The sealed circle falls silent behind Eclipse. Vaelith guides him down a narrow shelf beneath the pass, while wind carries the last sparks of pale fire away into the peaks.
Vaelith
The mountain kept a second threshold below us. I felt its wards weakening when the Hollow Maw closed.
They reach a neglected shrine carved into the cliffside. Moss veils its old steps, and a ring of wardstones glows faintly beneath layers of frost and ash.
Beyond the peaks, a distant beacon flares once, then goes dark. Its absence leaves the valley below strangely dim, as though a watchful eye has closed.
Vaelith
That beacon marked the old road. Someone, or something, has extinguished it. We should learn whether the shrine’s silence is connected.
Vaelith brushes ash from the shrine’s inner wall without disturbing the stone. Inscribed lines of magic emerge, each shining faintly before converging toward one hidden place beneath the mountain.
Eclipse
The ward-lines all lead beneath the shrine.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover what is weakening the shrine’s wards
✓ Quest Accepted
Restore the old-road beacon
“I turned back into my Dragon four and fly around the shrine, looking for any magic that is weekly after I get back down I turned back into human form and start to find ways to fix the problem if I cannot find a way to fix the problem I immediately and take a trip to nearby towns and cities to find new beacons and come back and fix them”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled -1)
Eclipse reshapes into his true dragon form, black scales catching the thin light, and launches around the shrine. His silver eyes trace the ward-lines through frost, stone, and buried darkness.
Arcane Heritage reveals the shrine’s weak points, while Rift Wardcraft separates harmless age from active failure. The Prophecied Doom bends several patterns into false routes, and the Ancient Curse overlays forgotten meanings upon the stones.
Eclipse
The eastern wardstone is failing, but the shrine can be repaired.
On the third circuit, Eclipse identifies the true weakness: an eastern wardstone has lost its binding mark, and the lines beneath the shrine can be restored by renewing that mark with concentrated magic.
The knowledge comes at a cost. The Doom and Curse consume the shrine’s older symbols from his certainty, leaving him unable to determine what first powered the ward or how long the repair will hold.
Eclipse lands beside the steps and returns to human form. Frost slips from the wardstone as he studies the damaged mark, now knowing exactly where his power must be applied.
Vaelith
Then we mend the eastern stone first. Whatever silenced the beacon, this shrine can still be made to answer.
Quest Complete
Discover what is weakening the shrine’s wards