The Hall of Welcome settles into a low, amber hush. Bren pours wine into three cups, careful and steady. Mara kneels by the floorboards, following their faint pulse with two fingers.
Kynes stands near the hearth as the house breathes around them. The place feels less like a room and more like a listener finally at ease.
Bren
You look less like you are bleeding, at least.
Mara
The boards are answering her. Not words, exactly, but patterns. They like being noticed.
Kynes
Kynes asks for the pattern, not the praise.
Mara smiles without looking up, tracing a slow curve in the grain. Bren sets a cup near Kynes, her gaze lingering on his rebuilt hand, then on his face.
Bren
Then let the house speak plainly. We have done enough guessing.
The amber webbing brightens once, soft as a held breath, and the room waits with them.
“" Venom, are you good or do you need a hand?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
The room stays hushed, but the floor answers with a slow, thoughtful thrum. Venom’s presence stirs beneath the boards, slackened and listening, while the amber webbing holds its steady glow.
Kynes
Venom, are you good, or do you need a hand?
The question lands through the house like a key turned gently in a lock. The hovering violet knot trembles once, then stills.
Venom
I endure. The house is quieter when you ask plainly.
Mara lifts her head from the boards, amused despite herself. Bren watches Kynes over the rim of her cup, relief softening into something warmer.
Bren
That sounded almost civil. I am beginning to think the house likes you more than it should.
Mara
It does not like him. It recognizes him. There is a difference.
Venom
It listens because he does not lie to it. That is rare enough to matter.
Quest Complete
Learn what the Hall of Welcome wants now
New Gift: Hall-Welcome Diplomatic Insight