The stone drawer remains extended beneath the sealed seam, its three-sided socket catching the lanternlight. The fragment rests on the black dais, while the raised silver channel bars the stair behind Davis, Seris, and Tavren.
Seris
Do not touch the socket yet. Its edges are worn from use, but the dust around it is undisturbed. Whatever fits there has not been placed recently.
Seris kneels beside the drawer without crossing the silver lines. Tavren raises the lantern, revealing shallow lettering beneath the socket, partly hidden beneath centuries of pale dust.
Tavren
The first words are clear: what opens the keeper’s way must not be born of the key. The rest is worn beyond my reading.
Tavren angles the lantern across the drawer face. More letters emerge in the shifting light, forming a warning about borrowed shape, willingly given blood, and a descent that must remain uncalled.
Seris
The ward is asking for an object made for passage, not a weapon. If we misread this, the prison may answer through the stair.
Tavren
We need the inscription uncovered before anyone places anything in that socket. The safe path is here, but the chamber will not forgive a guess.
✓ Quest Accepted
Uncover the keeper’s missing instruction
“"Lets dust off the inscription." Willingly given blood? "Maybe it needs to be my blood? My family line is one that involves the curse. Might have some magical properties. And the other with me, is not here. So our blood won't mix waking the heir."”
FAILURE (Good Perception, rolled -2)
Davis brushes the pale dust from the drawer with his sleeve, working gently around the socket. The powder lifts in a thin veil, then clings to the lettering like damp ash.
The inscription sharpens for one breath. When Davis clears the final line, the dust collapses into the grooves and hardens, sealing the drawer’s face before the remaining words can be uncovered.
Davis of Carmathen
Maybe it needs my blood. My family line is part of the curse. If the other bloodline is not here, our blood cannot mix and wake the heir.
Seris
Do not test that here. The inscription does not ask for blood alone. It says the passage must be willingly given, which may mean an object offered by its maker, not a descendant.
Seris points beneath the hardened dust, where three letters remain visible: made, carried, returned. A narrow outline also appears beside the socket, shaped for a small token rather than the fragment.
Tavren
Your attempt changed the ward, but it left us a direction. The keeper’s passage requires a made token, carried here, then returned to whoever entrusted it.
The drawer stays sealed against further dusting, while the new outline glimmers faintly. Whatever fits it must be found elsewhere, and forcing the inscription now would only bury the clue.
✓ Quest Accepted
Obtain the keeper’s passage token
− Scene Quest Removed
Uncover the keeper’s missing instruction
“"I have a band from a previous pair our ancestors maybe that's what we need?"”
Davis of Carmathen
I have a band from an earlier pair. Our ancestors may have carried it. Perhaps this is what the ward needs.
Davis draws an old band from beneath his cloak and holds it above the drawer. Its worn surface bears a faint blood-sign, dulled but unbroken.
Seris
That could be the entrusted token. Mara Voss carried a band when she escaped the eastern gate, and the records said it bore her blood-sign.
Tavren
Do not place it yet. If this is the band from that pair, it was made for passage, carried through the ward, and returned to its keeper.
The band warms in Davis’s palm. The three-sided outline beside the socket brightens, matching the band’s inner edge without drawing it from his grasp.
Seris
It recognizes the shape. Set it into the outline, not the socket. The ward has finally shown us the keeper’s way.
The silver channel lowers a finger’s breadth, leaving the stair passable. The sealed drawer waits beneath the inscription, and the old band fits the revealed outline exactly.
+ New Item Acquired
Old Band
“I set the band on the outline. "We should be able to grab the fragment now. That could be what we need next"”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -2)
Davis of Carmathen
We should be able to grab the fragment now. That could be what we need next.
Davis sets the old band into the three-sided outline. The ward accepts it with a deep click, and the silver channel drops fully clear of the stair.
A pulse travels through the drawer and across the black dais. Davis reaches for the fragment as the metal’s warmth fades, but the shifting ward catches his sleeve and twists his wrist hard against the stone.
Seris
Hold steady. Do not pull against it. Let the ward finish recognizing what you have returned.
Davis adjusts his grip through the pain, follows the fragment’s angle, and lifts it free. The ward releases him at once, leaving a red scrape across his wrist and the old band glowing faintly in its outline.
Tavren
You have the fragment. The band has opened the keeper’s way, but its light means the passage is active. We must move before it chooses a second test.
The drawer’s sealed face parts along a hidden seam, revealing a narrow descending passage beyond it. Cold air rises from the dark, while the retrieved fragment rests securely in Davis’s hand.
“As we go down the stair, I wrap a linen bandage around my wrist. Putting silver moss underneath it. Not sure if it will do anything besides soak up the bleeding. I don't want to drop any blood here. "You're right, let's hurry"”
SUCCESS (Fair Healing, rolled -1)
Davis of Carmathen
You're right. Let's hurry.
Davis follows the newly opened stair, pressing silver moss beneath a linen bandage around his wrist. He winds it tight enough to catch every bead of blood, then keeps moving downward.
The healing is clean but costly: the linen darkens and the gathered silver moss is spent, its bitter fibers clinging to the scrape. No blood reaches the ancient steps.
Seris
Good. Keep the bandage firm, but do not let it numb your hand. The passage may demand careful work before it ends.
Seris descends ahead with one hand near the wall, her lantern revealing pale keeper-marks beneath the dust. Tavren follows close behind, guarding the glowing band far above.
Tavren
The active passage is holding. Whatever lies below, it has not yet called to us.
The stair bends beneath the gate, carrying them into colder darkness. Ahead, a faint blue radiance outlines an arched doorway, while the warded passage seals quietly behind them.
“"Let's be cautious of what's through the gate." I pull my short sword with my good hand”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -2)
Davis of Carmathen
Let's be cautious of what's through the gate.
Davis draws the short sword with his good hand, keeping the blade low as he enters the blue radiance. The motion is controlled, but his shoulder catches the stone arch and bruises hard.
Beyond the arch lies a narrow keeper passage descending toward a circular chamber. Blue light shines from thin crystal veins in the walls, revealing fresh dust disturbed across the floor.
Seris
The floor has been crossed recently. Not by us, and not by anything that left a clear trail.
Seris raises her lantern without stepping forward. Tavren shifts beside the sealed passage behind them, watching the blue-lit descent while the old band continues to glow above.
Tavren
Keep the sword ready, but do not trust the light. The ward may show us the way while hiding what waits at its end.
A soft click answers from below. Dust slides from the archway, and a second blue glow opens farther down the passage, exposing three closed stone doors.
Quest Complete
Obtain the keeper’s passage token
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb