Daniel leaves the headquarters and follows the instructions into the Croix-Rousse service stair. The city noise fades behind him, replaced by damp stone, a stale draft, and the soft drag of his boots on wet steps.
At the bottom, an iron door waits under a single buzzing bulb. Condensation beads across its surface like oil, and the dark around it feels too still, too watchful.
Daniel
Three knocks, as instructed.
His knuckles strike metal. The sound travels down the stairwell, then comes back thinner, wronger, as if answered from behind the door and not by the walls.
The Grey Hunter
Good. Keep your hand on the sword. If the door opens, do not rush it.
Something shifts inside the lock with a dry click. The gap at the seam breathes out a colder air, carrying stagnant water and that sharp ozone tang, as the door begins to give.
✓ Quest Accepted
Open the iron door
“Ouvre la porte legerement, gardant mon sixième sens en éveil cherchant a detecter une presence anormal”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +1)
Daniel eases the iron door wider, just enough to look past the seam. Cold air rolls over his boots, and the dark inside answers with a wet, hollow hush.
Daniel
The lock is not resisting anymore. Something beyond it is moving the air.
His senses catch a wrongness in the passage beyond the threshold, not just emptiness, but a presence hiding its shape in the damp.
The Grey Hunter
Hold it there. Do you feel that? That is not natural draft.
The gap widens a fraction more. Black water glistens on the floor inside, and a pale mark, like fingers dragged through dust, stands out on the inner wall.
The Grey Hunter
Shadows that gather can tear a soul clean if you let them close. Watch the opening.
From within the stairwell, something shifts again, slow and deliberate, as if it has noticed the light at the door.
Quest Complete
Open the iron door