Beyond Lantern Rest, Tavia leads Medica between abandoned sorting sheds, stepping over mossy rails and rain-blackened boards. Behind them, Sella’s diversion draws quarry guards toward the upper galleries.
At the concealed trail, a young adult man steps from a collapsed shed. He is lean, pale-skinned, and sharp-faced, with cropped ash-brown hair, a weathered green coat, and a silver king’s coin pierced through one ear.
the pierced-coin man
Do not take the marked path. Someone followed your route from the riverside, and they are closer than the guards Sella pulled away.
Tavia Reed
You knew Sella’s name, and you know our route. Explain yourself before I decide you are the danger.
the pierced-coin man
The barkeep recorded your destination and passed it to Sella’s faction. I found the record before they could burn it. I have no love for their throne scheme, but I have even less love for the king.
He points toward the drainage cut. Fresh mud marks cross the stones there, too deliberate for quarry traffic. Somewhere beyond the sheds, a branch snaps, then silence closes again.
the pierced-coin man
Call me Renn Vey. I can lead you through an older passage, but whoever is following may already know both exits.
“Something feels wrong. Why help us if you aren't loyal to the king? What exactly do you hope to gain? Are you part of Sella's faction? Or a rival faction?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Medica Valkyrie
Something feels wrong. Why help us if you are not loyal to the king? What exactly do you hope to gain? Are you Sella’s faction, or a rival?
Renn studies Medica through the rain-darkened passage. Behind him, the drainage cut disappears beneath thorn and broken stone, while Tavia keeps one hand near the concealed cloak-pin.
Renn Vey
I am not part of Sella’s faction, and I do not serve a rival throne faction. I want the chief thaumaturge’s working destroyed before it consumes what remains of my family’s claim.
Renn Vey
The pierced coin belonged to my older sister, a royal auditor who found the false shipments. The Consortium branded her a traitor, and the palace let that accusation stand.
Renn Vey
I gain the records, the truth, and leverage against the people who erased her. I help you because your evidence can expose the working, and because you are moving before they can bury it.
Tavia Reed
That is a personal stake, not loyalty. It also explains why you oppose both Sella’s throne scheme and the palace. What do you want from us in return?
Renn Vey
Only access to whatever names and ledgers we find. I will not take your vial, serve Sella, or ask you to spare anyone. Choose the older passage, and I will show you where the records were hidden.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Renn Vey’s guidance through the older passage
“I want to discern if he is telling the truth before I follow him. I ask a question to test his mettle and to see if his story changes when pressed.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -1)
Medica Valkyrie
If your sister was a royal auditor, name the false shipment she uncovered, and tell me what became of the record that proved it.
Renn’s expression tightens, but his answer comes without hesitation. Rain beads on his pierced coin as he looks toward the buried passage, measuring neither Tavia nor the darkness for escape.
Renn Vey
Dawnspear sunstone was entered as lamp oil, in a consignment sent beneath the western quarry seal. My sister copied the discrepancy into a red-bound audit book. The book vanished from her office the night she was arrested.
Renn Vey
She hid one page in the chapel wall before they took her. I recovered it three months later, and its figures match the shipments feeding the thaumaturge’s working.
Tavia watches Renn’s hands and listens for the pauses. His account fits the altered summons, the sunstone trail, and her own missing-ledger search, while his anger never becomes a plea for trust.
Medica Valkyrie
His details remain consistent, and the hidden page gives his story a verifiable lead.
Tavia Reed
He answered the dangerous part directly. I cannot prove every claim yet, but his story has not changed under pressure.
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover the hidden audit page
“Then for now, we can trust him, it seems like we're all aligned on the same goal, more or less. Renn, please lead us through this passage. Tavia, cover my back.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Agility, rolled -2)
Medica Valkyrie
For now, we can trust him. We are all aligned on the same goal, more or less. Renn, lead us through the passage. Tavia, cover my back.
Renn Vey
Stay close, and do not touch the left wall. The old stones remember pressure better than they remember mercy.
Renn slips beneath the thorn-choked arch and leads them into a cramped passage smelling of wet clay and cold iron. Tavia follows last, watching the dark behind them.
Tavia Reed
Your back is covered. Keep your hands free, Medica, and step where Renn steps.
Medica advances behind Renn, but her boot presses a buried stone that sinks with a dull click. Pale runes flare across the floor, and the passage shudders.
