The hidden passage breathes cold air and old dust. Tanor and the Apprentice step into the archive level, where green stains lick the stone ribs of the corridor.
A translucent figure gathers in the center of the narrow way, robed and motionless at first, its faint green eyes fixed on them. The air tightens around it like a held breath.
The Warden of Stacks
No farther. This path is kept.
The Apprentice falters beside Tanor, one hand pressed to their side, then lifts their chin toward the apparition. The spectral guardian watches both of them, wary rather than wrathful.
The Apprentice
We only need the vault access. Let us pass, or tell us the lock that binds it.
The Warden of Stacks
The vault answers only to the living hand and the sealed name. One is yours. The other is not.
The corridor offers two choices in the dim green light, confront the guardian, or seek another way around it before the archive level seals itself shut.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get past the Warden of Stacks
✓ Quest Accepted
Guess the sealed name
“Ask the Warden what we need to do to get through”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +1)
Tanor
What must we do to pass?
The Warden of Stacks
Answer the question of the vault, and the passage yields. Speak the sealed name, or bear the living hand that knows it.
The Apprentice
The sealed name is not a title. It is a burden.
The Warden of Stacks
The hand must be offered clean, not armed for theft. The name must be remembered, not guessed.
The Warden lowers its lifted hand, and the green haze around the archway loosens. Above them, stone gives a small, dry crack.
The Apprentice
Tanor, if you can stand with me, I can try the old vow. But the ceiling will not like it.
Dust sifts down in a thin veil as the guardian waits, its eyes steady on them.
“Help the apprentice with the old vow”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Tanor lowers his sword hand and steps in beside the Apprentice. Their joined hands hover over the old vow as the green-stained archway breathes a thin, uneasy glow.
The Apprentice
Steady now. The vow remembers intent, not strength.
Tanor lends his weight to the rite, and the passage answers. The haze parts in a cold draft, revealing a dark way beyond the arch.
The Warden of Stacks
A living hand, accepted. A sealed name, not spoken.
The floor answers with a dull groan. Fresh dust spills from the ceiling, and a crack runs fast across one stone rib above them.
The Apprentice
It opens. Move, Tanor.
The Warden eases aside, but its gaze stays fixed on them as the archway yields a dark, colder corridor and the library shudders overhead.
Quest Complete
Get past the Warden of Stacks
New Gift: Warden's Insight