The silver seam remains open beneath the sarcophagus, revealing narrow steps cut into black stone. Slaan descends with Nhal, while the masked priest follows behind them into the dark.
Each footfall awakens faint covenant-script along the walls. The symbols glow briefly beneath their boots, then fade, as though recording passage without granting welcome.
Nhal
The passage is listening. It recognizes the seal, but not the hand that scratched it.
The stairs end at a buried landing where cold air gathers beneath the stone. An ancient door fills the far wall, carved with the same funerary symbols as the sarcophagus.
At its center, one mark has been deliberately scratched away. The damage is old enough to be darkened, yet the covenant-script around it still pulses with restrained attention.
The Masked Priest
That was not weathering. Someone removed the name from the door and left the covenant unable to decide whom it should admit.
Nhal
The missing mark is a silence shaped like a choice.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover whose name was removed from the covenant door
✓ Quest Accepted
Gain passage through the covenant door
“I try to sence the missing name”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +1)
Slaan lifts her hand toward the scratched mark without touching the door. Her arcane senses follow the covenant’s restrained pulse into the carved silence.
Slaan
The name was not erased. It was withheld from the door.
The missing space answers with a cool pressure behind Slaan’s eyes. A buried memory rises through the stone: a living title, spoken by many voices, then deliberately surrendered.
Silver script gathers around the scar and writes the absent designation in narrow strokes: The Unclaimed Witness. The door accepts the recovered name, though its seal remains closed.
Nhal
The covenant was not waiting for a person. It was waiting for someone who would refuse ownership.
The Masked Priest
The Unclaimed Witness. That name has not answered the stone since the first keepers sealed this descent.
The door’s symbols brighten in sequence, revealing a second inscription beneath the name: Witness may enter only with witness. The masked priest lowers his head, while Nhal’s violet form steadies beside Slaan.
Quest Complete
Discover whose name was removed from the covenant door
“I give the seal and the priest a measured glance. " Sounds like Domini bullshit to me" I say with suspicion”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Slaan
Slaan gives the seal and the priest a measured glance. "Sounds like Domini bullshit to me."
The accusation settles beneath the crypt’s cold stone. The silver inscription dims, as though the door recognizes suspicion as a form of witness rather than disrespect.
The Masked Priest
Domini has worn many names in these hills, but this covenant predates their house. If they touched it, they inherited the lie, not its making.
Nhal
The door does not carry Domini’s resonance. But the missing name was removed by someone who feared being recognized.
The masked priest turns toward the scratched mark and raises one wax-stained hand. A faint reflection appears in the stone: robed figures standing before this same door, their faces deliberately blurred.
The Masked Priest
The first keepers surrendered their names so no ruler could claim the witness as property. Later hands called that surrender loyalty. That was the corruption.
The seal brightens beneath Slaan’s scrutiny, exposing a narrow stair beyond the door and a second line of script: No house speaks for the unclaimed.
“I look to nhal and give her a grim nod. " That's what I thought" I say coldly. I draw both elven daggers in a flourish that has the blades crossed " Leryalë métima : Ross e-dae i-thil" translates to Rain of the Shadow of the Moon, the crossed blades let loose a torrent of void, and necrotic blades and freeze stun and cut the priest to shreds.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -1)
Slaan
That’s what I thought.
Slaan gives Nhal a grim nod and draws both elven daggers in a flashing flourish, crossing their blades before the sealed door.
Slaan
Leryalë métima: Ross e-dae i-thil.
The crossed daggers release a torrent of violet void, necrotic blades, and freezing shadow. The storm strikes the masked priest, shredding his robes and hurling him across the landing.
Cold locks his limbs while shadow-blades pin him against the stone. His skull mask cracks, and the wax-stained hand falls limp at his side.
Nhal
Slaan, the covenant is still holding. Your spell struck him, not the door.
The storm collapses into drifting frost and harmless black motes. The priest remains alive but helpless beneath the crossed geometry, while the inscription burns brighter: No house speaks for the unclaimed.
“I use telekinesis to snap the priest's neck”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +4)
Slaan’s telekinesis closes around the masked priest’s throat. The motion is swift and final; his body goes still beneath the shadow-blades, and the landing falls silent.
Nhal
The covenant did not break. It accepted your judgment, though it will remember the hand that delivered it.
The masked priest’s skull mask slips against the stone. Beneath it, his eyes remain closed, while the inscription flares silver around the words: No house speaks for the unclaimed.
A small iron token drops from the masked priest’s robes and strikes the landing. Its face bears the missing designation, The Unclaimed Witness, surrounded by the same funerary marks.
Nhal
He carried the name all along. The door was not waiting for his permission, but for proof that no house owned it.
The token rolls to Slaan’s boots. As it stops, the ancient door unlocks with a deep stone click, revealing the narrow stair beyond and a pale silver glow below.
Nhal
The way is open. And now we know the keepers concealed their names to deny every ruler a claim over this place.
Quest Complete
Gain passage through the covenant door
Skill Upgrade: Thievery Fair→Good
+ New Item Acquired
Unclaimed Witness token