A concealed side passage grinds open behind a loosened chain. Elyra Nightwood steps through with her bow ready, Eli close behind her, both dusty from the ruins.
Elyra
Before you ask, this was our mission. We followed House Veyr markings that vanished beneath the ruins and found the trail again here.
Eli
We were not lost. Elyra merely insisted that the secret door was hiding somewhere extremely obvious.
Elyra lowers her bow slightly and studies the blackened bone strip, while Eli peers past her into the hidden keeper’s chamber. Their arrival draws no hostile answer from the guardian’s sigil.
Elyra
Our trail ends at the remaining testimony beneath House Veyr’s account. The marks here match what we found, but someone else has been following them recently.
Eli
Fresh ash in the passage, scraped stone near the chain, and footprints that stop before the door. Whoever came through did not want to be noticed.
Elyra gestures toward the concealed passage. Beyond its threshold, fresh ash lies over older dust in a narrow trail leading deeper into the ruins, while the chamber waits in uneasy silence.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the Nightwood sisters are aiding the testimony or serving a hostile claimant
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the person following the House Veyr trail
Director's notewhole tale
Elyra Nightwood and Eli Nightwood
“Ask your 2 friends why their here.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Myk
Elyra, Eli, why are you here? Tell me plainly what brought you beneath House Veyr.
Myk asks without softening the question. The demand is calm, but his inability to lie leaves no room for a polite excuse or evasive answer.
Elyra
We came to trace House Veyr’s hidden dealings. Our people found fragments of the same markings beyond the ruins, and I wanted the truth before someone buried it again.
Eli
Elyra brought me because I can read the older trail marks. We followed them here, and the fresh ash proved another searcher reached this passage before us.
Elyra meets Myk’s gaze without flinching, while Eli points to the ash-darkened stones. Neither sounds surprised by the question now that it has been asked directly.
Elyra
That is the whole reason, Myk. We are here for the account, the trail, and whoever is trying to reach it before we do. If you are guarding this truth, we will help.
Eli
And if you are asking whether we came to interfere with you, no. We came to learn what House Veyr concealed, just as you did.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the Nightwood sisters are aiding the testimony or serving a hostile claimant
Director's note
you are not sure if your freinds or more after last job together
Director's note
who is more like a little sister to you
“Awkwardly look at Elyra and ask how she been than make a joke with Eli and ask both if they would like to work together on this mission”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Myk looks awkwardly toward Elyra, then away, searching for a natural tone. His attempt at a light accent catches badly in his throat, making the opening sound stiffer than intended.
Myk
Elyra, how have you been? It has been a while since our last job.
Elyra
Better now that you have finally asked. Though you look like you are negotiating with a hostile king.
Myk
Eli, I would ask how you have been too, but you look far too pleased with yourself to need help.
Eli
I am thriving. Elyra found the door, I found the trail, and you found the courage to speak normally. It is a historic day.
The joke loosens the chamber’s tension, but Myk’s composure falters after it lands. He hesitates just long enough for both sisters to notice before facing them squarely.
Myk
Would you both work with me on this mission? We can investigate the account together and keep Moa from reaching it.
Elyra
Yes. We work together, Myk. We find the truth, protect the account, and make sure Moa gets nothing from it.
“I have Elyra question her contacts about the searcher”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Myk
Elyra, question your contacts about the searcher. Tell them exactly what we found, and ask who came through before us.
Myk tries to soften the request with a borrowed ranger cadence, but the accent twists awkwardly. He abandons it and gives Elyra the plain truth, unable to disguise or embellish the evidence.
Elyra
Plain truth suits you better. I will ask Sella at the ash road and Brann in the old quarry. They owe me answers.
Elyra kneels beside the ash trail and studies its broken pattern, then marks two directions with her dagger. Eli watches the signs while Elyra sends the coded questions through her ranger network.
Elyra
Sella saw a lone figure before dawn, wrapped in a gray travel cloak. Brann found the same ash on the quarry road. The searcher carried a hooked staff and asked about a red-lit stair.
Eli
They were not searching blindly. They knew the stair existed, and they were following the account’s trail from outside the ruins.
Elyra’s expression sharpens. Her contacts also heard the searcher say the name Moa, confirming the stranger came seeking the covenant rather than merely passing through.
“Introduce the Nightwood sisters to the slave princess and the other while explaining everything that has happen so far”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
Myk brings Elyra and Eli before the slave princess, the wounded guard, the chained apprentice, and the hidden keeper. The cramped chamber gathers them beneath the steady red glow of the guardian’s sigil.
