The ledger shudders in Huarti’s grip. White light pours up his arm, then spills into the hall, making the black stone blaze like sunlit ice.
Merek Vale lowers one hand from his eyes and stares at the dais as the walls grind inward, then outward, reshaping themselves around Huarti’s will.
Merek Vale
It is binding the hall to you... not just the seal.
Annika Mal
Then use it. If that ledger is a key, lock the whole archive to your command.
The heartbeat-thrum in the crystal quickens. Along the far walls, buried runes awaken, then bow, one after another, like doors hearing a master’s step.
Huarti turns the ledger’s pulse outward. The archive answers, sending a cold, measured wave through the chamber and down into the desert below, claiming the border as his domain.
Merek Vale
If that holds, the desert wards will follow the archive's name.
“I relax to the rite”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +1)
Huarti lets the surge pass through him instead of fighting it. The white glare softens, then settles into a steady, obedient hum around the ledger.
The crystalline book turns warm in his grip. Its pulse matches his breathing, and the hall’s grinding stone answers with a low, finished click.
Merek Vale
It has accepted you. The archive is listening now.
Annika Mal
Look at that, the shelves are settling. It is actually obeying.
Far above, faint ward-lights along the walls shift in sequence, then point outward, as if the Deep Archive has begun to mark borders under a new name.
Huarti
The ledger is quiet now.
Merek takes one cautious step closer, eyes fixed on the book. Annika does not move, but her hand lifts, half-ready to ask for the next command.
Quest Complete
Claim the crystalline ledger
New Gift: Crystalline Memory Recall