The Sanctuary Outpost’s medical room seals behind Elijah Hunter and Sarah. He still carries the locked sample case, while Marcus remains behind at the facility with the archive access route.
Rain ticks against the concealed cabin roof. Sarah sets the recovered terminal beside the examination table, and its amber display throws shifting code across the medical supplies.
Sarah
Keep the case on the table, but do not open it. The live index is still linked to the master archive.
Sarah connects the terminal through an isolated diagnostic cable. The case answers with a soft pulse, and a second signal appears beneath the evidence records.
Sarah
There. That is not a normal transmission. Something inside the archive is listening for us.
Sarah
If it tagged the case during extraction, Northstar may already know this outpost exists.
The terminal redraws the signal as a slow-moving map. Its origin shifts between the sample case and the outpost’s encrypted systems, waiting for the next connection.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether Northstar has compromised the Sanctuary Outpost
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the source of the hidden signal
“I trace the hidden signal through the terminal without opening the case.”
SUCCESS (Poor Technology, rolled +1)
Elijah Hunter keeps the sample case sealed on the table and routes the terminal through its isolated diagnostic channel. Amber lines split across the display.
He follows the hidden signal through successive relay points, never opening the case. The trace passes through the outpost’s encrypted systems, then resolves beyond them.
Sarah
You found the carrier path. It is not coming from inside the case. The case is answering a remote listener.
The terminal projects a Northern Ontario map. One endpoint marks the Sanctuary Outpost; the other settles on a Northstar relay hidden inside a decommissioned weather station.
Sarah
There. Northstar planted a dormant relay near the snow-road corridor. It has been listening for the archive index, not transmitting our location yet.
A second trace confirms the case’s live index remains intact and isolated. Sarah captures the relay coordinates and cuts the diagnostic connection without disturbing the evidence.
Sarah
We know where the signal goes, and the case is still secure. Marcus’s archive can be checked against that relay before anyone touches the sample.
Quest Complete
Identify the source of the hidden signal
“Is Northstar using the relay to locate us?”
NO, BUT (VeryUnlikely, rolled 21)
Sarah reopens the captured trace without reconnecting the case. The relay’s signal pattern expands across the map, showing no return path aimed at the Sanctuary Outpost.
Sarah
No. Northstar is not using it to locate us. The relay never requested our coordinates or tested the outpost perimeter.
A dormant handshake appears beneath the relay data, stamped with a recent time and routed toward the Ontario Snow-Road Corridor. Its destination is not Northstar headquarters.
Sarah
But it is waiting for the live index to identify a second archive node. Someone else is supposed to answer when the case comes online.
Sarah isolates the handshake and enlarges its final route. The signal ends at a maintenance repeater near an abandoned emergency communications tower, several kilometres from the weather station.
Sarah
That repeater is a usable lead. We can reach it, map the next hop, and learn who Northstar expects to contact without exposing this cabin.
Rain continues tapping the roof. The sample case remains sealed and secure, while the new coordinates wait on the terminal beside it.
“Is someone besides Northstar awaiting the case?”
YES, BUT (VeryLikely, rolled 82)
Sarah enlarges the repeater’s handshake. Beneath the routing code, an independent authentication mark resolves, separate from every Northstar registry.
Sarah
Someone else is waiting for the case. The relay is answering an old Warden protocol, not a Northstar command channel.
The terminal produces a clipped burst of encrypted audio. Static thins around a measured, damaged voice, routed through the abandoned tower.
The Warden
The archive survived. Then Justice survived with it. Bring the index to the repeater, and I will show you what Northstar buried.
Sarah kills the audio, but the damage is already done. The repeater has registered the outpost’s diagnostic signature, and its return pulse is now climbing toward the weather station.
Sarah
The lead is real, but we spent our concealment. Northstar may not know this cabin yet, but the relay now knows someone here touched the case.