A slab drops between the travelers and the entrance, sealing Tavia on the far side. Ahead, the old passage splits as dust pours from the ceiling, leaving Renn and Medica facing two unmarked tunnels.
Renn Vey
The ward has changed the route. We cannot return through that seal, and only one tunnel reaches the chapel wall. I need your alchemical sight now.
“"Right! Tavia, if you can hear my voice, listen carefully!" I use my alchemical sight per Renn's instructions, and try to relay an escape and rendezvouz point to Tavia”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +0)
Medica Valkyrie
Right! Tavia, if you can hear my voice, listen carefully!
Medica lifts her layered spectacles and invokes alchemical sight. Hidden reagents glow through the stone: the left tunnel carries chapel incense, while a hairline silver conduit leads back toward Tavia’s sealed side.
Medica Valkyrie
Follow the silver-veined wall when the slab opens. Meet us at the chapel wall, beneath the cracked saint’s hand.
Her voice catches in the ward and travels through the conduit as a faint chiming resonance. Dust shakes loose from the ceiling, and the last measure of Medica’s sight tincture burns away.
Tavia Reed
I hear you! Silver-veined wall, cracked saint’s hand. I will reach the chapel wall and wait there.
Renn Vey
The left tunnel is the true route. Your sight found the chapel passage, but the ward heard us too. We move before anything listening decides to answer.
“Use my hush draughts and trail cleanser to conceal our trail in case something tries to follow”
FAILURE (Poor Stealth, rolled +0)
Medica uncorks the hush draughts and trail cleanser in the cramped tunnel. She wets the stones and distributes the draught’s vapor along their footprints, careful not to disturb the glowing runes.
For several breaths, sound and scent fade behind them. Then the cleanser touches the ward’s silver conduit, which flashes and draws the hidden traces forward instead of erasing them.
Renn Vey
That did not conceal us. It gave the ward a trail to follow, and the next tremor is already closer.
The tremor travels beneath their boots, but the cleanser strips grime from a narrow seam in the left wall. A small chapel sigil appears, pointing toward a recessed stone panel.
Renn Vey
There. The ward is using the conduit as a guide, but that panel may let us cut across its path. We cannot keep feeding it footsteps.
Medica Valkyrie
The cleanser reveals a concealed panel beside the chapel route.
The hush draughts still soften their movement, but the old ward now knows their direction. The hidden panel offers a different passage before the silver trace reaches them.
“With my innate spellcasting and arcana knowledge, try to counter the ward to throw off pursuers”
FAILURE (Superb Arcana, rolled -2)
Medica Valkyrie
The ward is not sensing footsteps alone. It is reading the silver conduit as a path of intent.
Medica presses her spectacles into alignment and traces a counter-sign in the air. Innate magic threads through the chapel sigil, seeking to fold the ward’s guiding pattern back upon itself.
The spell catches, then slips. Instead of throwing off the pursuit, it severs the silver conduit with a sharp flash, and the tremor beneath their boots stops abruptly.
Renn Vey
You broke its trail, but not cleanly. The ward can no longer follow us through the passage, though it has sealed the panel’s obvious release.
The recessed panel opens a finger’s breadth, revealing a narrow crawlspace lined with faded chapel script. Beyond it, cool air carries incense and the faint echo of stone settling.
Renn Vey
That is our opening. The crawlspace bypasses the conduit and should reach the chapel wall, but it was made for one person at a time.
Behind them, the ward remains silent rather than pursuing. The failed counterspell has left the old route blind, while the cramped chapel passage waits beyond the panel.
“I'll go first. Warn me if anything else is coming. I'll do the same for you if there's anything ahead”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Agility, rolled +1)
Medica Valkyrie
I’ll go first. Warn me if anything else is coming, and I’ll do the same for you if there’s anything ahead.
Medica slips through the narrow crawlspace, keeping her shoulders turned beneath the faded chapel script. Her coat catches on a rusted nail, tearing the hem and leaving a bright thread behind.
She reaches the far side beside the chapel wall. Cool incense-laden air fills the passage, and a cracked saint’s stone hand marks the meeting place exactly as promised.
Medica Valkyrie
The way ahead is clear. Come through carefully, and keep to the center.
Renn Vey
Understood. Your warning came in time. Hold there while I follow, and do not touch the chapel script.
Renn folds himself into the crawlspace behind her. His belt buckle scrapes stone with a muted click, but the severed conduit remains dark and the ward gives no answering tremor.
Quest Complete
Secure Renn Vey’s guidance through the older passage
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Mediocre→Fair