The fugitive leads Kazumi from the roofless watch hollow, limping through wind-packed snow toward a buried descent beneath the mountain’s lower slope. No one remains behind; only the two of them continue toward Liora.
The Fugitive
The old road is buried here. Keep close, and watch the stones. The ruins begin beneath us before they appear above.
He clears snow from a slanted stairwell between jagged rocks. The steps descend into darkness, where ancient masonry exhales damp air carrying the faint mineral scent of stagnant water.
They emerge beneath collapsed streets in Liora’s western quarter. Broken foundations crowd the passage, and ahead, the western cistern gapes like a cracked stone throat beneath fallen beams.
The Fugitive
That is the entrance. The archive lies beyond the cistern, if the old channels have not collapsed completely.
Fresh scuffs cross the dust around the cistern rim. Several stones have been recently shifted, and a snapped lantern hook rests among footprints too sharp to belong to age.
The Fugitive
Someone searched for the originals before us. If they found nothing, they may still be waiting nearby.
The black archive mark beneath his skin begins to glow, answering the darkness below with a dull, steady pulse. The buried descent falls silent around them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Open the cistern’s archive entrance
“I look at the disturbance on the ground and use my perception to find out what and when this had happened.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +1)
Kazumi crouches beside the cistern rim, studying the disturbed dust without touching it. Her perception separates old collapse from recent passage, reading weight, direction, and the settling of grit.
Kazumi Dighto
At least three people came through here recently, and they were searching rather than merely passing.
The sharp footprints belong to three adults wearing hard-soled travel boots. Their overlapping tracks are less than a day old, while the shifted stones bear fresh scrape marks and damp dust.
One searcher knelt at the rim and levered away two stones, then reached into the cistern before withdrawing. A second set of marks circles the western wall, where a concealed channel begins.
The Fugitive
They did not enter the archive. See the dust gathered inside the channel? It remains unbroken. They searched the rim, found no obvious passage, and left.
Kazumi finds their departure trail leading north through a collapsed alley. The freshest heel impressions point away from the cistern, dated by the soft edges to only a few hours ago.
The Fugitive
Then we have a narrow advantage. The archive is still hidden, and whoever searched it may not know the western channel is the true entrance.
“"Let us get through then." I said, Preparing a cloaking rune. The tattoos on my body glowing with the color of Mana.”
SUCCESS (Good Magic, rolled +1)
Kazumi Dighto
Let us get through then.
Kazumi raises her hands and prepares a cloaking rune. Mana-colored light blooms through the tattoos along her arms and beneath her clothing, then folds inward around both travelers.
The rune settles over them like cool mist, bending sight and softening the sound of boots against stone. Their outlines fade into the cistern’s fractured shadows.
The Fugitive
Good. Keep close, and let the old waterway hide us.
The fugitive follows Kazumi to the western wall. Beneath a curtain of rubble, her cloaking magic reveals the concealed channel without disturbing its dust.
They slip into the narrow passage and descend through damp masonry. Stagnant water murmurs below, while the rune carries them unseen beyond the searched cistern rim.
The Fugitive
The archive is close now, and whoever searched above will not know we passed.
“The corridor smells of dust and ancient magic, I could feel the magical wards and runes around us, faintly.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +1)
Dust lies thick along the corridor, but beneath its stale scent runs the cold fragrance of ancient magic. Faint runes glimmer under the damp masonry.
Kazumi Dighto
The wards are woven through the walls, not placed upon them. They are old, dormant, and still listening.
Kazumi's perception follows the magic through cracks and submerged stones. Three ward-lines cross the passage: one conceals the channel, one records passage, and one seals a stair beyond.
The Fugitive
You can feel them? I only sensed the archive mark answering. Tell me what the old ward remembers.
The concealed runes resolve beneath Kazumi's awareness. The channel has carried authorized witnesses before, and its recording ward has not marked their passage as hostile.
The Fugitive
Then the old builders expected someone to come this way. Perhaps the archive was meant to be found by those who could read its protections.
Ahead, pale symbols gather around a low archway, revealing the safe route through the waterway. The wards remain quiet as both travelers proceed beneath its ancient protection.