The lower chamber opens like a throat of rough stone and shell dust. Ahead, the relic’s warded satchel hangs quiet at Sister Elowen’s side, but the hill answers with a distant clatter above. Something is coming down after you.
Harrow
The beacon found us. If the Baron’s men reach this room, they will take the relic.
Sister Elowen
Then we finish this now. Neko, the priest is beyond this way, but the seal must hold until we reach him.
A scraping rush comes from the upper passage, followed by harsh bootfalls and the scrape of iron on stone. Harrow shifts into the mouth of the corridor, ready to slow the hunters, while Elowen tightens both hands on the satchel and keeps the warded knot against her chest.
Harrow
Take Elowen and move. I will delay them as long as I can.
Below, the relic gives one last faint pulse, pointing past the chamber toward a darker tunnel and the waiting priest beyond. The hunted path is clear for a breath, and the choice falls to Neko, press on with the relic, or turn back into the coming fight.
Neko leaves Lower chamber beneath the hill behind and arrives at the priest.
“I follow Elowen toward the darker tunnel and we make it to the priest”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
The darker tunnel opens into a small stone chapel carved into the hill, where cold candlelight licks at prayer marks and damp mortar. Elowen stumbles in first, then steadies, and the warded satchel stays tight against her chest as the priest looks up from the altar.
Sister Elowen
Priest, we are here. Hold the seal, please, just a little longer.
Neko brings up the rear and the chapel door falls shut behind them with a heavy thud, cutting off the scrape from below to a faint, muffled echo. The priest steps down from the altar rail, eyes fixed on the satchel's broken seal and the dust on their boots.
The Priest
Set it on the stone. Quickly, both of you.
Elowen crosses to the altar and lowers the satchel with careful hands. The relic inside gives one dim pulse, then goes still, as if the chapel air itself is pressing it down.
The Priest
The seal is cracked, but it has not opened. Good. Very good.
Neko stands between the altar and the door while the priest gathers salt, wax, and a short strip of prayer cloth. The candle flames stop trembling, and for the first time in the hill, the room feels quiet enough to breathe.
Quest Complete
Get Sister Elowen safely to the next town
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
The chapel door held shut, and the rite’s low chant settled over the altar like a blanket of ash.
Sister Elowen
It is contained. At last.
Neko
Then let it stay buried.
The Priest
The seal is bound. The plague’s hand has been broken here.
When the last words faded, the relic no longer called to the dark. Outside, the hunters found only stone, silence, and a sealed chapel that would not yield. Neko stood with Sister Elowen and the priest in the hush of hard-won peace, and the making place of the Baron was lost to him.