Ash settles in soft spirals around the sealed altar, revealing warped glass and black dragon scales beneath a sky bruised purple and gray. The pocket of stillness feels unnatural.
the necromancer's apprentice
The prison is quiet, but I fear the binding preserved more than the demigod. Something else may be sleeping inside those older marks.
The apprentice remains beside the runes, her blood-streaked palm held away from the stone. Her breathing steadies, though her eyes never leave the silver circles.
the necromancer's apprentice
I am lucid enough to know fear when it has earned its place. Examine the markings, old wizard, before either of us leaves this ash.
A faint pulse travels beneath the altar's surface, too measured to be an aftershock. The inverted crown catches no light, yet its edges remain sharply visible.
Thyrddin
The seal is quiet, but the buried pattern is still active.
the necromancer's apprentice
If you find another purpose hidden there, tell me plainly. I have no wish to mistake a warning for a victory again.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover the hidden purpose of the buried marks
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine the nature of the apprentice's connection to her former mentor
“Binding rituals are for two purposes either to lock something away or to bend its power to new ends. I look for signs that the demigod's power is being used for something.”
SUCCESS (Great Investigation, rolled +2)
Thyrddin studies the silver circles, the inverted crown, and the hairline seams beneath them. His gaze follows the older geometry where the binding marks overlap the summons.
Thyrddin
The circles do not merely contain power; they redirect its flow through the crown.
Within the sealed pattern, faint silver threads run inward, then turn beneath the altar toward three concealed channels. Each bears the same signature as the demigod's resonance.
the necromancer's apprentice
Those channels were not part of the prison. They are conduits. Someone shaped the binding to draw upon what lies below.
The markings reveal their second purpose plainly: the altar confines the demigod while siphoning its vast power into the ashlands, where the channels once fed a greater working.
the necromancer's apprentice
Then my former mentor built this place as a reservoir, not a tomb. The reconciliation was only the key to restoring the old design.
The channels are dormant now, but intact. No power moves through them, and the sealed demigod remains contained. The discovery leaves the altar's silence newly ominous.
Quest Complete
Discover the hidden purpose of the buried marks
Quest Complete
Determine the nature of the apprentice's connection to her former mentor