The relay station remains sealed and quiet beneath the transit exchange. Gwen keeps Milo secured near the entrance while Vesper watches the manual locks, and Reina preserves Vale’s route beside the isolated console.
The shard rests beside the air-gapped bridge. Its dormant signal wakes in narrow pulses, matching a buried Lazarus authorization layer beneath Vale’s mirrored session.
Reina Sato
The shard is not broadcasting outward. It is recognizing the relay’s old credential structure and asking for an authorization response.
Tomas Vale
That layer can unlock Saint Marrow’s sublevel intake. It was built for prototype transfers, not patients. Venn hid it because the route bypasses clinical oversight.
Reina freezes the matching signal and copies the authorization exchange into her isolated mirror. A second route appears, leading beneath the tower without touching its clinical network.
Tomas Vale
The shard carries a partial access token. Combined with my override, it can open the archive corridor. Without both, the tower flags the approach and purges the files.
Gwen Armitage
Then explain exactly what the shard unlocks, and what waits beyond that corridor. We are not carrying an unknown key into Saint Marrow Tower.
“I keep the shard dormant and press Vale for details”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Razor keeps the shard’s pulses suppressed beneath his gloved hand, holding its partial token dormant while Reina’s isolated mirror preserves the silent exchange.
Razor
Tell us exactly what the shard unlocks, what waits beyond the corridor, and how Venn uses the archive.
Tomas Vale
It unlocks the sublevel intake door and a sealed archive corridor beneath Saint Marrow Tower. The clinical network never sees either access event.
Vale points to the mirrored route without touching the console. Reina follows the gesture, keeping the shard disconnected from every live system.
Tomas Vale
Beyond the corridor are prototype-transfer records, erased personnel files, and the night-sheath storage chamber. Venn uses the archive to remove names, orders, and witnesses from Lazarus systems.
Tomas Vale
My override supplies the route authority. The shard supplies the partial token. Together they open the intake, bypass the clinical network, and preserve the archive instead of triggering its purge.
Reina Sato
The shard remains dormant, and Vale’s explanation matches the authorization structure. I have the route, the functions, and the archive contents sealed in the mirror.
Quest Complete
Determine the shard's true purpose
Skill Upgrade: Electronics Great→Superb