The wyvern blocks the gallery’s central floor without striking. Its amber gaze follows Everburn as the altered tablet answers with a low, resonant pulse through the stone.
Penelope
Look beneath the scattered script. Those marks match the tablet, and the old law is waking around them.
Crimson light from Everburn reveals paired sigils beneath the drifting letters. They form a path from the stair to the watch-marker, while the wyvern’s claws remain planted.
Penelope
It may be bound to a spoken command, not a battle. The guardian is watching the witness, not hunting us.
The altered tablet pulses again. Pale words rise above its seal: testimony requires presence, truth requires naming, and trespass yields to the ancient witness-law.
Penelope
Reach the marker and invoke the law correctly. If the gallery accepts your words, the testimony can be restored. If not, I do not know what the guardian will do.
Behind them, the stair remains open toward the harbor and the shipmaster waiting above. Ahead, the wyvern lowers its head, leaving only the marked path between Alexios and the pulsing tablet.
“I approach the marker and invoke witness-law”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +1)
Alexios advances along the crimson-lit path, Everburn held in his free claw while the darkened bindings keep his wounded shoulder close. The wyvern watches, but does not strike.
Alexios
I invoke the ancient witness-law. Let the named testimony stand, and let truth answer trespass.
His words settle into the marker. The tablet’s seal opens without breaking, and a circle of pale fire spreads beneath Alexios’s feet.
Wyvern
The witness has spoken truly.
The wyvern lowers its head and folds its wings, yielding the central floor. Suspended script descends into the tablets, restoring names and complete testimony in luminous lines.
Penelope
It accepted you. The guardian was bound to the law, and the testimony is open at last.
The altered tablet reveals a hidden inscription beneath its seal: the watcher was placed to test the truth of any claimant, not to conceal the council’s record.
Examine the restored testimony with Penelope
Quest Complete
Restore the gate’s buried testimony
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Superb→Legendary