Medica fires before Pell completes another command. The dart crosses the chamber and breaks against his robes, releasing the sealed poison into him.
Orven Pell
You dare interrupt the working?
Pell staggers, one hand clutching the dart’s broken cradle. Amber currents flare beneath the floor, racing through the conduits as his authority falters.
Tavia Reed
The working is surging. I am securing the tallies and accusation. Do not let him regain control.
Tavia reaches the inspection niche and gathers the sealed tallies beneath her coat, then folds Ilyra’s accusation around them. The chamber trembles with each unstable pulse.
Orven Pell
The poison cannot command me. The conduits answer to the crown, and the crown answers to me.
Pell raises both hands toward the central mechanism. The amber ring widens, drawing warmth and light from the chamber, while a cracked conduit begins to glow directly beneath Medica’s feet.
✓ Quest Accepted
Sever the working threatening the king
“This is where your plot ends, Pell! Not only do we have all of the evidence against you, but now you cannot use the working without also affecting yourself! Give it up! It's over!”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Medica Valkyrie
This is where your plot ends, Pell. We have all the evidence against you, and the working now affects you as well. Give it up. It is over.
Medica’s words cut through the chamber’s roar. The cracked conduit beneath her feet flashes, and the amber current recoils from Pell’s raised hands into his own robes.
Orven Pell
No. The crown entrusted this power to me. I will not be judged by frightened physicians and provincial meddlers.
The central mechanism answers his denial with a violent pulse. Pell buckles as the working draws through him, while the ring of channels dims around his unsteady form.
Orven Pell
Stop it! I withdraw my command. I surrender the conduits, the records, everything. Shut the working down before it kills me.
The amber ring collapses into dark channels. Warmth returns to the chamber, and the palace currents cease feeding the mechanism. Tavia holds the sealed tallies and accusation securely.
Tavia Reed
He has confessed before the evidence and surrendered control. Now we bind him, preserve the chamber, and get the physicians word that the drain has stopped.
Quest Complete
Expose Orven Pell
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Superb→Legendary
Quest Complete
Sever the working threatening the king
+ New Item Acquired
Sealed conduit tallies