A silver sword suddenly stands embedded in the covenant stone before Roku, its polished blade reflecting the open doorway and the three companions beyond it.
When Roku’s magic brushes the hilt, pale fire folds around him. The world thins, and he is drawn across a veil into a spirit-world likeness of the sunken home.
Reggie Vonland
Roku! We can still see you, but the veil will not let us follow.
Reggie, Jessica, and Vaelith remain outside the threshold. Their forms waver beyond the pale barrier while the reflected mansion settles into silent, silver-black corridors.
The Unseen Presence
Do not fear the distance, blood-bearer. The sword has only bound your hearing to the vow. I have waited where the first voice escaped.
Beyond a reflected doorway, an unseen presence waits. Its voice carries faint traces of the escaped first voice, yet its words arrive distinctly, tethered to the sword’s ringing hilt.
The Unseen Presence
Roku Luaghly, witness named by your own hand, will you hear what the covenant concealed before you choose whether to answer it?
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the sword's hold
“I reach for the sword and attempt to lift it”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled -1)
Roku reaches through the pale fire and closes his hand around the silver sword’s hilt. The spirit-world corridors hold their breath around him.
The blade tears free of the covenant stone with a ringing note. Its weight settles into Roku’s grip, and the reflected doorway shudders open behind him.
A sharp silver edge bites across his palm as the sword rises. Blood beads along his hand, and the weapon drinks one bright drop before going still.
Roku Luaghly
The sword is bound to the covenant, and it has accepted my hand.
The Unseen Presence
You have lifted what the first witness buried. The cost is small, but the sword now knows your blood.
Reggie Vonland
Roku, your hand! Put the sword down if it is taking more than blood.
Beyond the veil, Reggie presses against the unseen barrier while Jessica watches the lifted blade with wary recognition. Vaelith’s face tightens as older voices stir in the walls.
+ New Item Acquired
Silver sword
“I demand the presence reveal the covenant's concealment”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +0)
Roku Luaghly
Reveal what the covenant concealed. I am its witness, and I demand the truth.
The silver sword answers with a deep chime. Its pale fire spreads across the corridors, forming ancient figures in the air while the unseen barrier trembles around Reggie, Jessica, and Vaelith.
The Unseen Presence
Then hear the concealed vow. The family did not seal a dragon beneath the sunken home. It sealed the name of the one who betrayed the first guardian.
Silver script coils along the blade, revealing a second truth: the dragon’s power was divided between blood and witness, so neither could command it alone.
The Unseen Presence
The betrayer wore your family’s face. He opened the first gate, offered the bloodline as a key, and bound the dragon’s memory to every heir who followed.
Reggie Vonland
Then the mark in my blood is not a summons. It is the guardian’s half of the old sentence.
The Unseen Presence
Yes. Larry seeks the power, but the covenant concealed its final law: only a free witness holding the silver sword can name the betrayer and sever his claim.
“I bargain with the presence for my freedom”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +2)
Roku Luaghly
I bargain for my freedom. Release me from this veil, and I will name the betrayer before the covenant and carry its truth beyond this house.
The silver sword grows still in Roku’s hand. Its pale fire withdraws from his blood and gathers into a narrow circle around the unseen presence.
The Unseen Presence
You offer witness without surrendering your friends. That bargain honors the first law. Name the betrayer, and the sword will release you.
The barrier around Reggie, Jessica, and Vaelith cracks like thin ice, then dissolves into silver motes. The reflected corridors regain their distance and shape.
The Unseen Presence
Your freedom is granted now, witness. The sword remembers your blood, but it holds no claim upon your steps. The covenant cannot bind you again.
The spirit-world floor steadies beneath Roku’s feet. Behind him, the open doorway becomes the true entrance once more, and his companions stand within reach beyond its threshold.
Reggie Vonland
You are free, Roku. Whatever name this sword demands, we will face the truth together, without giving Larry another life to take.
Name the betrayer before the covenant
Quest Complete
Escape the sword's hold
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary