The blue channels abruptly dim without a badge shifting. Mara’s lamp becomes the only light, throwing the sealed door and four watch faces into wavering relief.
Adult Watch Woman
The passage is open. Keep the badges untouched.
Her voice carries Mando’s exact cadence, though she could not have heard him speak. She turns toward the sealed door as a slow pulse answers from within.
Mara Pell
That was not your voice to use. Step away from the door.
The first watch guard catches the woman’s arm while the second braces her shoulder. She resists without striking, staring at the door as another pulse thickens the warm air.
Adult Watch Woman
The passage is open. Keep the badges untouched.
Mara raises her lamp between the woman and the threshold. Behind the sealed door, something answers with a patient, measured throb, waiting for Mando’s next decision.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the watchwoman is resisting the entity’s influence
“Can the watchwoman hear me beneath that borrowed voice?”
NO (Likely, rolled 91)
The adult watch woman’s lips move with the borrowed words, but her eyes remain fixed on the sealed door. She does not turn toward Mando or react to anything beyond its pulse.
Mara Pell
She cannot hear you. That voice is speaking through her, not to her.
The first watch guard tightens his grip, while the second keeps the woman’s shoulder turned from the threshold. She offers no resistance to them, only repeats the same words toward the door.
Adult Watch Woman
The passage is open. Keep the badges untouched.
The phrase carries no recognition of Mando’s presence. Its cadence is an imitation drawn from the chamber, while the woman’s breathing remains shallow and her gaze never leaves the blue-lit seam.
Mara Pell
Do not answer it through her. She is still herself, but whatever is below has closed its attention around the door.
“I fortify the sealed doorway against the entity”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +0)
Mando plants his boots beneath the sealed blue doorway and drives the iron release bar across its inner brace. He keeps the badges gathered and untouched.
The stone bucks against his strength. His bruised shoulder grinds painfully into the wall, but he holds the bar fast until the doorway’s frame settles into a locked, immovable brace.
Mara Pell
There. It cannot answer through the threshold now. Whatever is below will have to break the stone itself.
The blue channels flare once, then dim behind the fortified seal. The borrowed voice dies in the adult watch woman’s throat, leaving only her shallow breathing.
Adult Watch Woman
I can hear myself again. The voice is shut away.
The first watch guard releases her arm, and the second lowers his bracing hand. Mando’s shoulder trembles beneath the armor, but the bar remains firm and the seal holds.
Mara Pell
You bought us a wall between the living and that thing. Rest the shoulder when we reach the tower yard. This brace will hold.
“i check on the influenced watch woman to see if there are any lingering affects or damage from her resisting”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +0)
Mando examines the adult watch woman in the lamplight, checking her eyes, breathing, pulse, and the skin around her throat where the borrowed voice passed.
Her pupils track the lamp normally, her pulse is steady, and no bruise, burn, or discoloration marks her neck. Her breathing is shallow from strain, not injury.
Mando Shunkar
No lingering mark. Her voice and awareness are her own.
Adult Watch Woman
I remember the words, but not choosing them. Nothing is pulling at me now.
Mara watches Mando’s inspection, then gently turns the woman’s face toward the lamp. The woman follows the motion without resistance or the doorward fixation.
Mara Pell
No sign of a lasting influence. She is shaken and tired, but sound. The thing below has lost its hold on her.
First Watch Guard and Second Watch Guard ease their grips completely. The adult watch woman remains upright, breathing evenly as the sealed blue doorway stays dark and silent.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the watchwoman is resisting the entity’s influence
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Superb→Legendary