Mara leads Brandon through the cramped cottage, ash staff in one hand and the grimoire clutched beneath her red cloak. Behind them, Veyr and his surrendered bandits remain at the village gate.
She pulls aside a woven rug near the hearth, revealing an iron ring set into the floor. Blue light leaks around the hidden trapdoor’s seams.
Mara
Stay close, Brandon. The chamber below was carved before this cottage had a foundation.
Mara lifts the trapdoor. Stone steps descend into darkness, each worn edge etched with the same runes that circle the moor’s standing stones.
The air grows colder as Mara descends, keeping the grimoire tight against her ribs. At the bottom, an older chamber opens around a sealed well.
An iron lattice covers the well. Beneath it, blue radiance pulses through black waterless depths, and the runes answer in a slow, gathering rhythm.
Mara
Do not answer it, whatever voice it borrows. It has learned the sounds of people you recognize.
“Brandon keeps quiet and watches Mara handle the grimoire.”
SUCCESS (Fair Perception, rolled -2)
Brandon stays silent beside the sealed well, blue light sliding across his scarred face as he watches Mara draw the grimoire from beneath her cloak.
Mara
Watch the book, not the darkness below. It will show you what the seal is costing me.
Mara opens the grimoire above the iron lattice. Its pages turn without wind, revealing cramped silver script while the well’s pulse deepens beneath them.
A sharp blue spark leaps from the grimoire to Brandon’s armored forearm. The metal rings, and a narrow burn reddens the skin beneath it.
Mara
Do not move. The spark is a warning, not an attack, but the seal now knows you are here.
Brandon continues watching in silence. Between two turning pages, a symbol appears: a black circle split by a single vertical stroke, matching the rhythm beneath the grate.
Mara
There. That mark names the weakness. I can close it, but the grimoire requires a living witness to hold the pattern steady.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hold the seal’s pattern steady
“Brandon steadies his breathing and focuses on the grimoire's black-circle mark.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Brandon steadies his breathing beside the grate. The chamber’s cold rhythm settles against his pulse as his blue eyes fix on the grimoire’s black-circle mark.
The symbol sharpens beneath his attention. Its vertical stroke opens like a dark seam, revealing a second pattern within, one that mirrors the runes carved along the iron lattice.
Mara
That is it. Hold your focus there, Brandon. The mark has accepted you as the witness.
The grimoire’s pages stop turning. Silver script streams from the black circle in thin lines, crossing the air and settling over Brandon’s armored forearm without touching the burn.
Mara
Now I can see the fracture clearly. Your steadiness has given the seal a shape to follow.
Below the lattice, the blue radiance contracts around a single point. The deep pulse loses its scattered echo, becoming a measured beat that answers Brandon’s controlled breathing.
Mara
Do not break concentration. I will close the weakness while the seal remembers this pattern.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reinforce the seal
Quest Complete
Hold the seal’s pattern steady
“Brandon keeps breathing steadily while Mara closes the fracture.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Brandon keeps his breathing slow and even. The silver lines remain fixed across his armored forearm as the fracture holds its shape beneath Mara’s spell.
Mara
That is enough. Do not move yet. The seal is following your breath, and every steady rhythm draws the broken edges together.
Mara presses two fingers to the grimoire’s black-circle mark and speaks a low sequence of ancient words. The iron lattice brightens from rune to rune.
The dark seam within the symbol folds shut. Blue radiance sinks beneath the grate, and the chamber’s pulse settles into one deep, quiet beat.
Mara
It is closed. You held the pattern steady long enough for the seal to remember itself.
The silver script lifts from Brandon’s forearm and returns to the pages. The burn remains reddened, but the cold no longer presses through his armor.
Mara
Now we learn what answered before the fracture closed. Something heard you clearly, Brandon, and it may not remain silent.
Quest Complete
Prevent the seal from breaking
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb
Quest Complete
Reinforce the seal