Walksfar Seesmuch steps through the grinding altar stone into a lower passage, and the chapel vanishes behind her. The tunnel is damp, salt-bright, and ribbed with old cut stone, while a thin current of cold air presses onward from the dark.
The Shimmering Figure glides ahead, her outline casting pale silver over puddles and moss. Seralyth follows close behind, cuff sigil still dimmed to a hard, watchful gleam.
The Shimmering Figure
This way, princess. The church will not reach the place ahead of us.
The Gray-Mantled Stranger
If there is a test waiting there, I mean to see it with my own eyes.
The tunnel widens into a salt-worn chamber with a black pool at its center. Ancient carvings ring the walls, half-erased by time and seepage, and the air hums with old magic.
Seralyth
The threshold is real. Whatever meets her here will not be a church-made lie.
“I know about the House of TAROT, and of Lance Leopold, and how Aztec had to tear it down in Waterdeep for its corruption, and Mad Mardigen”
SUCCESS (Good Lore, rolled -1)
Walksfar lets the old names fall into the chamber like coins on stone. The words land cleanly, and the black pool stirs once, as if recognizing a key turned in a hidden lock.
Seralyth
House of Tarot... Lance Leopold... You truly know the rot that was cut away in Waterdeep.
The Shimmering Figure’s glow tightens at the edges. A faint ripple crosses the pool, and the silver sigil on Seralyth’s cuff answers with a brief, cold flash.
The Shimmering Figure
Mad Mardigen is no tavern whisper. You speak of a thread that still frays the old web.
Walksfar Seesmuch
The names are enough. She knows.
Seralyth
And you place Aztec at the center of it, not as a saint, but as the hand that broke corruption by force.
The chamber hushes around them. Walksfar’s bracelet-book slips in her grip, and a thin bead of saltwater runs down her wrist from the chill.
The Shimmering Figure
Then speak on, princess. What you know may be the difference between a true threshold and a false one.
“I know Hawkwind Thrax died at Aztec's defense, that his sister Swallow Thrax sealed herself in a Covent, that Shard Spinner died at Hawkwinds hand during the purge of House of TAROT in Waterdeep”
SUCCESS (Good Lore, rolled +0)
Walksfar answers without haste, naming the old betrayals as if laying stones in a path. Hawkwind Thrax falls defending Aztec. Swallow Thrax bars herself behind a convent door. Shard Spinner dies at Hawkwind’s hand in the purge of House of Tarot.
Seralyth
So. You do not guess at the wound, you know its shape.
The black pool shivers harder, a dark ring widening to meet the names. Seralyth’s cuff sigil flashes once, sharp as frost, then dims.
The Shimmering Figure
That history is not village rumor. You have walked close to the knife’s edge of the old house.
Walksfar Seesmuch
I know enough to speak plainly.
Walksfar’s bracelet-book settles against her palm as the chill in the chamber eases by a breath. Across the pool, both women hold still, measuring the truth in her voice.
Seralyth
Then the threshold hears you. Speak the rest, princess, and decide whether you stand in this chamber, or turn back toward the hunt above.
“I speak the rest of the old betrayals”
SUCCESS (Good Lore, rolled +1)
Walksfar lets the last names fall into the silence, and the chamber answers at once. The black pool broadens its dark ring, as if recognizing a door that has finally been spoken open.
Walksfar Seesmuch
I speak the rest of the old betrayals.
She names the betrayal of the convent, the purge, and the hand that turned old loyalty into ash. The air shivers, then steadies, like a held breath released.
Seralyth
Enough. That is not rumor, it is threshold knowledge.
The Shimmering Figure
Then the hidden road is real. You have not been guessing in the dark.
Seralyth’s cuff sigil flashes once more, pale and sharp, while her gaze cuts from Walksfar to the pool and back again. The chamber’s chill eases another degree.
Seralyth
The church will want this trail for itself. If you remain, you stand where they can reach you. If you turn back now, you choose your own path.
✓ Quest Accepted
Choose whether to press deeper into the hidden road or turn back
“I step deeper into the hidden road”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)