The charm-dust on Delfarius’s sleeve brightens again, violet and rhythmic, answering the tower’s own pulse. Then the lie breaks, the dust is not residue, it is a tether, a hunter’s mark locked onto him from House Veyl.
Sir Kaelor
The key... it was never only for the wards. It is a signal, a true one.
Sir Kaelor jerks the iron key free, and the metal flashes once in the violet light. The pulse in Delfarius’s sleeve falters, then sharpens, as if the key and the charm-dust are answering the same summons.
Delfarius
So that is what they used.
Far above and behind them, the Obsidian Tower groans. Beyond the service crawl, the main gate grinds open under force, and booted feet spill into the tower’s silence.
Sir Kaelor
They have followed the trail straight here. To the inn, if you leave now... or to us, if you stay.
The violet glow on Delfarius’s sleeve steadies into a beacon, bright enough to betray the dark. Somewhere in the tower’s depths, Gregory Giffsyn is dragged onward, while the hunters close from the gate.
✓ Quest Accepted
Purge House Veyl's tracker from me
“"Sir Kaelor, I am glad, I think for the warning, but what the fuck are you doing here and not guarding Lady Veyra?" I look at Sir Kaelor's expression of the holy knight being gagged and restrained by my void and I throw my head back and laugh.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Delfarius
Sir Kaelor, I am glad, I think for the warning, but what the fuck are you doing here and not guarding Lady Veyra?
Delfarius snaps his gaze over the knight, then throws his head back in harsh laughter. The void binding still holds Gregory below, but the sound of boots at the gate keeps dragging at the tower’s pulse.
Sir Kaelor
I left her hidden, warded, and alive. The key answered the mark, and I came because the trail led here.
Kaelor lifts the iron key as if it burns his fingers. The violet tether on Delfarius’s sleeve flares in answer, bright enough to stain the obsidian wall.
Sir Kaelor
The hunters are inside now. If we do nothing, they follow that beacon straight to us, or to Veyra.
Far off, steel boots ring on stone, deeper in the tower. The mark keeps glowing, steady as a heartbeat, and the dark corridor waits for Delfarius’s next move.