Adventure of Quorpeck.5

The sluice door shudders wide, and floodwater surges into the passage. Ahead, a porcelain-masked clerk kneels in the torrent, carving the last strokes of a rune into the iron mechanism.

The Helm-Bearer jerks against her cloth leash as the water climbs past her knees. The Spectral Warden brightens at the threshold, its outline tense with recognition.

The clerk looks up from the rune, mask shining wetly in the dark, then drags a final line through the sigil with practiced haste. The chamber answers with a low, grinding hum.

The prophecy stone in Quorpeck’s grasp flickers weakly, then catches the rune’s pulse. The way forward is plain now, stop the clerk, sever the binding, or the curse remains steered from below.

Quorpeck drives his runed blade down through the black-marked seal. Iron rings out under the strike, and the rune cracks open with a flash of pale water-light.

The clerk jerks backward from the mechanism, stylus flying from their hand as the carved line unravels in the torrent. The hum in the chamber stutters hard.

Floodwater slaps over Quorpeck’s gauntlet as the blade bites deep, and a sharp crack answers from beneath the floor. The exposed binding seal goes white, then breaks into drifting fragments.

The prophecy stone in Quorpeck’s grasp goes dimmer still, but the curse’s anchor below the sluice falls silent. The clerk reels in the surge, suddenly cut off from the final stroke.