The siphon throbs brighter beneath the broken floor, violet light climbing the shaft walls like veins. Caelen’s echo wavers inside it, half there, half being pulled away.
Caelen
Vae, if you can hear me, do not let the House finish this.
Dalen swallows hard and squares himself at the rim, staring into the glow as if he might wrestle the truth from it by force. Mara kneels, fingers brushing the rune lines, testing their pulse.
Mara
The siphon is not only taking, it is choosing. If Caelen is still in reach, this is the moment to seize him.
Vaelira
The light is strongest where the runes split around my wrist-mark.
The silver sigil on Vaelira’s wrist answers with a cold flare, and the violet current falters for a breath. The echo of Caelen sharpens, as if the shrine has left a door cracked open.
Dalen
Then do it now. Whatever the cost, pull him back before the roots take him completely.
✓ Quest Accepted
Rescue Caelen from the siphon
“Vaelira presses her marked wrist toward the split in the runes, using the sigil to hold the opening rather than surrender herself to it. She reaches for Caelen through the siphon and calls him by the name only she used when he was alive. “Cael. Come back to me.””
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Vaelira presses her marked wrist into the split runes, and the violet pull steadies instead of taking her. The silver sigil holds like a key turned in an unseen lock, keeping the opening wide.
Vaelira
Cael. Come back to me.
The siphon shudders. Caelen’s echo gathers shape in the shaft, his reaching hand no longer fraying at the edges.
Caelen
I hear you.
Dalen recoils from the rim, then leans in hard, ready to act while the chamber trembles around the broken floor.
Mara
The opening is holding, but not for long. If we go, we go now.
Below them, the root-dark stirs at the base of the shaft, and the rune-light begins to pulse in a harsher rhythm, asking for a choice.
“Vaelira keeps her marked wrist locked against the runes, holding the siphon open. With her free hand, she reaches down and grabs Caelen's outstretched hand. “I've got you, Cael. Now climb.” She braces herself and pulls, calling for Dalen and Mara to help drag him free while she keeps the House from closing around him.”
SUCCESS (Good Strength, rolled +2)
Vaelira shifts her weight and hauls hard, her braced wrist holding the split runes open while her other hand locks around Caelen’s. The siphon answers with a violent quiver, but it does not take him back.
Caelen
I am climbing.
Caelen rises from the violet column in broken, shuddering inches, his form thickening as Dalen lunges in to catch his forearm.
Dalen
Pull him up, now.
Mara drops to one knee at the rim and drives her palm to the boards, muttering under her breath as the chamber steadies just enough for the grip to hold.
Mara
Keep your wrist there, Vaelira. Do not let it close.
Together they wrench Caelen free of the shaft’s mouth. The violet light snaps thinner, the root-dark below surges once, and the opening begins to buckle as if something deep beneath the inn has noticed the loss.
Caelen lands hard on the floorboards, breathing and whole enough to move, while the chamber trembles around them and the roots below give a long, hungry creak.
Quest Complete
Rescue Caelen from the siphon
New Gift: Siphon Resistance