Thyrddin arrives beneath a sky the color of old bruises. Blackened dragon scales lie half-buried across the ashlands, and the ground shines in warped sheets of glass.
Before him, a cracked altar rises from the cinders. A necromancer's apprentice kneels there, pouring blood into its ancient runes while ash trembles around her.
the necromancer's apprentice
Do not mistake this for conquest, old wizard. The one below comes to reconcile with my former mentor.
The final rune flares with a dull red glow. Far beneath the glass, something vast shifts, and a low resonance rolls through the fallen dragon's scales.
the necromancer's apprentice
It has already begun. I can no longer call it back, and something beneath the ash is answering.
A hairline fracture races from the altar toward Thyrddin, branching through the glass like lightning trapped under stone. The ash lifts in a slow, circling breath.
the necromancer's apprentice
If the demigod rises angry, reconciliation will become a funeral for kingdoms.
✓ Quest Accepted
Contain the demigod's return
“I study the altar's runes for a way to contain the rising demigod.”
SUCCESS (Superb Lore, rolled +1)
Thyrddin bends over the altar as the fracture creeps beneath his boots. His piercing gaze follows the runes past their blood-dark surface into older marks hidden underneath.
Thyrddin
The outer runes summon it. The buried marks can bind it, but only if the altar is turned against its caller.
A faint silver pattern emerges among the cracks: three broken circles enclosing a downward-pointing crown. Their geometry reveals the altar's true purpose, not invocation, but containment.
the necromancer's apprentice
You see it, don't you? The ward was concealed beneath the welcoming seal. Tell me how to awaken it.
Thyrddin identifies the binding sequence: the blood-fed rune must be closed, the crown inverted, and the three circles joined with living will before the demigod fully rises.
the necromancer's apprentice
Then the altar can hold the presence below. I can sever the summons, if you guide me to the proper marks.
The knowledge settles clearly into place. Beneath the glass, the resonance deepens, while the silver circles wait beneath the red glow for the binding to begin.
“I guide the apprentice through the binding sequence”
SUCCESS (Superb Lore, rolled +2)
Thyrddin
Close the blood-fed rune. Invert the crown. Join the three circles with your living will.
Thyrddin traces the sequence across the altar without touching the blood. His staff steadies against the glass as silver fire follows each indicated mark.
the necromancer's apprentice
This one first, then the crown downward. Yes, I see the joining marks.
The apprentice presses her palm to the outer rune and draws her hand across the crown. The red glow gutters, turning silver at its edges.
Thyrddin
The buried marks answer living will, not blood alone.
the necromancer's apprentice
I bind the circles together, by breath and living will.
The three broken circles join in a radiant ring. Beneath the glass, the vast resonance collapses into silence, and the altar seals the presence below.
Quest Complete
Contain the demigod's return
Skill Upgrade: Lore Superb→Legendary