The plaza’s scanner ring keeps humming, but Rosa is not done. She swings a compact probe toward Stella, eyes narrowed behind reflected diagnostics, and the rest of the group watches the readout like it might bite.
Rosa Lewis
Hold still. I need the source, not another temporary clean-up.
Stella freezes in the neon wash as the probe traces her outline. The dim warning glyph stirs brighter, then settles, as if recognizing her again.
Young Dave
If that thing spikes again, we need to know now. No surprises.
Sasami Yoshida
The resonance is staying centered on her, but it is not breaking the grid.
Rosa’s jaw tightens. She adjusts the rig one notch lower, then one notch higher, trying to pin the disturbance to Stella’s arcane focus instead of her body. The scanner answers with a clean, steady tone.
Rosa Lewis
It is not a bomb. It is a source. Different problem. Stella, if you want that tavern, you are coming with data, not guesses.
✓ Quest Accepted
Clear suspicion about the warning glyph
“I hold my breath and let Rosa scan the glyph directly.”
SUCCESS (Fair Health, rolled +1)
Stella stays very still and lets the probe drink in the glyph’s outline. The scanner’s tone sharpens, then resolves into a clean, readable pattern.
Rosa Lewis
That is not random noise. It is a mapped signature, and it is anchored to her focus.
Sasami Yoshida
The glyph is no longer drifting. It is matching the same source every time.
Rosa lowers the probe a fraction, her shoulders easing as the readout stabilizes in her hands.
Jane Singer
So it is her, but it is also not an attack. That is... better than I expected.
The thin warning outline hangs steady in the neon air, no longer flaring, just waiting. Rosa looks from the glyph to Stella, then to the others, as if the room has finally become legible.
Quest Complete
Clear suspicion about the warning glyph