Mara remains beside the sealed arch, Soulcatcher quiet at her side. At shoulder height, the lasting violet warning mark glows against the black stone.
the tower ward
Warning mark active. It will reveal renewed interference without reopening the preserved interruption.
A thin violet line extends from the mark toward the Hall’s distant lattice. Before it reaches the connection, a foreign pulse interrupts the path.
the tower ward
Foreign resonance detected. No entry, summons, or attachment has crossed the boundary.
The pulse carries a preserved fragment of Slaan’s voice, clear but distant, while the young mage herself remains elsewhere with the Hall’s history.
Slaan
A warning is not a door. Witness the interruption, but do not mistake its arrival for consent.
The fragment fades without drawing Slaan near. Kynes remains in Phandelver, and no companion has followed Mara to Talon Towers as the violet line waits beneath the foreign pulse.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the source of the foreign resonance
“I examine the foreign pulse through the warning mark Using soulcatcher as a focus.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -1)
Mara raises Soulcatcher beneath the warning mark, using the blade’s quiet focus to draw the foreign pulse through the violet boundary without opening it.
The pulse resolves into a preserved relay from the Hall’s lattice, carrying Slaan’s witnessed warning rather than an active summons. Its outer edge bears a second, unfamiliar pressure.
Mara
The voice is preserved, but the pressure is separate.
the tower ward
Examination complete. The foreign resonance is an observing probe attached to the relay, not Slaan’s will and not a passage through the boundary.
Soulcatcher draws the probe’s shape into the warning mark: a narrow return-thread aimed at the tower’s outer threshold, unable to reach Mara, Kynes, or the Hall’s preserved testimony.
the tower ward
Its origin remains unclaimed, but its function is clear. It tests whether the warning mark can be recognized from beyond the severed route. The test has been witnessed and denied entry.
The warning mark records the probe beside Ilyr’s sealed return path without naming it as his. Soulcatcher lowers, and the foreign pulse fades, leaving the boundary intact.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the warning channel free of unwanted attachment
“I seal the probe’s return-thread without naming or claiming its source.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Mara turns Soulcatcher’s quiet focus upon the probe’s return-thread. Violet light gathers at the warning mark, enclosing the foreign strand without reaching toward its hidden source.
The thread folds inward beneath the blade’s guidance, its path severed from the outer threshold and sealed within a separate witness ring.
the tower ward:18
Return-thread sealed. Its source remains unnamed and unclaimed. No identity, intention, or passage has crossed the boundary.
The probe leaves no active pressure behind. Its sealed trace rests beside Ilyr’s isolated residue, clearly distinguished from that corruption and from Slaan’s preserved relay.
the tower ward:18
The warning mark now records the probe as witnessed interference only. It grants no claim, summons no bearer, and cannot be used as a route into the tower.
Soulcatcher lowers as the violet ring settles into the black stone. The boundary remains intact, Kynes remains beyond its reach, and the unknown source remains free of Mara’s designation.
Quest Complete
Keep the warning channel free of unwanted attachment