The vault’s silence breaks as a hidden side passage grinds open behind the party. Ren Gambison, a young half-elf man with an angular handsome face, dark travel clothes, and a dust-streaked coat, slips through carrying a suspicious ring of ancient keys.
Ren Gambison
Easy now. I followed the fragment-carrier into the mine. This vault was already promised to a surviving claimant, and I mean to collect what is owed.
Astraya whirls with her rapier raised, while Caspien brings his falcon sword across the passage. Arvanis turns toward the newly opened tunnel, bowstring drawn, guarding the route back to the stair.
Astraya Orlaith
You arrive armed with stolen-looking keys and a convenient claim. Give us one reason not to bind your hands.
Ren Gambison
Because I am the only one here who knows the claimant’s name. Besides, if I meant harm, you would still be searching the pines.
Before anyone can test his story, one key shudders within Ren’s ring. It lifts by itself, its blackened teeth turning toward the narrow inner seal.
Caspien Ashveil
Do not touch it. That mechanism is responding to the same inheritance magic that marked Lady Orlaith.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish whether Ren Gambison has a rightful claim to the vault’s inheritance
“This area.. is responding to my blood. So by my own blood I have the rightful claim to this. You can’t possibly think you have a strong claim then blood. Now, if you are just here for gold and fancy loot.. we can make arrangements.. but only if you are honest with us about your intentions and how you got those keys.”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Dyanara Orlaith
This vault answers to my blood, so House Orlaith holds the rightful claim. If you seek only gold or relics, we can make arrangements, but first be honest about your intentions and those keys.
The black crescent in Dyanara’s palm flares, and the parted seal widens beneath her claim. The key in Ren’s hand goes still, its teeth lowering toward the stone.
Ren Gambison
Fair enough, Lady Orlaith. I am here for profit, not conquest. The claimant is Maerith’s surviving bloodline, and I was hired to secure the vault before rival agents reached it.
Ren Gambison
The keys came from a courier who carried them out of a ruined counting house. I lifted them after he tried to sell them twice, then tracked the fragment-carrier here.
Ren opens his palm and offers the ring without flourish. Beneath the ancient keys, a narrow brass token bears a faded sigil matching the script around the vault.
Astraya Orlaith
That is more honesty than I expected. Dyanara, the token carries Maerith’s mark, but Ren’s story still leaves one question unanswered.
Ren Gambison
Ask it plainly. If your blood opened this place, I would rather bargain with its rightful keeper than steal from her.
“Yes. Your honesty and hopefully assist shall be rewarded. Astrya ask your question.”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Dyanara Orlaith
Your honesty and assistance will be rewarded, Ren. Astraya, ask your question.
Dyanara keeps her hand extended toward the offered keys, her red eyes fixed on Ren. The vault’s pale script reflects across the brass token.
Astraya Orlaith
Who hired you to secure this vault, and why would Maerith’s surviving bloodline trust a thief with its inheritance?
Ren Gambison
A masked broker called Veyra commissioned me. She paid in Ashveil coin and named no bloodline, only a claimant hidden beyond the eastern marches.
Ren’s confidence falters for the first time. The key ring gives a faint chime, and the brass token warms beneath his fingers as Maerith’s script shifts.
Caspien Ashveil
Ashveil coin suggests someone wanted this concealed from my house. Ren, what else did Veyra tell you about the claimant?
“*I look around the vault to open it while listening to their conversation.*”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -2)
Dyanara studies the circular seal while Ren answers Caspien, tracing Maerith’s script around the parted seam. The symbols align with the black crescent in her palm.
Ren Gambison
Veyra said the claimant carried a key no thief could counterfeit. She feared the vault would reject anyone who lacked Maerith’s blood.
Dyanara presses her marked hand to the matching inscription. Cold bites through her glove as the stone recognizes her, and the inner seal rolls aside with a deep subterranean groan.
Caspien Ashveil
Then Veyra knew more than she revealed. The claimant may be bait, or the final safeguard against whoever truly controls this inheritance.
Beyond the opened threshold lies a smaller chamber, its walls lined with black candles and sealed niches. The magic drains warmth from Dyanara’s fingers, leaving her hand numb.
Astraya Orlaith
Dyanara, the way is open, but that curse is taking hold again. Let me see your hand before we cross.
Ren Gambison
Whatever waits inside, it was meant for her. I suggest we enter together, before the vault decides to close around us.
“Ashtraya I’m fine. We need to keep moving forward. *I continue to the next threshold.*”
FAILURE (Fair Agility, rolled -1)
“Ashtraya I’m fine. We need to keep moving forward. *I continue to the next threshold.*”
FAILURE (Fair Agility, rolled -2)
Dyanara Orlaith
Astraya, I’m fine. We need to keep moving forward.
Dyanara advances through the threshold, glaive angled low. The black crescent flares, and the chamber’s candles ignite with cold blue fire.
Before her second step lands, invisible force locks around the doorway. The stone rejects her passage, forcing her back as the seal groans shut halfway.
Astraya Orlaith
Dyanara, stop. It is not resisting your blood. It is demanding something from the hand that bears it.
Caspien Ashveil
Look beneath the threshold. The script has changed. There is another condition, and it names a witness.
Maerith’s symbols rearrange beneath Dyanara’s boots, exposing a narrow silver-lined groove leading beside the sealed passage. Within it rests a second, untouched keyhole.
Ren Gambison
That keyhole was hidden from the outer seal. My ring has one key shaped for it, but opening it may choose a different way in.