The party regroups on the first-level landing beside Tobin’s glowing rune marker. Behind them, the armor chamber falls silent, its haunted guardians temporarily left in the dark.
Mara spreads the fresh map across a broad stone ledge, pinning its corners with chalk and a brass compass. Tobin checks each measurement against the three branching passages.
Mara Vell
The proportions repeat here, here, and again beyond the western passage. These are not mason’s marks. They point toward a sealed stair.
Tobin Reed
The distances agree within a handspan, Mara. I marked the air currents as well. The stair should lie beyond the passage with the split lintel.
Mara studies Cassius over the parchment, copper-brown fingers resting beside the copied symbols. Tobin closes his journal and waits, one hand near his compass.
Cassius McGregor
The same symbol appears on every branch, but the rune marker remains undisturbed.
Mara Vell
We can proceed, but only if our formation is clear. Tobin, you remain between Cassius and me. No one advances past a marked threshold alone.
Reach the sealed stair