The Vatican floor shudders again. White light seams the cracked marble, and the Researcher snaps both hands over the breach, forcing a shaky lattice of spellwork into place.
The Prisoner plants themself between Alice Feilth and the shrinking ward, half-turned, tense, eyes fixed on the glowing device at Alice’s side.
The Researcher
Hold still, both of you. If the field catches, the ruin may stand long enough for me to seal it.
The air hisses with ozone. Dust rains from the broken dome as another tremor runs through the square, hard enough to rattle loose stone around everyone’s feet.
The Prisoner
And if it does not catch? You were going to bury me to buy time.
The Researcher flinches, glancing from the fissure to Alice’s device. His spell brightens, thin and unstable, like a net tied from smoke.
One more crack sounds beneath the marble, and the whole ruin threatens to drop into the light below, forcing the choice in front of Alice Feilth now: stop the collapse, trust the Researcher’s ward, or act before the Vatican falls apart.
✓ Quest Accepted
Force the Researcher to reveal the device’s origin
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the collapsing Vatican ruins
“Dash toward the researcher to seize the glowing device.”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +3)
Alice Feilth bursts past the Prisoner’s shoulder, boots skidding on grit, and drives straight for the Researcher’s shaking ward.
The Researcher jerks back too late. Alice’s hand closes on the glowing device at his side, yanking it free as his spell lattice shivers apart.
The Researcher
No, wait, that is not yours to touch!
Light spills across Alice’s fingers. The device thrums hot and eager, while the fissure below them widens with a grinding crack.
The Prisoner
You wanted the truth. There it is, in his hands.
The Researcher stares at the stolen device, alarm turning sharp and naked as dust pours from the broken dome.
The Researcher
If you want to know where it came from, then do not let the floor swallow us before I can speak.
“I press the device to demand answers”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Alice Feilth plants the device against the broken wardline and holds it there. The glow steadies, then turns inward, like a key finding its own lock.
The Researcher
Stop. It responds to you because it was made to recognize a bearer, not because you stole it.
He swallows hard as the floor gives another groan beneath them, dust sifting from the dome in a thin white rain.
The Researcher
It came from beneath the Vatican, from a chamber we found sealed after the destruction. We did not forge it here.
The Prisoner
You say that like it excuses you.
The device warms in Alice Feilth’s hand, and a hidden seam of symbols slides across its face like waking script.
The Researcher
If you want the rest, move. The collapse is taking the square with it.
Quest Complete
Force the Researcher to reveal the device’s origin
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Fair→Good