The shattered ring still glows beneath Dax’s boots as the antlered silhouette pushes farther through the broken mark. Talimaryl stands wounded between the company and the widening breach.
Heilyn
There. Beneath the dragon’s shadow. That pulsing gold is an anchor, binding Talimaryl to the thing crossing through.
The golden pulse beats through the floor and Talimaryl’s wounded flank together. Each throb draws more of the antlered shape into the corridor, while the dead torches shudder in their brackets.
Narbo
Minotaur, hold this passage. We buy Dax the breath he needs.
The Minotaur
Aye. Let the dragon come. I will not yield another step.
Narbo plants himself beside the Minotaur, hammer raised, while the Exiled Prince and Robin Hood remain behind them near the fractured corridor. Heilyn edges toward the glowing anchor, hands bright with restrained sorcery.
Talimaryl
Come closer, knight. Strike the anchor, and you may discover which of us the breach truly serves.
✓ Quest Accepted
Damage or expose the anchor binding Talimaryl
“Robin fires a furry of 3 arrows back to back each one striking the antlered silhouette. Narbo an the minotaur strike the anchor an I cover Heilyn while she works her magic on Talimaryl”
SUCCESS (Superb Melee Weapons, rolled +0)
Robin looses three arrows in rapid succession. Each shaft strikes the antlered silhouette, pinning ripples of shadow against the broken mark as the entity recoils.
Robin Hood
Keep it showing. I can make it feel every shaft.
Narbo and the Minotaur charge the pulsing anchor together. Hammer and axe crash into the gold-lit stone, sending fractures racing beneath Talimaryl’s feet.
Talimaryl
Fools. You strike the chain and call yourselves free.
Dax moves before Heilyn, shield raised and sword angled toward the dragon. Talimaryl’s claws rake against the guard, but Dax holds him away from the sorcerer’s working.
Heilyn
Hold him there. I have the thread.
Heilyn’s restrained light pours into the anchor and along Talimaryl’s wound. The gold pulse stutters, then separates cleanly from the dragon as the antlered silhouette screams through the broken mark.
Quest Complete
Damage or expose the anchor binding Talimaryl
“I strike Talimaryl while his anchor is severed”
SUCCESS (Superb Melee Weapons, rolled +1)
As Heilyn severs the gold thread, Dax drives forward. His sword cleaves through Talimaryl’s guard and bites deep into the dragon’s wounded flank.
Talimaryl
You strike while I am unmoored. Remember that insult, knight.
The blow hurls Talimaryl sideways across the fractured stone. His severed anchor bursts from the wound as a shower of gold sparks, no longer feeding the breach.
Heilyn
The anchor is gone from him. The entity has lost its hold.
Behind the dragon, the antlered silhouette convulses and is dragged backward through the broken mark. Its shadow claws at the floor, but the summons gives way.
Narbo
Press him now! The beast is wounded and the hall has stopped feeding it.
Talimaryl catches himself on one claw, bloodless gold light fading from his scales. The Minotaur advances beside Narbo, while Robin nocks another arrow and the broken breach contracts behind them.
“I press the attack against Talimaryl”
SUCCESS (Superb Melee Weapons, rolled +3)
Dax presses forward before Talimaryl can regain his stance. Shield first, he drives the dragon back, then turns his sword through the weakened wing joint.
Talimaryl
Enough, mortal!
Talimaryl’s wing collapses beneath the strike. The dragon crashes onto one knee, and the sword’s runes flare, severing the last gold filaments hidden beneath his scales.
Heilyn
The binding is broken completely. Dax, the anchor was carrying his true name.
The revealed name burns across the fractured floor in ancient light. The antlered entity recoils from it, dragged backward as the breach contracts around its shadow.
Talimaryl
You have not defeated me. You have stripped away the hall’s protection.
With the summons collapsing and Talimaryl exposed, the company gains the initiative. Narbo and the Minotaur close in while Robin’s drawn bow settles on the dragon’s throat.
“Everone advances to finish Talimaryl before he rises”
SUCCESS (Superb Melee Weapons, rolled -2)
Dax advances with the company. Narbo’s hammer and the Minotaur’s axe close from either side while Robin’s bow pins Talimaryl’s retreat, leaving the wounded dragon no room to rise.
Dax drives his shield into Talimaryl’s chest and forces him flat against the fractured stone. The impact jars Dax’s shoulder painfully, but his sword remains steady at the dragon’s throat.
Talimaryl
You mistake a fallen king for a beaten one.
Heilyn’s magic flashes through the dragon’s scales, while Narbo hooks one knee behind Talimaryl’s foreleg. The Minotaur brings his axe down across the glowing floor, sealing the dragon’s strength beneath him.
Heilyn
His name is severed from the hall. Finish the binding now, before the breach remembers him.
Dax presses the rune-etched blade to the revealed name. The ancient letters fracture, Talimaryl’s furnace-light gutters, and the dragon’s limbs go slack beneath the company’s combined assault.
Talimaryl
Then hear me, knight. I fall bound, not ended. What wakes below will still know your scent.
Quest Complete
Reach Talimaryl and defeat him
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb
“Merlin appears with King Arthur”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +0)
With Talimaryl pinned beneath his blade, Dax calls upon the names that once guided the company through the standing stones. The fractured hall answers in silence.
A blue-white radiance gathers beside the broken breach. Merlin appears first, robed in storm-dark cloth, his staff crowned with a steady silver flame; King Arthur follows in battered royal armor.
Merlin
You called, and we came. The dragon is bound, but the thing beneath this castle has not withdrawn.
King Arthur
Hold Talimaryl where he lies. No servant of this hall escapes judgment while I stand.
Talimaryl’s eyes flare faintly beneath Dax’s sword. The broken name on the floor crawls toward Merlin’s boots, while the sealed corridor groans around the arriving king.
Merlin
The summoned entity is anchored below the castle, but Talimaryl knows the binding’s final command. Force the truth from him before the stones awaken.
Talimaryl
You bring kings and wizards to my throat, knight. Ask them what waits beneath their own buried throne.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn the binding's final command
“I press my blade to Talimaryl's throat and demand the final command.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Dax
Give me the final command that binds this hall and seals what waits beneath it.
Dax presses the rune-etched blade firmly to Talimaryl’s throat. The dragon’s furnace breath washes over his knuckles, scorching them as the broken name flares beneath the steel.
Talimaryl
Speak the buried throne’s first name, then command the witness to close its eye. The hall will take the speaker as its price.
The fractured letters twist into a single ancient word. Merlin’s silver flame bends toward it, while the castle groans as if recognizing a sentence prepared long ago.
Merlin
He has given you the command. But understand the cost: once spoken, the hall will bind its judgment to the one who gives it voice.
Talimaryl
There is no gentler ending, knight. Say it, and the thing below loses its road. Refuse, and every stone becomes its mouth.
The word burns clear beneath Dax’s blade, and the final command is his to use. Beneath the floor, something vast stirs against the castle’s sealed foundations.
Quest Complete
Learn the binding's final command