Three weeks of calm have not softened Heavens Pillar. At dawn, Isaru watches the cloud banks drag their shadows over the high crags, and the mountain answers with a faint, uneasy hum.
A lone traveler climbs into view, robes dusted white with stone powder. He pauses at a safe distance, breath ragged, a tablet strapped under one arm.
The Scholar
Great dragon, I come from the valley cities. The quakes have started again, small at first, then hard enough to crack plaster and shake bells from their hooks.
The scholar holds out the tablet. On its waxed face are neat marks, tremors mapped by date and place, each pulse lagging behind the mountain’s waking.
The Scholar
They are not random. The cities sit over old fault stone, and the sleeper below this peak is stirring against the seal.
Isaru
Then the seal is still holding.
The Scholar
Holding, yes. But strained. If it slips, the valleys will feel the next waking before your mountain does.
The cloud shadow thins, and for one beat the rune-lines hidden in the rock below Isaru’s feet glow through the stone like a warning pulse.
✓ Quest Accepted
Satisfy the scholar’s curiosity
The dragon must immediately cease its interference and return to its own counsel.