The laboratory lies buried behind Hagrtich beneath its mound of rubble. From the sealed ruin come muffled impacts, the vizier’s furious orders, and the surviving attendant’s frightened scraping.
Beyond the rubble, a rough path crosses the moonlit scrub toward a roofless roadside shrine three hundred paces away. Its cracked stone basin gathers rainwater, old ash, and scraps of abandoned offerings.
Hagrtich Ssazar
The relic’s weight changes whenever I face the shrine.
Cold presses through the layered leather of Hagrtich’s pack. The angular relic remains silent, yet its burden subtly shifts, drawing heavier toward the shrine and easing when his body turns aside.
The Vizier
You cannot hide beneath a little rubble! Find the breach, and bring me that thief’s head.
The command reaches him faintly through the stones. Farther along the path, the shrine’s broken lintel frames empty darkness, while pale wind stirs the dead offerings in its basin.
The Surviving Attendant
Master, something is moving behind the altar!
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape
“I walk over toward the cracked stone basin, and stand over it. After visually examining its contents, my forked tongue flicks toward the scents occupying the abandoned offerings to discover what may all they include.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +1)
Hagrtich crosses the rough path beneath the moon and reaches the roofless shrine. He stands over the cracked stone basin, his cloak stirring in the cold wind.
Rainwater fills the basin’s hollow beside grey ash, wilted grass, and scraps of old bread. A tarnished copper token rests beneath the offerings, green with age.
Hagrtich Ssazar
The relic pulls hardest when I face the basin.
His iron-grey gaze sorts the contents: no fresh blood, no precious metal beyond the token, and no visible sigil except a faded spiral scratched into the inner stone.
Hagrtich’s forked tongue flicks through the air. He scents rainwater, cold ash, sour grain, crushed sage, old sweat, and the faint mineral tang of something recently disturbed beneath the basin.
The relic’s weight settles toward the basin with unmistakable insistence. Behind him, muffled stone impacts continue at the buried laboratory, but the shrine remains empty and still.
The Surviving Attendant
Master, the chamber is opening! Something is coming through!
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine what is beneath the basin
− Scene Quest Removed
Escape
“After observing what lies in the basin, I grab the green-aged copper token, for it is a metal. I hold it within my claws, twisting it this and that, before placing it within a separate section of my layered leather backpack. Out of curiosity, I take out the angular relic and place it in place of the token into the center of the basin. My hope is that whatever may lie beneath the basin withholds treasure I can add to my collection.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -1)
Hagrtich’s claws descend into the rainwater and offerings. He lifts the green-aged copper token, turning it beneath the moon until its worn spiral catches a dull glimmer.
He places the token into a separate compartment of his layered leather backpack, securing the flap before drawing out the angular relic from its deeper storage.
The relic settles into the basin’s center. Rainwater trembles around its edges, and the faded spiral beneath it darkens as though freshly inked.
Hagrtich Ssazar
The basin is opening.
A muted crack travels through the shrine floor. The basin lowers without breaking, revealing a dry stone compartment beneath, where a narrow bronze coffer rests amid pale dust.
Inside the coffer lie three cut moonstones, a fist-sized amber bead holding a trapped blue spark, and a black iron key etched with the same spiral.
The Surviving Attendant
Master, the stones are breaking! Something has entered the shrine!
Quest Complete
Determine what is beneath the basin
+ New Item Acquired
Green-aged copper token