The relay cabinet’s amber lamps flare. Damp concrete fills with a distorted image of the old soldier, his face breaking into horizontal bands of light.
the old soldier
The promise remembers its keeper.
His voice carries the same phrase from above, though he remains physically near the pharmacy with the delegates, guarding the sealed threshold.
The winged messenger has stayed at the upper landing, its charge ended there. No companion descends with Spanner Few into the utility chamber.
Behind the projection, a maintenance diagram crawls across the wall in pale amber lines. It marks a sealed chamber beneath the hospital, reached through the maintenance tunnel.
A hand-drawn warning circles the chamber entrance: PROMISE KEEPER.. The relay cabinet answers with another deep pulse, and black moisture shivers along the cable trunks.
the old soldier
Do not mistake a door for an invitation, Wing Rider. Some promises were buried because no living keeper could carry them.
“I question the old soldier through the projection”
SUCCESS (Fair Negotiation, rolled +0)
Spanner Few
Tell me what was buried here, and why.
Spanner Few sends his question through the projection, threading the Wishsong into the relay’s broken signal. The cabinet bucks, and every amber lamp burns white.
the old soldier
A pre-collapse failsafe lies beyond the tunnel, built around a sealed weapons archive. The promise was mine: keep it closed, whatever the cost.
the old soldier
Its surviving command recognizes Shannara blood and the Wishsong. It can expose what is poisoning the wells, but it can also wake the system that caused it.
The projection fractures. A sharp metallic taste fills Spanner Few’s mouth as the relay drains power through the song, and one cable trunk goes dark with a smoking pop.
the old soldier
Now you know the promise. The chamber is open to your blood, Wing Rider, but the old defenses will record your arrival.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the old soldier was deceived or knowingly served the buried power
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover the water-analysis records
“Can the relay show whether the old soldier knew the archive's purpose?”
NO, BUT (Likely, rolled 71)
The relay refuses the question. Its white lamps collapse into amber, and the projection of the old soldier blurs before any memory of the archive can surface.
the old soldier
No. I knew the order, not the purpose. The archive was sealed before I ever saw its first inventory.
A final pulse travels through the cabinet. The maintenance diagram redraws itself, separating the weapons archive from a smaller chamber labeled WATER ANALYSIS.
the old soldier
There. That chamber was not part of my oath. If the poison has a source, its record may still be intact.
The projection breaks into static, but the new route remains etched in amber: a side passage branching before the archive, ending at a manual access wheel.
the old soldier
If the records survived, they may prove what the old command buried.
Black moisture withdraws from that branch as the relay powers it briefly. The archive door stays sealed, while the water-analysis route waits in the dark.
− Scene Quest Removed
Determine whether the old soldier was deceived or knowingly served the buried power
“I want to take out the blue elfstones of Seeking. They react when I find balance in my wisdom, heart, and spirit. When they work, they explode into a blue beam that will point me in the direction I need to travel along with a vision of the location of whatever I am seeking. They also act as magical defense against magical creatures by exploding forth as a blue magical flame”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Spanner Few draws the blue Elfstones of Seeking from their case. Their surfaces catch the relay's amber light, then deepen into a clear, impossible blue.
He steadies his breath and holds wisdom, heart, and spirit in balance. The stones answer together, warming in his hands as the cabinet's pulse falls silent.
A blue beam erupts through the utility chamber, washing over cable trunks and concrete. It points down the side passage toward the water-analysis chamber, while a vision unfolds within its light.
The vision shows a rusted access wheel, a cracked sampling console, and black water moving beneath a transparent inspection pipe. Beneath the pipe, something rootlike spreads from a buried conduit.
Spanner Few
The stones show the source beneath the water-analysis chamber.
The beam contracts around the Elfstones, leaving blue flame curling across Spanner Few's fingers without heat. The fire settles into a warding glow around him.
the old soldier
I see the light through the relay. The stones have chosen a direction, Wing Rider. Follow it, but trust no water that remembers the old world.
“Follow the elfstones to the destination”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)