Drake and Mira follow the low crypt passage toward the broken saint. Behind them, the gray-robed spymaster descends in silence, while the mounted searcher remains above with his men.
The burial niche splits open from within. An emaciated elderly man steps through, wrapped in stained priestly robes, his hollow cheeks framed by a tangled white beard.
Brother Caldus
Do not advance. This passage has had a guardian since the royal procession vanished.
Brother Caldus raises a hooded oil lamp. No flame burns inside it. Instead, a pool of darkness presses against the glass, bending the surrounding light.
Mira
Brother Caldus? You still live?
Brother Caldus
Barely, courier. But I remember that seal, even broken. It belonged to the princess's household, and it opened doors that should have stayed shut.
Brother Caldus
Listen carefully. Someone below is wearing the princess's voice. If it calls your name, do not answer, no matter whom you believe you hear.
✓ Quest Accepted
Resist the tunnel summons
“A thought comes to me and I ask "Mira, who was calling from the old tunnels?"”
FAILURE (Mediocre Oratory, rolled +0)
Drake
Mira, who was calling from the old tunnels?
The question echoes beneath the crypt, but Drake’s quiet urgency finds no purchase. Mira’s eyes shift toward the blackened stones instead of meeting his.
Mira
I do not know. It sounded like someone speaking through deep water, wearing a voice I once trusted.
Brother Caldus
You ask her for a name when even names have become bait. That voice called only one word clearly.
Mira
Drake. Yours. Then it promised the princess was waiting below, beyond the sealed postern.
Mira’s answer leaves the passage still, while the lamp’s contained darkness leans toward the lower stair. The broken saint’s postern is near, but the warning has changed its meaning.
Brother Caldus
It may be a lure, or it may be the princess’s last refuge. I can show you the postern’s ward, but opening it will reveal which.
“my reckless nature kicks in and I say "Show me the postern's ward."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +2)
Drake
Show me the postern’s ward.
Drake’s reckless command carries through the crypt. Brother Caldus studies him, then turns toward the broken saint without wasting another breath.
Brother Caldus
Then watch, and remember what you see. The ward obeys truth, but it recognizes a spoken name as an invitation.
Caldus raises the dark-filled lamp. Its shadow spills across the saint’s cracked stone chest, revealing a thin royal sigil beneath centuries of dust.
Brother Caldus
The broken seal must rest against this mark. When the postern opens, the ward will ask whose voice waits below. Answer nothing.
He presses two fingers to a concealed groove and traces its ancient lines. The blackened stones brighten with a dull violet sheen, outlining the sealed postern clearly.
Mira
There. That is the door they feared. Whatever wears the princess’s voice waits on the other side.