The sealed keepsake · Velstraven

An optional room of chapter 5. When you walk in, the room card reads: The keepsake case is jammed shut; its contents cannot be reached.

Narrated walkthrough

The sealed keepsake from its entrance — The sealed keepsake: how to solve it

Getting there

Chapter 5, on the lowest floor. An optional room beyond the drip-ladder passage, through its far arch.

What is wrong

Room card: "The keepsake case is jammed shut; its contents cannot be reached." The heavy lid bears down on a bent latch and a thin clasp. A long lever sits in the latch, but the lid's full weight is more than the lever can shift.

What you can work

Lid: The heavy lid; its whole weight rests on the latch and clasp.
Lever: A long lever in the opening of the bent latch.
Clasp: A thin brass clasp outside the stone-lined well, pressed hard against its catch lip.
Keepsake: The keepsake in the stone-lined well under the lid; it does not bear heat well.
Reading lamp: Optional light to read by.
Reading shutter: Optional second light angle.

Solution

A nudge

Upward help takes most of the lid's weight off the latch, enough that the lever can shift what is left.

The full solution

Cast Lighten (Wind, Wind, Will) at the Lid.
Upward help takes most of the lid's weight off the latch, enough that the lever can shift what is left.
What you see: "Upward assistance reduces the lid’s weight; the clasp still bears the remaining load."
Handle the Lever.
Now that the load is small, the lever can draw the bent latch clear.
What you see: "The lever unloads and withdraws the bent mechanical latch." The card counts 2 of 4: the latch is free.
Handle the Lid four times.
Each push turns the lightened lid a little further up its hinge. Four pushes stand it on its rest; three leave it in the way.
What you see: "The lid turns around its existing hinge toward the open rest." Then the card shows: the lid stands open.
Handle the Keepsake.
Now the open lid no longer blocks a safe grip on the contents.
What you see: "You retrieve the keepsake from the protected well." Then "The sealed keepsake settled."

Other ways that work

Suspend (Will, Will, Will) at the Lid holds its weight ("The lid's weight is held without moving its hinge."). Then Sever (Fire, Fire, Fire) at the Clasp ("The thin external clasp parts against the stone-lined barrier."), which also frees the latch. Turn the lid up four times and take the keepsake.
Orient (Water, Will, Will) at the Lid turns it instead of your hand, once the latch is free and the lid's weight is carried.

Watch for

The lever needs Lighten specifically. Under Suspend it still refuses: "The lid load exceeds the lever's manageable force."
Sever only works on an unloaded clasp: "The loaded clasp shifts against its catch lip; unload it before cutting."
Turning the lid while the latch still holds is refused: "The distorted latch still carries the closed lid." Turning it with nothing carrying its weight gives "The heavy lid needs support to turn safely on its hinge."
Dismissing the lid's support before it stands open lets it sink back shut.
Brace finds no footing under the closed lid. Heat on the keepsake only warms the stone lining.

If it goes wrong

Nothing in this room can fail; every wrong move is simply refused.

Achievements here

The Sealed Keepsake: Optional: solve the sealed keepsake.
Light as a Feather: Light as a Feather: cast Lighten at the Lid, then Suspend at the Lid within 20 seconds. Both are accepted from the start.
Held and Turned: Held and Turned: free the latch first (Lighten and the Lever), then cast Suspend at the Lid and Orient at the Lid within 20 seconds.

Spells used

Lighten, Suspend, Sever, Orient.