and the walls answer with a low groan.
Hearn's bone charm pulses in lockstep with the key. The light does not steady. It drinks.
Hearn
Keep moving. The charm is holding it.
The key flares in Dax's pack. The charm flares back, brighter now, and a seam of old stone cracks along the tunnel wall.
The Exiled Prince
No. That is not a brace. He is draining it.
Hearn jerks his hand away, but the charm still hums against the key, tethered by the same pale rhythm. The passage shudders under the stolen power.
Robin Hood
Hearn. Speak plain, now.
The truth hangs in the green dark. The charm is not calming the summons. It is taking it, bite by bite.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose Hearn's true purpose
✓ Quest Accepted
Stabilize the control system
“I pull the glowing key from my pack to break the connection as I shove my shoulder against the cracking stone wall to brace it”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled +1)
Dax yanks the key free of his pack. The glow tears loose from Hearn's charm at once, thinning to a sharp green line in the air.
He drives his shoulder into the cracked stone. Dust bursts from the seam, and the wall holds under the strain.
Hearn
No, wait, keep it linked, I can...
Quest Complete
Expose Hearn's true purpose
“I shut the key away and force Hearn to explain the charm”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -2)
Dax snaps the key into his palm and jams it deep into his pack, twisting the flap shut with one hard pull. The green flare gutters, then stills to a faint pulse under the leather.
The chamber breathes around them, dust sliding from the seam as Dax keeps his shoulder against the cracked wall. The command lines stay lit, but their glow looks thin now.
Hearn
It was never only a charm. It drinks what the key gives off, then shapes the flow for me.
The Exiled Prince
So you have been feeding on it all along.
Hearn
I have been keeping this hollow from waking up wrong. If I let the surge run free, the whole root seam tears.
Robin Hood lowers his bow a fraction, but keeps his eyes on Hearn. Somewhere beyond the stone, the green-lit channel under the roots hums like a held breath.
Hearn
I can still name the next command, if you want the truth before the wall gives way.
“I make Hearn name the next command an stabilize the control system”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
Dax
Name the next command. I want the control system steady.
Hearn
The next command is Bind. It takes the siphon out of the charm and locks the flow to the wall.
Hearn lifts the bone charm between two fingers and presses it flat to the nearest rune line. The green glow tightens, pulling into a clean thread instead of a hungry leak.
The Exiled Prince
So that is what you have been hiding. A leash for the key.
The cracked seam answers with a low groan, but it does not split. Dust falls in a thin veil, and the humming under the roots settles into a steadier pulse.
Hearn
Not a leash. A drain. Without it, the next opening calls too hard, and the hollow tears itself open.
Robin Hood edges one step closer, bow still lowered, eyes fixed on the charm as the command lines in the wall hold their light.
Quest Complete
Stabilize the control system
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
