Morning leaks through the blinds in thin gold bars. Dallas Fontaine lies half-awake in bed beside Elena, the room quiet except for the city waking far below.
The phone cuts the silence with a hard, shrill ring. Elena stirs, then settles back, watching Dallas reach for the receiver.
Professor Dayton
Dallas, listen carefully. Mercer Holdings was moving church material, among it a book called the Liber Signorum Rubrorum. I think they touched something they should not have.
Dallas Fontaine
If Dayton sounds shaken, the paper trail just turned into a blood trail.
Professor Dayton
There is a reward if you bring me the book, or even proof of where it went. I can pay you, and I can decode whatever else it leads to.
Elena sits up now, the sheet gathered at her chest, her eyes fixed on Dallas as the name lands between them like a dropped match.
Professor Dayton
Meet me at my study as soon as you can. If Mercer opened that thing, we may be looking at a very real disaster.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bring the Liber Signorum Rubrorum to Professor Dayton
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what Mercer touched in the church material
+ New Item Acquired
Phone receiver
“Please import Elena vales info from the story to the character section of the lore book and add any appropriate background”
Dallas Fontaine
Put Elena Vane on the roster. She earned it.
Dallas finishes the call, and the room settles around Elena's quiet presence, the morning light striping the bed like bars.
She gives him a tired, grateful look, while the apartment holds its breath, the knocking cabinet somewhere below them sounding faint and ordinary.