Myk
Nadira, Tomas, Edrin, Othran, these are Elyra and Eli Nightwood. They followed House Veyr’s trail here, and they will work with us against Moa.
Myk explains the broken conduit, the guardian’s bargain, and the passage-right stamped onto his sword. His borrowed accent collapses halfway through, leaving his voice strained and his composure visibly thinner.
Myk
The guardian accepted the warlord’s debt, freed Edrin, and opened the account. Nadira named House Veyr’s crimes, and Othran revealed Moa’s covenant behind them.
He tells them how Moa’s mark reached the threshold, how Myk severed its channel, and how the account now stands publicly exposed while the guardian keeps the chamber sealed.
Elyra
Then we understand the danger. Nadira has the truth, Othran has the testimony, and Moa will keep probing until one of us gives him a door.
Eli
And now we know why the ash trail led here. We should compare what Elyra’s contacts found with the account before the next searcher arrives.
“Is the searcher working directly for Moa?”
YES (Likely, rolled 34)
Elyra studies the ash marks again, then the hooked-staff impressions. Her relaxed expression disappears as the pattern resolves into deliberate instructions rather than a hired searcher's trail.
Elyra
The searcher was not merely following Moa's covenant. They were carrying his instructions. Someone in his service directed the route, the questions, and the attempt to reach this chamber.
Eli
Then the ash was a message trail, not evidence left by accident. The stranger knew what to seek because Moa's people had already mapped the account's path.
Othran's ruined eye fixes on the fresh ash. His fingers curl around the fused signet as the guardian's red sigil remains steady, denying the distant claimant a door.
Othran Veyr
Directly, then. Moa does not need to stand here to command the search. His servants know the covenant, and they came to recover its testimony for him.
Elyra
My contacts heard the searcher speak his name, and now the trail confirms it. We are not dealing with a rival claimant or a curious scavenger. Moa sent them.
Eli
So whoever comes next will know exactly what failed here. They will not be looking for the account anymore. They will be looking for the people guarding it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prepare the chamber for the approaching searcher
“Ask the sisters if they can cover the trail and prepare the others for a possible conflict”
YES, AND MORE (VeryLikely, rolled 16)
Myk
Elyra, Eli, can you cover the trail and prepare the others for a possible conflict?
Elyra
Yes. Eli and I will cover the trail, warn everyone, and prepare this chamber for a fight. No servant of Moa reaches the account unchallenged.
Eli
And more. I can turn the ash trail toward the western ruins. Anyone following it will meet a false entrance while we move the real witnesses out of sight.
Eli kneels and begins brushing fresh ash across the stones, extending a convincing trail toward the western ruins. Elyra checks her bow, then signals toward the chamber.
Elyra
Nadira, keep Othran behind the guardian’s boundary. Tomas and Edrin can watch the inner passage. I will take the approach with Eli.
Nadira moves Othran deeper beneath the steady sigil while Tomas and Edrin take positions near the passage. Elyra and Eli slip toward the false trail, leaving the chamber ready for whoever comes.
“See if there is any weapons you can supply slave princess and the other captives you freed plus inspect the guardian boundary looking for good positions for you and others I inner passage”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +0)
Myk searches the chamber with the blackened sword probing dust and his dagger prying loose a warped weapons rack. The sword’s passage-mark reveals a concealed cache beneath the stone lip.
Inside lie three serviceable short blades, a battered buckler, and a hooked knife. His marked sorcery blurs the cache’s edges, while his assassin-trained vigilance keeps checking the passage behind him.
Nadira
These will do. Give the buckler to Tomas, and let Edrin take a blade. I can use the knife.
Myk lays the weapons out plainly, unable to soften their flaws or disguise the rust, then places each where Nadira, Tomas, and Edrin can reach it. His awkward accent remains mercifully unused.
He returns to the guardian’s boundary and studies the red line through the blackened sword’s reflection. The dagger traces a safe recess beside the inner passage, shielded from a direct approach.
Edrin
Put Tomas behind that stone shoulder. Nadira can cover the threshold, and I can watch the narrow bend without standing inside the guardian’s claim.
The positions resolve clearly: Tomas and Edrin hold the recessed bend, Nadira guards the boundary’s mouth, and Myk takes the inner angle where his sword can reach anyone crossing.
Quest Complete
Prepare the chamber for the approaching searcher