The Medium yanks Bob closer to the splintering panel, one hand clamped hard on her arm. The wall groans, then gives a wet, hollow crack. Behind it, darkness pulses once, like something breathing under skin.
The Medium
It is in the wall. Bob, hold still.
The Paranormal Investigator
Back away, now. The floor is giving way.
Bob braces as the boards shiver under her boots. Frost creeps over the study windows in a rushing bloom, and the chalk circle flashes pale as if struck from beneath.
Bob
The panel is opening into a space that should not be there.
The Mourning Woman
Do not let it see me. Please.
The Caretaker stands near the buckling boards, rigid and listening, his head tilted toward the wall. From inside the darkness, a slow knock answers, too measured to be wood.
The Caretaker
That is not the house settling.
+ Scene Quest Added
Seal the breach in the wall
+ Story Quest Added
Protect the Mourning Woman
“Seal the breach and protect the mourning woman”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +0)
Bob drives the staff into the seam between wall and floor, and the chalk at her feet catches the blow like tinder. White lines flare across the boards, racing toward the dark split in the plaster.
The Medium
Hold it. Hold it now.
The pulsing darkness jerks back, as if struck by a chain. Frost spiders farther across the windows, then stops.
The Mourning Woman
It cannot follow me through, can it?
Bob sets the tarot deck against the crack, card edges splayed like a fan of bones. The nearest board lifts, then slams down, pinned by a sudden pressure of air that smells of wet earth and old smoke.
The Caretaker
The binding is taking. Keep it there.
The darkness thins, collapsing inward as though stitched shut from the inside. The wall still trembles, but the opening no longer breathes.
The Paranormal Investigator
Almost closed. One more push, before it finds another way out.
Quest Complete
Seal the breach in the wall