Vent-Warden Callum Dreese
 | |
| Role | Quest giver (hold the line job) |
|---|---|
| Location | Drift Network hall, by the Breathing Door |
| Faction | The Meridian |
| Quests | Breathing Door job |
Vent-Warden Callum Dreese is the Meridian warden posted at Breathing Door, who has learned to tell its two rhythms apart by ear.
Overview
Callum listens to the Breathing Door more than he watches it, tracking the cycle of pulses that leak from it on every exhale. He sends contractors down through the door's three-tier descent to work the Spiracle Node and put down Matron of the Long Breath once she rises - and he is honest that it is a fight the contractor starts on purpose, not one that comes looking for them. He wears full silver platemail with navy trim, the wing's only warden dressed to hold a line rather than travel light.
The job
Callum's job is repeatable: once turned in, it becomes available again after the door's standard cadence of twenty hours, and each completion pays 5 trade notes (1,250,000 pyreals) on top of its experience award. The first time it is completed, he additionally hands over a one-time reward piece (see Meridian reward pieces) that is never given out again to the same contractor.
Dialogue
Greeting Callum opens with the job in one line:
- "Listen. In, and out. The door breathes because something below breathes for it. Quiet the Matron of the Long Breath and I'll fit you for the ring."
Taking the job, he lays out the descent plainly:
- "The Breathing Door does not open onto a corridor. It opens onto a ledge, and the floor is a long way down. Take the ramps; there is a brood on every tier and they will not thank you for the visit. At the bottom you will find a sac of grey chitin set into the arena floor, breathing. Press it. Press it three times, and count what comes through the doors each time, because the fourth thing through will be the one holding the pin. If you would rather not start a fight you did not have to start, I understand entirely, and I have nobody else to send."
While the job is still open:
- "The order stands. The ledger is patient; the doors are not."
When the job is done:
- "Three breaths and then the Matron, in that order, and the pin still where we left it. You went down to meet it instead of waiting for it to come up, which the ledger has no column for and I have decided to record as good news. The wing is quiet tonight. In this wing that is the entire definition."
The first time the reward piece is handed over:
- "The Ring of the Line; you stood on it, you may as well wear it."
While the job is still on cooldown:
- "The ledger says you have been through recently. Doors keep their own time; come back when yours has passed."
See also
- Breathing Door - the dungeon he sends contractors into.
- Matron of the Long Breath - the boss he wants quieted.
- Drift Network - the hall he is posted in.
- Meridian reward pieces - the reward the job pays out.