The bog goes still at last. Above the ridge, the water laps low and cold, and the stones breathe out a faint, sour steam.
Elias
Tell me plainly, Kaelus. What does it take if that bundle opens?
Elias holds his ground between Kaelus and the path back down, arms set, breath fogging in the dark.
Kaelus
A name first. Then what the name belongs to. Memory, perhaps. A place. It is never only one thing.
Kaelus looks sick with the answer, his shivering hands fixed on the waxed cloth as if he might pray through it.
Imogen
The bundle is quieter now, but not empty.
Elias
That is a rotten bargain, even by bog standards.
For a moment, no one moves. The three of them stand on the wet ridge while the black water below whispers against the stones, and the silence feels almost like shelter.
✓ Quest Accepted
Decide whether Elias can be trusted
“Watch Elias closely to see if he truly intends to protect me or just the bundle.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +2)
Imogen lets her gaze slide past Kaelus and fixes on Elias instead. The way he shifts is tiny, but it matters, his body stays angled toward her first, the bundle second.
When the bog gives a low suck beneath the stones, Elias turns his head at once toward Imogen, not the cloth in her hands. His shoulders stay square to Kaelus, blocking the path behind him.
His hand lifts, palm out, a warning held in reserve. He does not reach for the bundle.
Imogen
He is watching both, but he moves like my fall would matter before the relic’s.
Kaelus flinches at the motion, hungry eyes flicking between Elias and the wax wrapping. The child’s cry rises again from somewhere under the water, thin as a breath through mud.
Elias
If it breaks loose, I pull you out first. Do not make me choose the other order.
The answer lands hard in the cold air. Elias does not sound kind, but he sounds committed, and the bog keeps listening.
Quest Complete
Decide whether Elias can be trusted