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.