The skiff rides into quieter water, but the Sun-Eater records do not stay quiet. The stone seam set into the bundle gives a faint, unnatural pulse, like a heartbeat under ash.
Dravin
That seam is not a mark. It is a beacon.
Dravin snatches the records closer, turning them toward the lantern glow. The pulse answers the light, then brightens again, as if something far away is listening.
Bram
Tell me that is not what I think it is.
Dravin
It is worse. It points straight back to us, to the High Chapel.
The skiff seems suddenly too small. Slaan sees the truth settle over the deck, the records are not simply hunted, they are a lure, and the route itself has been feeding the Church their exact trail.
Slaan
The trap was inside the message all along.
✓ Quest Accepted
Neutralize the beacon in the Sun-Eater records
“I look to Kaelith" your a paladin, where does your faith stand, with saint morlon or with the all father?" I ask hastaly”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled -1)
Slaan looks from the pulsing bundle to Bram, then to Dravin, keeping her voice low over the water.
Slaan
You are a paladin. Where does your faith stand, with Saint Morlon or with the All Father?
Bram goes still. Dravin lowers the records a fraction, and the beacon light flashes across the skiff like a held breath.
Dravin
Faith is not my oath. But I serve Saint Morlon, not the Church that wears his name.
Bram
That answer matters. More than the blade in his hand.
Dravin
I have worn the Church's road before. I know what it leaves behind.
His thumb presses the glowing seam, and the pulse dims to a mean, steady throb. The records keep their secret, but the light stains his glove with ash.
“" then touch it and use sanctify on it"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +0)
Slaan reaches out and sets her fingers against the glowing seam.
Her sanctifying spell flows cleanly through the records, a cool wash over old ash and hidden intent.
The pulse sputters, then folds inward. The seam goes dark in her hand.
Dravin jerks his glove back, staring at the dull, inert mark where the beacon lived.
Bram
That is better. Much better.
Dravin
So. The lure is broken.
Ash drifts from Dravin’s knuckles onto the skiff plank. Out on the black water, the shore stays quiet, for now.
Quest Complete
Neutralize the beacon in the Sun-Eater records
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Good→Great
“" by the way, I was talking to Kaelith. Where is he"”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled -2)
Slaan
By the way, I was talking to Kaelith. Where is he?
Dravin
He is on Undead Isle, but not with us. He went ahead to carry word where I could not.
Bram
And you let him go alone?
Dravin
Not alone. He had a route, a token, and enough sense to use both. That is more than most are given.
Bram
A warning passed, then. Good. Bad. Both, maybe.
Dravin
Kaelith still moves where he is needed. If the sea has not taken him, Lord Markul will hear of him in time.
Bram
Then we keep moving, and hope your timing is as good as your certainty.