The Ninth Keystone

You deliver the crate to the hold's ward loom, where an aging loom mistress named Odalys Brenn breaks the seal. Inside lie two cut but uncharged keystones. "Blanks," she says. "Each blank must be awakened against an ancient keystone, and the only ancient stones my lord doesn't already use lie across the border beneath ruined Carrow Keep. Awaken both stones there, send one back to me, and you may keep the second for your own ship."

A noble house yacht flying Lord Pell's colors blocks the valley mouth with its gun ports open. Her captain hails you by name. "My lord heard a sealed crate went up to Brenn's ward loom this morning, and he wants to know what came back down. Heave to and open your hold for inspection!"

Lord Pell's gloved steward meets you on the dock, weighing a heavy coin purse while his lord's armed yacht loads crystal behind him. "So Brenn's ward loom is a keystone short," he says. "How long will her defenses stay down?"

On your first night out, the two dark keystones sit wrapped on your cabin table, icy to the touch and draining the warmth from the nearest lamp. Odalys Brenn warned you before you left: "The blanks are hungry for mana. Feed them a little power during the voyage, or waking them in the vault will take far longer."

The steward holds up a second purse. "That first payment was for the tip. The second half waits aboard our yacht. You know the approach to Brenn's loom tower, and my captain doesn't. Fly ahead to guide our attack, or wait here on the dock for a smaller cut."

A lie is easy to tell and hard to maintain. The steward insists you remain docked as his 'guest' until the week is up. On the fourth day, his clerk returns from the border road after calculating how long a courier actually needs to reach Carrow Keep—and Pell's yacht begins loading crystal in a hurry.

Carrow Keep fell into ruin generations ago. Its shattered gatehouse still clings to the crag, and a stone stair beneath it leads down to the ancient ward vault. You can see the old keystones still glowing at the bottom of the steps—along with something dangerous prowling in the light.

Pell's yacht returns to the dock with scorched paint and a cargo hold crammed with plundered ward thread. Brenn's hold has fallen, and the triumphant steward orders his clerk to pay out your reward from a chest on the pier.

A hired skiff catches up with you a day later, carrying one of Odalys Brenn's loom hands, a letter, and a long wrapped bundle. Her note is blunt: "I know you went to Pell, and I know you kept his yacht off my tower long enough for us to restore our wards. This settles both accounts."

Pressed against the ancient vault stones, both blanks drink in power and blaze to life. When you return to the surface carrying the two awakened keystones, a Guild trade agent camped at the foot of the crag has already spotted their glow and approaches with an offer.