The chamber’s pale fire trembles across the silver dust. Scooter steps before the pedestal, unfolding the stolen map with shaking hands and blocking the direct path to the relic.
Scooter
Look here. These marks were invisible above ground, but the fire reveals them now.
He points to thin ink glowing beneath the pale flames. The lines circle the wrapped relic, then gather into an ancient warning in a cramped, unfamiliar hand.
Scooter
The levy says whoever removes the relic must surrender a name, a memory, or a living bond. It is not a ward against theft. It is a price.
Gandolf
You read a threatening poem and call it proof. Show us why these marks are ancient, and why you believe the levy will answer when the relic is lifted.
Scooter
Because the same hand recorded the ash gate on the map, and because this ink appeared only under the chamber’s fire. What more proof can the stone demand?
Jennifer watches the sealed relic without touching it. Gandolf studies the glowing script, while Scooter keeps the map spread wide and the pedestal path blocked, leaving the choice before Jannie.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether Scooter withheld a dangerous truth about the relic's levy
“OK scooter prove it touch the relic”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Jannie Welcome
All right, Scooter. Prove it. Touch the relic.
Scooter swallows, folds the map beneath one arm, and reaches across the silver dust. His fingertips press against the wrapped relic’s shimmering seal.
The pale fire gutters blue. Ancient letters flare around the pedestal, and the seal accepts his touch without breaking, making the levy’s presence undeniable.
Scooter
There. It answers contact. The price is real, and it has noticed me.
A single glowing word forms above Scooter’s hand, written in the same cramped script as the warning. His name burns there, then fades into the seal.
Gandolf
Enough. Withdraw your hand before the chamber decides what else to claim.
Jennifer
He proved the levy. Now we know the relic can be taken, but not without payment.
“Ok so scooter you must be the brave one and sacrifice a bad memory”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Jannie Welcome
All right, Scooter. Be brave and sacrifice a bad memory.
Scooter
A bad memory, then. I can pay that price.
Scooter sets the map aside and presses both hands to the wrapped relic. The seal draws a pale thread of light through his brow, and his breath catches.
For one silent instant, Scooter remembers a cellar, a locked door, and his own voice pleading while someone outside laughed. The memory tears away into the seal.
Scooter
I cannot remember the face. I know there was a face, but it is gone.
The shimmering seal breaks without a sound. The wrapped relic lies free on the pedestal, while Scooter sways, pale and suddenly uncertain, his lost composure visible to everyone.
Jennifer
The price was paid, and the relic is ours. Hold him steady before the chamber asks for more.
“We grabbed the relic and scooter and get the hell out of there as fast as possible”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled -2)
“We grabbed the relic and scooter and get the hell out of there as fast as possible”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +1)
Jannie lunges through the silver dust, seizes the freed relic, and catches Scooter by the arm before his knees can buckle. The chamber’s pale fire flares behind them.
Jennifer grabs the map while Gandolf sweeps his staff across the threshold, urging the retreat. Together they drive for the basalt stair without stopping to study the chamber’s warning.
Scooter
I can run. I can still run. Just do not let me lose anything else.
Jannie hauls Scooter up the worn steps, the relic clutched tight against her coat. Dust rains from the ceiling, but the ancient stair holds as the party races toward the vault.
Jennifer
Keep moving. The relic is free, and the chamber has nothing left to claim from us.
They burst into the basalt vault and cross the abandoned hoard at a sprint. The ash gate yawns ahead, daylight burning beyond its black arch.
Jannie pulls Scooter through the ash gate with Gandolf and Jennifer close behind. They emerge beside the ruined wagons, relic secured, chamber and hoard left behind.
Quest Complete
Recover Beelzebub's holy relic
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
+ New Item Acquired
Beelzebub's relic