Reggie’s blood-marked hand pulls the company along the road until the sunken home rises from the mist, a mansion-like structure sagging into black earth.
Its dark windows reflect no faces. The entrance stands open, and the ancient warning seems to breathe from the stones: none who enter ever return.
Jessica
Stop beneath the threshold. That carving is a covenant sign, older than Larry’s oath and shaped to receive blood.
Jessica kneels without crossing, tracing the air above a buried mark. Violet-black lines glimmer beneath the dust, answering the wound in Reggie’s palm.
Vaelith
The first voice is inside. It whispers through the walls, searching for the family line and calling the dragon-marked one its key.
Reggie Vonland
Then this is where the vow was hidden. My blood brought us here, but it does not tell me what waits beyond that door.
Behind them, the fort and its commander remain distant beyond the road. Only Reggie, Jessica, and Vaelith stand with Roku before the open darkness.
“I inspect the covenant sign without crossing”
SUCCESS (Great Lore, rolled +0)
Roku remains outside the threshold and studies the buried covenant sign through the dust. Its violet-black lines sharpen beneath his attention, revealing three interlocked circles around a dragon-shaped seal.
Roku Luaghly
The outer circle binds the witness, the middle binds the blood, and the dragon seal is not a door.
The mark answers his scrutiny without opening. Faint script rises along its rim, each stroke carrying the residue of an oath made by the family line.
Jessica
You have found its order. The witness is named first, the blood second, and the dragon last. Larry cannot command this sign by his covenant alone.
Vaelith
The first voice hid a distinction here. The sign does not summon the dragon-marked one. It records whoever accepts the vow.
A hair-thin line branches from the middle circle toward the road behind them, ending beneath Reggie’s bloodied palm. Another points into the mansion, but stops at the threshold.
Reggie Vonland
Then my blood brought us to the covenant, but crossing would make me its witness. We know what waits before anyone enters.
“I ask Jessica to reveal the severing price”
FAILURE (Good Diplomacy, rolled -3)
Roku Luaghly
Jessica, reveal the price of severing the covenant.
Jessica’s hand hovers over the buried sign. At Roku’s request, she draws one dagger and touches its flat to the outer circle, keeping her feet beyond the threshold.
Jessica
The price is a witness’s name, freely surrendered before the blood answers. Mine is already chained to Larry’s oath, so I cannot offer it.
The covenant rejects her touch. Violet-black script climbs the dagger, coils around her wrist, and seals the outer circle with a sharp flash. The line toward Reggie’s palm fades.
Jessica
There. The sign has judged my answer. I can expose the severing rite, but I cannot perform it. If I speak the final words, the oath will claim my voice.
Reggie Vonland
Then the price is not merely blood. It is a witness who remains free long enough to name the bond.
Vaelith
And Jessica’s failed offering has closed her path to the sign. We must find another witness before the covenant accepts any blood at all.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure a free witness
“While I'll be the witness i refuse to sacrifice my friends*i say looking at Reggie* if this fails save the oracle”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +1)
Roku Luaghly
I will be the witness. I refuse to sacrifice my friends. Reggie, if this fails, save Vaelith.
Roku steps to the buried sign without crossing the threshold and places his uninjured hand above the outer circle. The violet-black script turns toward him.
Reggie Vonland
Roku, do not make that choice lightly. If the covenant takes your name, I will pull you free, whatever it costs.
Vaelith
The sign hears him. His offer is freely given, and no other blood is required.
The outer circle opens beneath Roku’s hand. Light threads from his palm through the middle ring, then settles around the dragon-shaped seal without touching Reggie or Vaelith.
Jessica
It accepts him. The witness is named, the blood remains unclaimed, and the severing rite is exposed.
A clear inscription rises from the stone, revealing the covenant’s hidden words. The mansion doors widen soundlessly, and the path to the bound vow stands open before them.
Quest Complete
Secure a free witness