Doku’s control rune remains bright across the central stone. The hooked symbol straightens, then turns like a key, and the stair seal unlocks with a deep subterranean chime.
Stone steps descend into darkness beneath the observatory. Along the walls, star charts awaken in faint gold, while dormant waystones emerge from dust like sleeping sentinels.
The palace archivist follows cautiously, carrying her record tablets against her chest. Above, the four anchored points remain sealed under Doku’s control, and no signal escapes the chamber.
The Palace Archivist
The observatory was not merely a transit station. It was a registry, perhaps even a command nexus, for routes that predate the palace.
At the stair’s foot, a vast underground chamber opens around them. A monumental map covers the far wall, its ancient routes linking distant mountains, buried cities, and vanished kingdoms.
The Palace Archivist
Some waystones still bear active names. If your lattice has awakened this archive, it may also have revealed destinations no living court remembers.
Doku Nohara
The routes extend far beyond the palace.
“"This will be useful. Heck one of the teleporters reveals to be of an enemy territory. Let's liquidate them." I use the teleporter to basically send a mass contagious poison gas to the enemy territory which will turn them into zombies that die overtime.”
SUCCESS (Good Magic, rolled -1)
Doku Nohara
This will be useful. One teleporter reveals enemy territory. Let's liquidate them.
Doku opens the locked poison tray and channels its vapor through the crystal-mounted parasol. The marked waystone answers, accepting the spell as a distant gate.
A gray-violet cloud pours through the ancient route into the enemy territory. It spreads across settlements and roads, infecting the living with a wasting curse that leaves them shambling before their strength fails.
The Palace Archivist
Lady Nohara, that is not a test transmission. You have contaminated an inhabited realm.
The map records the territory’s name in extinguishing gold. Across its miniature routes, lights gutter one after another as the contagion follows the linked waystones.
The cost arrives through the same connection: the chosen waystone blackens, its ancient name erased, and one of Doku’s resonance crystals cracks from rim to core.
The Palace Archivist
The route is dead, and that crystal cannot be restored. But the spell reached its destination fully.
“"The rest are territories I have monopoly over their medical supplies for. So this will help cut on time with travel expenses and help my monopoly grow. We will use this for future use."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +3)
Doku Nohara
The remaining routes reach territories where my medical supplies already hold monopoly. We will use them to reduce travel costs and expand that control.
Doku places the cracked crystal aside and raises the parasol over the surviving waystones. Her sealing runes divide the untouched routes from the dead one, preserving their connections without opening any gate.
The monumental map brightens. Names, distances, seasonal hazards, and dormant receiving stones resolve across its surface, forming a usable ledger of territories and supply corridors.
The Palace Archivist
The registry has answered you. These routes can support scheduled deliveries, emergency treatment, and return travel without repeating the old expense.
Doku marks each surviving territory with a controlled medical seal. The waystones accept her authority, and their route records become keyed to Nohara dispatches rather than palace caravans.
The Palace Archivist
An additional advantage: the archive identifies which territories lack reliable healers. Their need will make your contracts easier to secure, if you offer dependable treatment.
The archivist records the network under witnessed custody. Doku now possesses a functioning transit plan, a cost-saving supply lattice, and a precise list of markets where her medical monopoly can grow.
Quest Complete
Determine the observatory’s true function
Skill Upgrade: Magic Good→Great