Braska plants the axe between Kara and the red current. The iron head hums against the carved foundation, and the descending ward-light answers in three measured pulses.
Braska
That is no random failure. Listen. The vibration repeats, then waits. Something below is choosing when to answer.
The red current narrows around the axe’s shadow instead of striking it. A fourth pulse follows, softer than the others, and the stone beneath Braska’s injured leg trembles.
Embria
The opening is forming, little flame. We may have only moments before the current closes around its weakness.
Braska
Then warn me plainly before you touch anything. No sudden fire, no secret step. If it answers the axe, we need to know where it means to pull.
Embria
There is no time to map every danger, Braska. The foundation is holding because the current is exposed. Let Kara act while it remains visible.
Another pulse travels through the buried road, slower and more deliberate. The red current bends toward the axe, attentive now, while the return mark behind them stays faintly lit.
✓ Quest Accepted
End or contain the threat beneath the Cleft
“I nod. "Then we head in, this is our only chance that we know of." I say, eyeing Dusk. "I'm going to have to act without warning, if the road warden's warning was of any indication. Feel free to act as you wish, I trust you to know what to do with that axe when and if the time comes." I say, before turning towards the opening and passing through.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Kara
Then we head in. This is our only chance that we know of. I'm going to have to act without warning, if the road warden's warning was any indication. Act as you wish, Braska. I trust you to know what to do with that axe when the time comes.
Kara turns toward the opening and steps through. The Ancient Curse smears the red current into false silver edges, but Reads Signs reveals the true path, while Surefooted Crossing carries her over the fractured foundation without a slip.
Braska
Understood. I watch the pull, and I strike only when the stone gives me something solid.
Braska follows through the opening, sliding the long-hafted axe ahead of his injured leg. Its reach tests the foundation and catches a stable seam, giving him a safe line across the trembling stone.
The red current bends toward Kara as she reaches the ward’s foundation. The opening closes behind them, but the return mark remains visible, and the axe’s shadow divides the current from the carved stone.
Embria
You are inside, little flame. The current is watching both of you now. Keep to the marked foundation, and do not let it choose your footing for you.
Kara stands within the ward’s foundation, with Braska beside her and the red current descending toward Vorrak below. The path is open, their retreat remains marked, and the next movement belongs to them.
“I nod slightly, taking a breath to steel myself, I start down the path towards Vorrak.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +3)
Kara steadies her breath and descends toward Vorrak. The Ancient Curse smears the ward-light into silver falsehoods, but Reads Signs reveals the true descending branch beneath the distortion.
Surefooted Crossing carries Kara over fractured stone without a slip. When her scraped palm bears against the wall for balance, pain flashes briefly, but her footing remains exact and controlled.
Behind her, Dusk advances with the long-hafted axe angled ahead. Its reach probes each ledge, finds the stable seams, and gives his injured leg a reliable line down.
Braska
The path holds. Keep going. I have your retreat.
The passage opens into Vorrak’s chamber. A vast dark mass coils around the ward’s buried heart, its surface absorbing red light, while three intact anchor-stones stand beyond it.
Embria
There, little flame. The anchors are still whole. Vorrak has not consumed the heart, and those stones give you three places to strike its feeding path.
Kara reaches the chamber’s inner foundation with the return mark visible behind her. The descent has brought her safely to Vorrak and revealed an advantage she did not seek: three intact anchors offer a choice of battlefield.
“I bring my hand in close the seething pain causing the air to ripple around me with heat. Breathing deeply, I look to the anchors. "Which looks to be our best option?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Fire Magic, rolled +0)
Kara
Which looks to be our best option?
Kara draws her hand close to the seething pain, and rippling heat gathers around her fingers. She breathes deeply, holding the fire narrow despite the Ancient Curse smearing the anchors into false silver shapes.
Fiery Wrath urges the heat outward, hungry for the whole chamber, but Steady Under Fire gives Kara a calm center. Embria’s ember-glow steadies beside her wrist, guiding the true branching lines through the distortion.
Braska
The middle anchor. It stands between the other two and carries the strongest current. Strike there, and the feeding path should turn away from the heart.
Braska plants the long-hafted axe against the foundation. Its iron head hums, revealing a stable line from Kara’s position to the middle anchor while giving him a firm brace on the fractured stone.
Embria
Hold the fire at the anchor’s central branch, little flame. Let it follow the road’s shape, not your anger.
Kara’s heat compresses into a bright, controlled point before the middle anchor. The Curse still veils its edges, but the true target is clear, the strike prepared, and the return mark remains open behind them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Coordinate the anchor strike with Braska
“I nod, starting to make my way towards the middle anchor. "Then it's time, stand back, Dusk." I say, continuing forward, I focus on the pain in my hand. "If Vorrak wants something to feed on, I'll give it something that will make it second guess that decision." I continue, focusing on the pain in my hand, I let my control over myself go, giving in to the anger the pain instilled in me. Focusing on the anchor, I start to unleash wave after wave of pure, unrelenting heat towards it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Fire Magic, rolled -1)
Kara
Then it's time. Stand back, Dusk. If Vorrak wants something to feed on, I'll give it something that makes it second-guess that decision.
Kara advances toward the middle anchor, the pain in her scraped palm becoming a fixed point for her concentration. Braska withdraws behind the axe’s reach, giving her room without abandoning the line.
Braska
I stand back. Strike true, partner. I will hold the stone beneath you.
Kara releases her restraint. Fiery Wrath surges through the pain, while Steady Under Fire keeps the fury aimed. Embria’s ember-glow traces the true branch, and the long-hafted axe pins a stable path through the fractured foundation.
Kara
Take this.
Wave after wave of pure heat crashes into the middle anchor. The Ancient Curse twists the chamber into false silver shapes, but Kara’s control follows the genuine road-sign beneath them, driving fire through the anchor’s central branch.
The middle anchor flares white. Vorrak’s feeding current, from an ancient male shadow wyrm with colossal black coils, a horned eyeless head, and a maw rimmed in pale embers, recoils from the ward’s heart and snaps sideways into the empty channel, severing its immediate draw. The foundation steadies beneath Kara, and the anchor remains intact, scorched but answering.
Quest Complete
Coordinate the anchor strike with Braska