The study walls weep black ink, slow as blood, and the ledger in Elizabeth de Agincourt’s hands beats against her palms like a second heart. Beneath the sideboard barricade, the faint pulse in the floor answers it.
Elias Blackwood
Read them. Please. If the names stop, the house stops.
The Mourning Woman lifts one pale hand toward the pages, her veil trembling in the cold. The ink in the mortar crawls toward the threshold as if trying to listen.
The Mourning Woman
Say the dead aloud, and the tether holds. Refuse, and it tightens.
Elizabeth de Agincourt
Read the names.
Elizabeth opens the ledger. The first names stain the air, and the walls shudder in relief, then pain, as if the manor recognizes each one. The pulsing under the floor steadies, but does not fade.
A new line writes itself in wet black script at the bottom of the page, fresh and hungry, as though the book has taken notice of who now holds it.
“I read the fresh name aloud”
SUCCESS (Great Occult Lore, rolled -3)
Elizabeth de Agincourt
Margaret Blackwood. By blood and remembrance, you answer.
The fresh script blackens as Elizabeth speaks it, and the ledger snaps warm in her hands. The faint pulse under the floorboard catches, then locks to the name like a hook finding meat.
A cold draft tears through the study. The ink on the walls ripples inward, all of it leaning toward the page as if the house has found its own mouth.
The Mourning Woman
Yes. That is the true tether. Say it cleanly, or it will say you.
Elias Blackwood
Did it work? Look at the floor.
The boards beneath the barricade bulge once, hard enough to bow the sideboard, and a wet streak of ink runs from the ledger down Elizabeth’s wrist. The page keeps the name, but something inside the house has noticed her voice.
“I ask the Mourning Woman how to bind her”
SUCCESS (Great Occult Lore, rolled -2)
Elizabeth de Agincourt
How does one bind you, then? Tell me plainly.
The Mourning Woman
With a name spoken clean, and a witness to keep the bargain from slipping. The seal is hungry, but hunger can be turned.
The Mourning Woman
Do not grip the page so hard. The ledger takes more than ink when it is pleased.
Elias Blackwood
If she can name the right thing, then maybe this house stops breathing down our necks.
Elizabeth steadies the ledger over the desk, and the black script shivers as if listening. The ink on her wrist beads darker, then dries cold.
The Mourning Woman
Say the tether, not the terror. Margaret Blackwood, bound by blood remembered, answered by blood withheld.
The floor under the barricade gives a single frustrated thump, and the study lamps flutter. The woman's veil lifts just enough to show that hollow face, watching Elizabeth for the next word.
“I speak the tether plainly”
SUCCESS (Great Occult Lore, rolled +0)
Elizabeth de Agincourt
Margaret Blackwood, bound by blood remembered, answered by blood withheld.
The ledger jolts warm in her hands, then goes still. The black script tightens into a single line, as if a knot has been tied somewhere deep in the house.
Under the barricade, the pounding falters. The bowed boards ease a fraction, and the sagging sideboard stops shivering under the pressure.
The Mourning Woman
Good. The tether has a shape now. Keep the witness close, and do not let the name be forgotten.
Elias Blackwood
Then it heard her. It really heard her...
Quest Complete
Learn how to break the Blackwood seal
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Superb→Legendary