The scroll flares in the doorway light, and the sigil on Butch's chest answers with a violent pulse. Sable presses her palm harder against him, trying to smother it.
The glow does not die. It drains sideways into Sable's hand instead, threading up her arm like black-lit water.
Sable
No... not this.
Her eyes empty out to a hollow abyssal black. The porch boards creak under her stagger as the sigil feeds through her, not away from her.
The Messenger
There it is. The anchor was never the boar. It was her.
The cruel smile on the Messenger widens as the moor's old weight seems to press closer, suddenly nearer than the hills, nearer than the house. Sable sways, still standing between Butch and the thing beneath the earth.
✓ Quest Accepted
Save Sable from the sigil’s drain
“I grab Sable by the shoulders to pull her away from the messenger's reach.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled -1)
Butch hauls Sable back from the threshold, boots scraping wet boards as he puts his body between her and the doorway.
The sigil’s black thread jerks taut, then slackens. It no longer feeds outward, it starts to coil back into the shared pulse in her arm.
Sable
I can feel it pulling clear.
The Messenger
You are choosing the wrong half of the bargain.
The glowing scroll flutters in the Messenger’s grip, and the house answers with a deeper, distant rumble from under the moor.
Sable steadies on her feet behind Butch, her black eyes fixed on him, the drain cut off but the pressure still humming through her arm.
Quest Complete
Save Sable from the sigil’s drain