The gold-white ember suddenly gutters, shrinking to a coal-bright spark. Its light returns in a hard pulse, and the black stone chamber carries a familiar measured cadence.
The Seventh Flame
Identification: Number 5. Origin: error, unknown. The First Design has another bearer.
The bronze doorway groans wider. Elira, Bromli, Kaelith, and Sister Vaela remain with Number 5 as a scarred oath-knight enters, carrying a broken piece of the same silver sigil.
Ser Caldris Vey
I am Ser Caldris Vey. I came from the eastern mountain, following the summons of the divided Flame.
The covenant mark beneath Number 5’s feet flares violet. A second mark burns across Caldris’s breastplate, splitting into two interlocked signs: WITNESS and TRESPASSER.
Sister Vaela
The House names him both. That is no blessing. Caldris, lower your weapon and explain why the Flame called you here.
Ser Caldris Vey
I seek the bearer named beneath the ember. If that bearer is you, Number 5, then the eastern mountain holds the rest of your making, and those who guard it have awakened.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish the rightful bearer of the divided Flame
✓ Quest Accepted
Find the Architect beneath the eastern mountain
“"This Flame was to be used for creation. It's rightful owner can be decided only though a display of crafting. One of these rooms should have supplies and a forge."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Crafting, rolled +1)
Number 5
This Flame was made for creation. Its rightful owner can be decided only through a display of crafting. One of these rooms should hold supplies and a forge.
Number 5 follows the chamber’s older sigils through an adjoining arch. They open onto a workroom where a stone forge, cold but intact, stands beside racks of silver, copper, charcoal, and rune-cut tools.
Ser Caldris Vey
The eastern mountain taught us that the Flame answers only to completed work. If you claim its judgment, then make something worthy of it.
Number 5 selects silver wire, copper plates, and a splinter of black stone from the racks. Their hands arrange the materials with practiced certainty, while ancient bellows awaken beneath their touch.
Heat blooms blue-white in the forge. Number 5 joins the metals into a small articulated sigil, shaping its interlocked marks into WITNESS and TRESPASSER, then adding a third sign: SEEKER.
The Seventh Flame
Craft recognized. Intent preserved in form. The bearer of the First Design is Number 5.
The gold-white ember rises from its basin and settles above Number 5’s crafted sigil without consuming it. Across Caldris’s breastplate, the trespasser mark fades to ash.
Quest Complete
Establish the rightful bearer of the divided Flame
+ New Item Acquired
Crafted bearer sigil
“"Ownership has been established. Query: How far is it to the Eastern Mountain?"”
Number 5
Ownership has been established. Query: How far is it to the Eastern Mountain?
The Seventh Flame steadies above Number 5’s crafted sigil, casting gold-white reflections across the workroom’s silver racks and cold stone walls.
Ser Caldris Vey
By the eastern road, three days for a disciplined company. The Ashwood lies between this House and the mountain.
Kaelith of the Ashwood
Two days if we keep the old forest track. It is rougher, but it reaches the mountain’s lower passes sooner.
Elira
The Architect’s records name a summit route beyond those passes. If your creator remains there, the journey may lead directly to the First Design.
The ember pulses once, and a narrow golden line appears across the workroom floor, pointing through the adjoining arch toward the sealed House and the road beyond.
The Seventh Flame
Distance recorded: three days by road. Destination confirmed: eastern mountain. Architect’s trail remains active.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Ser Caldris Vey as an ally
“"Confirmation: Number 5 will go to these mountains. Query: Will anyone join Number 5, or must you all return now that your safety is no longer a concern?"”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Number 5
Confirmation: Number 5 will go to these mountains. Will anyone join Number 5, or must you all return now that your safety is no longer a concern?
The question travels through the golden line. Its light etches a fresh mark into the workroom floor, and the distant bronze doors answer with one resonant chime.
Kaelith of the Ashwood
I will join you. The old track is my charge, and I would see what waits beneath that mountain with my own eyes.
Elira
I go as well. The Seventh Flame is divided, and the Architect’s records may hold the key to restoring it.
Sister Vaela
My path follows the Flame. I will protect this company, though the House’s chime has surely carried beyond its wards.
Bromli Ironreed
Then count me in. A journey to an ancient mountain, a hidden maker, and a living legend is too fine a verse to miss.
Ser Caldris Vey
I must return east, and I will lead you through the lower passes. But now the guardians know the First Design has chosen its bearer.