The eastern foundations answer the cracked tablet with a dim silver road. It descends beneath Corinth, carrying Thanatos, the ledger, and the unaltered tablet toward the River Styx.
The households remain behind in the vaulted hall, guarded by the unaltered witness as the last false seals crumble. No mortal follows the road into the Underworld.
The silver path ends beside black water. Charon waits in silence, and the ledger’s surviving line points across the Styx toward Hades’s palace.
Charon
The king expects you. Cross, Death’s lieutenant. The river has no claim on what you carry.
Thanatos reaches the palace beneath a sky of ash. Each time a new seal burns above Corinth, the black ring around his wrist pulses, answering from far away.
Hades
You returned before the dead gathered at my gates. Set the ledger and tablet beneath my sight, and tell me what new seal troubles your wrist.
Beyond the palace columns, distant shades begin approaching the gates. The ledger remains closed, the tablet cracked, and the ring pulses again as Corinth’s unseen seal brightens.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine what new seal is threatening Corinth
✓ Quest Accepted
Prevent the new seal from endangering the Underworld
“I set the ledger and cracked tablet beneath Hades's sight.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)
Thanatos crosses beneath the dark columns and places the ledger and cracked tablet together on the black stone before Hades. Their surviving marks face upward.
The ledger remains closed. The tablet’s fracture glows faintly, and the black ring around Thanatos’s wrist answers with one measured pulse as Corinth’s distant seal dims.
Hades
So the false record has been judged by the oath it concealed. You have brought me the proof, and the source has answered.
Hades extends his hand above both artifacts. Shadow gathers beneath the ledger, while silver light settles over the tablet, separating Sisyphus’s authority from the lawful vow.
Hades
This ledger will not command another household. I will seal it beneath my sight until every remaining claim is examined.
Beyond the columns, the approaching shades fall silent at the gates. The ledger’s surviving line fades to a dull ember, and the tablet rests safely within Hades’s keeping.
Hades
You acted directly, Thanatos, and the living are freer for it. Now we can attend to the seal still answering from Corinth.
“Did Zyodai play any role in the last seal?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 54)
Hades closes his hand above the ledger. The ember within it flares, revealing Zyodai’s seal woven into the last Corinthian mark, though the mortal’s authority is already broken.
Hades
Yes. Zyodai supplied the final claim, but he did not create it. He used the ledger’s surviving path to fasten his seal onto Sisyphus’s old authority.
The black ring around Thanatos’s wrist cracks with a sharp report. A thin line of bloodless shadow stains the stone beneath him, and the distant seal answers with a final pulse.
Hades
The seal is weakened, not ended. Zyodai’s part is severed from the households, but his imprint remains attached to the path beneath Corinth.
The ledger’s ember gutters, and one fresh inscription appears across its cover: Zyodai named the eastern gate as a second collection point before his estate fell.
Hades
That knowledge costs us time. The gate has heard his command, and something beneath it may still answer, even without the man who spoke it.
Beyond the columns, the shades resume their slow approach. Hades’s shadow seals the artifacts, while Corinth’s distant mark fades to a watchful, wounded glow.
“I inspect the sealed ledger with Hades”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled -1)
Thanatos bends over the sealed ledger beside Hades. His violet gaze passes through shadow and silver, reading the surviving script without breaking the king’s ward.
Hades
Look beneath Zyodai’s imprint. The seal remembers its maker, but the path remembers where it was first laid.
The cover opens within Hades’s shadow. Beneath the mortal seal, Thanatos sees Sisyphus’s older mark branching from the eastern gate into a buried chamber.
Hades
There is your answer. Zyodai fastened himself to an existing instrument. The gate is the collection point, and the chamber is its surviving heart.
As Thanatos follows the hidden lines, the black ring around his wrist flares. A thread of divine strength drains into the ledger, paying for the deeper sight.
Hades
The cost is exact and concrete. The ledger has taken some of your strength, but it has revealed the whole route. Nothing remains concealed beneath Corinth’s gate.
The ledger shuts and settles beneath Hades’s seal. Its final inscription remains clear to Thanatos: the chamber’s anchor can be severed without freeing Sisyphus from Tartarus.
Quest Complete
Determine what new seal is threatening Corinth
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb