The Forest Guide stands at the sanctum passage, one hand wrapped around his travel staff. Beyond him, the Archives groan softly, and the returning footsteps have faded into distant corridors.
Forest Guide
I can still reach the outer halls and bring the others here. Give me one practical reason to stay, and I will hear it.
The Cloaked Figure remains beside the rune-etched brace, their attention divided between the sealed floor and the guide’s poised departure. The far-hand bond hums faintly through the stone.
The Cloaked Figure
There is a watch gallery above the outer approaches. Neglected stairs lead there. Its instruments may show how the sorcerer is advancing before he reaches these doors.
Forest Guide
A gallery gives us sightlines, records, and perhaps a way to call reinforcements without abandoning the seal. That is practical enough to test.
He shifts his staff toward a narrow stairwell choked with dust and hanging cobwebs. Rain-stained ledgers and brass observation lenses glimmer faintly above, waiting in the dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the watch gallery
“Thank the guide for coming back to aid me in this dire situation were he could have just abandoned me in my lead towards the dark magician, also asking if he could help tend my burnt hand”
FAILURE (Mediocre Reasoning, rolled -1)
Dyria
Thank you for coming back. You could have abandoned me, but you returned to help me follow the dark magician. Could you tend my burned hand?
Dyria extends her injured hand toward him. The Forest Guide sets his staff against the wall and examines the reddened skin without touching the numbness near her wrist.
Forest Guide
You are welcome. I could not leave you to face this alone. As for the burn, I know trail wounds, not magic bound into flesh.
He searches his satchel and produces a clean strip of linen, but the small travel salve he carries has dried into a useless crust. His practical remedy fails before it begins.
Forest Guide
I cannot properly treat this here. I can wrap the hand to protect it, but that will not draw out the magic. We need someone who understands arcane burns.
He folds the unused linen back into his palm rather than risk binding the injury incorrectly. His gaze shifts toward the dust-choked stairwell and its neglected watch gallery.
Forest Guide
I can still help you reach the gallery and find such a healer among the others. But this hand needs knowledge, not a guess from me.
“Head up the dust laden staircase and begin to trekking towards the gallery in hopes of information and analysis advantages”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled -1)
Dyria climbs the dust-laden stairwell toward the watch gallery, placing each foot carefully while loose grit slides beneath her boots. The Forest Guide follows below, staff in hand.
A warped step gives way beneath her weight. Dyria catches the cracked rail as the stair breaks inward, and a curtain of dust pours through the sudden gap.
The collapse stops her ascent and leaves the upper stairs hanging beyond reach. Below, the Forest Guide braces himself against the wall as the old masonry settles.
Forest Guide
Do not force the next step. These stairs will not forgive a second test.
Dust thins around the broken stair, revealing a narrow service opening behind the fallen masonry. Its sloped passage climbs toward the gallery, marked by faded brass arrows and old inspection numbers.
The direct stair is unusable, but the exposed passage offers another route. Beyond its darkness, a faint draft carries the dry scent of ledgers and lamp oil from above.
Forest Guide
That passage may reach the gallery without trusting the rest of this stairwell. It is cramped, but it gives us a way to study the Archives.
“Head up the dust laden staircase and begin to trekking towards the gallery in hopes of information and analysis advantages”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled -3)
Dyria turns from the broken stair and lowers herself into the service opening. The cramped passage forces her gauntlets close to the stone as dust sifts from the ceiling.
Forest Guide
I will go first. If the masonry shifts, pull back rather than let the passage bury you.
The Forest Guide squeezes through ahead, testing each foothold with his staff. Dyria follows, shoulder brushing old inspection marks that glimmer briefly beneath the grime.
The passage bends beneath the collapsed staircase, carrying them away from the failed route. A dull amber glow appears ahead, revealing a grated landing and the underside of the watch gallery.
Forest Guide
We made it beneath the gallery. There may be a lifting bar nearby, or a records hatch. Look for anything built to be opened from below.
Above the grate, brass lenses turn in slow, uneven arcs, catching fragments of violet light from the Archives. Dusty shelves line the gallery walls, and a sealed map case hangs beside them.
“Head up the dust laden staircase and begin to trekking towards the gallery in hopes of information and analysis advantages”
SUCCESS (Superb Athletics, rolled +1)
Dyria grips the grate’s lower frame and climbs through the service opening, emerging onto the watch gallery. Dust rolls from her boots as amber light settles across the old instruments.
Forest Guide
There. We have the gallery. Take your time and read what the Archives left behind. Information is worth more than haste here.
The Forest Guide climbs after her and steps beside the grated landing. Above them, brass lenses track the distant violet glow, while dust-covered shelves hold ledgers, rolled charts, and sealed instrument cases.
Dyria crosses the gallery’s narrow span without disturbing its old mechanisms. A broad observation table waits beneath the lenses, its carved surface marked with routes through the Archives and the surrounding streets.
Forest Guide
These lenses were built to follow magical disturbances. If they still function, they may show where the dark sorcerer’s influence is gathering.
At the table, the nearest lens turns and fixes on a faint violet disturbance beyond the eastern stacks. Beside it, the sealed map case bears fresh dustless marks, as though someone recently handled its lock.
Quest Complete
Reach the watch gallery
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great