The extraction car idles beside the crates, engine thudding under the wind. Sharp Archer steps toward the door, and the artifact in his coat suddenly burns hot enough to sting through wool.
Snow kicks up around his boots in jagged little spirals, as if the yard itself is trying to circle him. Agnes Bell freezes near the car, eyes dropping to the bulge under his coat.
Agnes Bell
That is not just reacting, it is answering something.
The Operative
If it keeps flaring, we cannot leave it here. We take it with us or we bury it now.
Mallory
And if rival patrols see this business, they will know exactly what we have.
A whistle cuts through the snow from the far end of the freight yard. Somewhere beyond the white veil, men are closing in, drawn by the same disturbance.
Sharp Archer
The heat is getting stronger. They are being found.
The choice lands hard and clear, board the extraction car now and move the beacon before it calls anything else, or stay and risk exposure while Archer tries to quiet it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Board the extraction car with the beacon contained
“I cast an arcane shield around the artifact as we get into the car, but not before it calls out to minions of the old gods”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcane ballistics, rolled +1)
Sharp Archer lifts the artifact against his coat and snaps his focus around it. A thin shield of cold light blooms tight to the hidden shape, muting the heat under wool.
Agnes Bell
There, keep that shape. It is settling.
The snow spirals break apart, no longer clawing at his boots. The car door stands open, waiting.
Sharp Archer climbs into the extraction car with the shielded beacon tucked in close. The Operative follows at once, glancing back into the yard.
The Operative
Move. If it has called to anything, we do not give it time to answer on foot.
Mallory shoves the door shut. Outside, the whistle in the snow sharpens into voices, distant but converging.
Mallory
They have the scent now. Start this thing.
The engine coughs, catches, and the car shudders on its rails as the shield holds fast around the artifact.
Quest Complete
Board the extraction car with the beacon contained