Lord Vael leads Artania from the black carriage through the royal training academy’s lower halls, where sealed doors bear old crown sigils. Seris follows beside him, with Al close at Artania’s boots and Keeper Maelin’s apparition gliding silently behind.
A hidden stair descends beneath the academy into a restricted archive. Pale wards stir along the walls as Artania’s bandaged hand passes, answering the witness-mark with faint amber pulses.
Seris
There. The ash-marked seal on that ledger cabinet. I saw its pattern beneath the chapel, around the Choir’s divided memory.
Lord Vael unlocks the cabinet with his signet. Inside rests a single black-bound ledger, its spine stamped with the Ashen Choir’s branching symbol. The nearest wards dim, wary but unbroken.
Lord Vael
This record promises the clearest surviving account of their purpose. If the archives preserved anything true, it will be here.
The ledger opens by itself. Its pages rustle beneath a breathless chill, and orange fire blooms along the outer edges, consuming the oldest ink first.
Keeper Maelin
The archive is rejecting the account, or protecting it. Do not touch the burning pages until we know which purpose governs the flame.
✓ Quest Accepted
Preserve the Ashen Choir ledger
“Ok but what if it all burns up? How do we put it out without touching it or using water? I think for a moment and then have an idea. I reach for the nearest curtain, and cut of cloth roughly the size of a blanket. I throw it over the burning ledger, trying to stamp out the fire without touching the book directly.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled -2)
Artania studies the burning ledger for a moment, then seizes the nearest archive curtain. His sword cuts through the cloth, tearing loose a blanket-sized piece.
He throws the cloth over the ledger and presses it down with the flat of his sword, smothering the orange fire without touching the black-bound book. Smoke coils beneath the fabric.
Keeper Maelin
Well done. The flame is contained, and the ledger remains whole. Do not lift the cloth yet.
The curtain’s edge catches briefly, scorching Artania’s fingers through the hilt as he pins it in place. The sharp crackle echoes through the restricted archive.
Lord Vael
A sound cost, but a worthy one. The wards have noticed us, and the account survives beneath your smothering cloth.
Seris
The fire is weakening. Whatever protects those pages can no longer consume them while the cloth holds.
Amber pulses fade beneath Artania’s bandage. The ledger lies safely covered, its flames reduced to trapped embers while pale wards gather silently along the archive walls.
Quest Complete
Preserve the Ashen Choir ledger