Bottu stands wounded beneath the library’s vaulted shelves, his horns, wings, and Crown casting red, blue, green, black, and white reflections across ancient coalition crests.
Beside him, a forbidden diary lies open among surviving ward ledgers. Its pages are written in a dead ceremonial script, yet the Crown makes the faded marks legible.
The last coalition archivist recorded active ward commands first: which seals still answer, which gates remain guarded, and which ancient authorities may revoke them.
Bottu
The wards are failing in patterns, not all at once.
Then the diary changes. History gives way to cramped personal entries describing arguments among the coalition, vanished messengers, and wardens who stopped answering their summons.
One page bears a warning that the coalition did not fall to Tiamat’s strength alone. Its members turned upon one another while fear, ambition, and hidden bargains hollowed out their defense.
The final readable entry ends mid-sentence beneath a smear of dark ink: someone inside the library had already begun issuing commands in the coalition’s name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Uncover who is issuing commands in the coalition’s name
“While I’m here let’s research how best to weaken old runes.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Lore, rolled -1)
Bottu studies the diary beside the ward ledgers, comparing each failing seal with its recorded command pattern. The Crown makes hidden annotations flare beneath the dead script.
A sequence emerges: old runes draw authority through a central oath-glyph, then distribute it among lesser marks. The strongest seals can be weakened without breaking the surrounding wards.
Bottu
The command glyph is the weakness. Sever its link, and the outer runes lose their force.
Further entries reveal the precise method. A counter-sign must be traced across the command glyph, then interrupted at the final stroke, forcing the rune to consume its own authority.
The diary identifies three warning signs of vulnerable wards: uneven pulses, missing responses from neighboring seals, and commands issued without a living warden’s witness.
Bottu now knows how to test an old rune, where to place the counter-sign, and how to weaken its command without collapsing the entire warded structure.
The final page supplies a copied diagram of the coalition’s master lattice, marking several command nodes beneath Histol and two farther routes leading beyond the kingdom’s surviving protections.
“I’ll bring that info to Tiamat later. I’ll need to see if Histol is gathering a meeting, that could reveal who’s in charge around here.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +0)
Bottu turns from the master lattice toward the library’s upper galleries, searching for signs of immediate activity rather than older records. Fresh dust marks and disturbed catalog cords catch his eye.
His perception follows the pattern through adjoining chambers: clerks have recently gathered sealed histories, copied ward diagrams, and carried messages toward Histol’s central council hall.
Bottu
Histol is preparing a meeting, and the wardens’ records are being called into it.
A newly opened register confirms the purpose. A council assembly is scheduled before nightfall, convened to address failing protections and determine which authorities still command them.
The listed invitations bear the surviving crests of Histol’s royal court, military wardens, and several allied delegations. The names of those attending remain sealed behind a higher archival clasp.
Bottu now knows where the meeting will gather and when it will begin. The library’s eastern stair leads directly toward the council hall, while the Crown’s red reflection trembles across the invitation register.
“Perfect. I’ll attend the meeting in secret and relay it back to Tiamat.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled +2)
Bottu slips from the library into the eastern stair’s shadows. His Crown dims beneath his hood as he reaches the council hall unseen, finding a narrow gallery above the gathering.
Below, robed ministers, armored wardens, and foreign envoys sit around a rune-carved table. Sealed maps and failing ward ledgers lie open beneath candlelight.
Histol Council
The eastern seals dimmed before dawn. Histol cannot maintain every border, and no surviving authority agrees on who may command the master lattice.
From his hidden gallery, Bottu watches the council divide over evacuation, military readiness, and whether the old coalition’s allied realms should be summoned. Every argument reaches him clearly.
Tiamat
I hear you, bearer. Give me their words, and I will measure the hands that would gather against our age.
Bottu relays the council’s debate through the Crown, sending its names, fears, and proposed alliances across the bond. Tiamat receives the report as the meeting turns toward its first decree.
Histol Council
Before nightfall, send riders to every surviving warden. If the old powers still answer, we will call them together beneath Histol’s authority.
“It’s likely each race has a surviving warden passed down generation to generation. A pathetic flimsy failsafe if Tiamat is free… it won’t be enough. I’ll make sure of it. But I need to see who’s in charge of this organization. The big boss of Histol.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +2)
Bottu
Each race may still have a warden, but a chain of inherited offices is no answer to Tiamat’s return. I need Histol’s true authority.
Bottu shifts his attention from the ward ledgers to the council’s sealed invitations. Their order of precedence reveals that every delegate speaks beneath one absent office, marked by Histol’s crown and master seal.
Bottu
The register names Maerith Sol, High Chancellor of Histol. Every surviving warden reports through that office.
A second ledger confirms it: Maerith Sol, a middle-aged woman with a tall, spare build, sharp brown eyes, braided black hair streaked with silver, and a deep crimson robe fastened by a gold seal-clasp, commands the council’s agenda, appoints Histol’s wardens, and alone may invoke the master lattice in the kingdom’s name.
Histol Council
The High Chancellor must authorize the summons. Until Maerith Sol arrives, no delegate can lawfully command the lattice.
The council’s words settle the hierarchy. Maerith Sol is Histol’s central authority, and the eastern stair offers Bottu a direct route toward the chancellor’s chambers before the assembly concludes.
Quest Complete
Uncover who is issuing commands in the coalition’s name
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Superb→Legendary