The lower passage erupts behind them with running boots and shouted orders. Pando’s hip flares as he drives forward, while Tessa and Ilyan hurry Mara’s bundle toward the ash chapel refuge. The guards, adult human men and women in ash-gray monastery uniforms with hooded cloaks and iron badges are still searching.
The Pursuing Monastery Guards
Stop! By the authority of the archive, surrender the records and return the bearer to custody!
Ilyan reaches the chapel’s cracked threshold and presses his palm to an ash sigil. The refuge opens, but a second command lattice wakes beneath the floor, answering the guards’ authority mark.
Mara
Do not break it. The lattice can hide us, but it will also bind anyone who enters under command.
A young adult drow woman steps from the chapel’s amber shadow. She is lean, dark-skinned, and wrapped in a weathered brown mantle; cropped silver hair frames a wary face marked by a pale line beneath one eye.
Mara
I am Mara. Merrow built this refuge to protect bearers, then added commands so protection could become possession. If you wake the old defense, it will obey whoever speaks the strongest order.
Tessa
Then we need another way. Pando, the guards are at the threshold, and Mara says the system can either shelter us or control us. What do we choose?
“I smirk, "listen to me, Mara has to make it out of here or all of this was for nothing, Tessa take her and Ilyan out of here and fly them to captain Vey, don't worry about me, I'll find you when I can."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Pando
Listen to me. Mara has to make it out of here, or all of this was for nothing. Tessa, take her and Ilyan and fly them to Captain Vey. Do not worry about me. I will find you when I can.
Pando’s smirk holds as his command cuts through the shouting. Tessa meets his eyes, then steps toward Mara and Ilyan while the pursuing monastery guards remain fixed at the threshold.
Tessa
I understand. Mara and Ilyan come with me, and we fly straight to Captain Vey. I will keep them safe and give her the full account.
Mara
Then I will trust your companion with the refuge and its records. Pando, survive this long enough to meet us again.
Tessa opens her wings and gathers Mara and Ilyan close enough for a secure lift. Mara seals the refuge behind them, while Ilyan shields the records beneath his mantle.
Ilyan
Captain Vey will hear what happened, and she will know where to receive us. We will keep the truth safe until you return.
Tessa beats upward, carrying Mara and Ilyan over the chapel roof toward the monastery’s outer grounds and Captain Vey’s protection. Pando remains below, alone before the threshold as the guards watch him.
Quest Complete
Find Mara
Skill Upgrade: Survival Good→Great