Cactusthorn slips back into the inner chamber and finds Jinen still at the altar, exactly where he left him. The ash in the room hangs cold and thin, like the chamber is holding its breath.
Jinen does not turn right away. His eyes stay on the altar, but his posture is wrong for prayer now, steady, patient, almost pleased.
Jinen
The beacon did not break him. So he is still usable.
That quiet recognition lands harder than any strike. Jinen reaches toward the black-thread seal near the altar, not with reverence, but like a man checking a lock he already understands.
Jinen
You survived the call. Good. I was right to wait.
The chamber shifts around the revelation. Jinen was never only a guide. He was watching, measuring, deciding whether Cactusthorn would become the vessel the Abbot needed.
Jinen
The rite needed a body that could endure it. I wanted to see if yours would do.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the shrine
“Tell jinen that he can rot in hell and that he will never sacrifice me to his bullshit abbott rituals. Throw your stars at him and fight him, seriously injuring him. Before running and using your smoke bombs to escape the shrine room.”
SUCCESS (Great Hand-to-Hand Combat, rolled -2)
Cactusthorn
Rot in hell. I am not a sacrifice for your Abbot's rite.
Cactusthorn's stars flash across the chamber. One bites Jinen's shoulder, another cuts the air by his cheek, and the monk jerks away from the altar with a sharp gasp.
Jinen
So that is your answer.
Jinen staggers, one hand clamping hard over the wound, dark fabric staining at once. The black-thread seal fragment skitters from his reach and taps against the stone.
Cactusthorn turns and hurls smoke into the chamber. The haze blooms low and ugly, swallowing the altar and breaking the monk's line of sight.
The room coughs itself blind. Ash swirls through the smoke, and Jinen's outline blurs into a threat Cactusthorn can no longer read.
Jinen
Go, then. But the chamber knows what you are now.