The shard clears the altar, and the shrine answers with a cold, hungry glare. Pale light seeps through the stone seams as a towering figure unthreads itself from the wall, translucent and grave as a carved saint drowned in ice.
Torix grips the shard while the floor gives a dry crack beneath him. Ardent Vale stiffens at his side, blade-ready, and The Stranger draws a slow breath, watching the apparition instead of the exits.
Neris
So that is the witness. Better than a corpse, worse than a rumor.
The Warden of Stone
Give back the key. This place was sealed for a reason.
The voice rolls from the light itself, rough and deep, while frost webs farther across the shrine floor. Its gaze never leaves the shard in Torix’s hand.
Ardent Vale
If you are the one bound to this shrine, say what Oren hid here.
The figure leans closer, and the air grows sharp enough to bite. For one tense beat, the broken altar, the shard, and the looming shape seem locked together, waiting for Torix’s answer.
✓ Quest Accepted
Uncover the Warden's nature and intentions
“" I shall not...not yet" he swallows hard, taking a shaking step forward. The stranger made it clear they did not come for confrontation and Ardent is still recovering from the pains of his curse; Torix could not put them in harm's way no matter how fearful "Sealed or no, doors are made to be opened and closed, for those who peer inside to decide how to proceed. Tell me, fellow kin of the arcane what is it you protect and why?" He speaks with no malice, only concern and honesty.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
Torix steadies his breath and the shard stops trembling in his grip. The Warden’s glare does not break, but it gives ground, as if the question itself finds a crack in ancient stone.
The Warden of Stone
I guard what was buried when this mountain still remembered fire. Not treasure. Not mercy. A gate that must never wake.
Neris
And Oren kept the lie in place by chaining a victim to it. Convenient. Ugly. Effective.
The Warden of Stone
He fed the seal with a false curse and called it protection. I would have broken him for it, but the shrine held me fast.
The shard in Torix’s hand answers with a thin, bright pulse, and the pale seams in the wall flicker in time with it. Frost crawls back from the altar lip, then halts, waiting.
Ardent Vale
Then this thing in Torix’s hand is not just a key. It is a choice.
The Warden of Stone
Yes. Open the wrong way, and the buried thing below this shrine wakes hungry. Keep it closed, and my watch continues until stone forgets my name.
Quest Complete
Uncover the Warden's nature and intentions
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great
“Torix's wings raise as if to hide him from view, the feathers puffing to give false size. He watches the fractals on the grounds dance about to a melody their own. "Is this gate truly so terrible? Could we not find another way....I...I do not wish to see anyone suffer, not...not again..." He whispers to the air, Luxon's passing still freshly deared in his mind, "And if this shard is is what lead to Ardent's curse, I do not wish to inflict him again." Torix allows his wings to open, just enough to give way to hold eye contact between himself and the Warden, not wishing to look weak to the others. "Tell me, arcane kin, it was you who was sealed and bound...you have a choice as well...what choice do you make?" His voice was not one of accusations or blame, no anger, just honest inquisitiveness and confusion. He was lost, in more than one way right now.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Oratory, rolled -1)
Torix’s wings lift and spread, a nervous veil of pale sheen between him and the shrine. The shard answers in his palm with a soft, living hum, and the floor-runes beneath his feet shimmer like stirred frost.
Torix Reincor
Tell me, arcane kin. You were sealed here, too. What choice do you make?
The Warden’s stone face softens by a fraction. The bright seams in the wall dim, then pulse again, as if listening through old pain. A thin line of grit falls from its shoulder to the floor.
The Warden of Stone
I choose what I have always chosen. I keep watch. I endure. If the gate wakes, I meet it first.
Ardent Vale
Then your choice is not mercy, but duty. That at least I understand.
Neris
And if duty is all that remains, then the question becomes who else must bear it. The mountain did not seal this place for nothing.
Torix’s wings ease open a little, enough to meet the Warden’s gaze. The shard’s pulse calms, but the wall-light now stains the floor in a wider ring, like a door remembering its shape.
“His wings return to their rest fold and he take three soft steps forward. " And of Ardent....you did not answer if he would be bound by the curse once more if I relinquish the key." He was beginning to feel it, the force of a door wanted to swing open more than the biting cold on his exposed skin, scale and feathers. "Please grant me this answer."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Torix Reincor
And Ardent, if I give back the key, does the curse return to him?
Torix steps into the ring of pale light, wings settling close to his back. The shard in his hand hums once, as if it too is waiting for the answer.
The Warden of Stone
No. Not to him. The binding was broken cleanly. What returns is the door's hunger, and what that hunger finds may not be kind.
Ardent Vale
Then the curse is not the wound. The door is.
Ardent’s grip tightens near his hip, but he does not draw. The Stranger’s gaze flicks to the wider ring of light, reading it like a map.
The Warden of Stone
I kept watch because I could not let that hunger pass beyond this shrine. I failed when I allowed Oren to bind a lie around it. I will not fail again.
Neris
Then say what must be done, Warden. If the key stays here, what answer keeps us all from the door?
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn how to keep the gate from opening
“Torix seems to mull over this information, feeling it's heavy weight on his shoulders, looking to all in the room. " Warden, you know about the gate most, and you stranger you knew of the bindings....for now...bind the gate to me, if possible. If we do so, it's hunger can feed of my magic and we will have more time to ponder a solution." His delicate hand reaches forth towards the Warden, offering it both the shard and ultimatum. "If that cannot be done, then at least allow me to share your pain. You should not be bound her either..."”
FAILURE (Great Willpower, rolled -3)
Torix offers the shard toward the Warden, and the shrine answers with a low tremor. The pale ring of light tightens at the altar, as if listening to him.
The Warden of Stone does not take it. Its hand hovers just short of the shard, then draws back, grim with the effort of refusal.
The Warden of Stone
No. If it feeds on you, it learns you. Then the door has a mind to wear.
Neris
A fair warning, and a costly one. That is not a binding, Torix, it is a leash tied to your pulse.
The shard flashes once in Torix’s palm, cold and bright, then goes still. Frost creeps one finger farther from the altar stones, and the wall behind the Warden cracks with a dry, deep note.
Ardent Vale
If this place starts to come apart, we do not have the luxury of perfect answers.
The Warden straightens inside the stone, and its gaze fixes on Torix with weary urgency.
The Warden of Stone
I can hold the threshold while this shrine stands. But if you keep that key, choose quickly. Stay, or run before the mountain decides for you.
“Torix seems to mull over this information, feeling it's heavy weight on his shoulders, looking to all in the room. " Warden, you know about the gate most, and you stranger you knew of the bindings....for now...bind the gate to me, if possible. If we do so, it's hunger can feed of my magic and we will have more time to ponder a solution." His delicate hand reaches forth towards the Warden, offering it both the shard and ultimatum. "If that cannot be done, then at least allow me to share your pain. You should not be bound here either..." His shaking is clear, but his words are true, and magic is his forte afterall. "I know not why I am here, but I cannot abide by the threat of danger to others."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Torix Reincor
Then bind it to me, if you can. Let my magic take the hunger, and let your burden ease.
Torix extends the shard again, but this time he does not offer surrender. The shard answers with a thin, cold pulse against his palm, and the light around the altar shivers toward him.
The Warden of Stone
You would take a guardian’s wound into yourself? Foolish. Brave. Perhaps both.
The Warden lays one stone-bright hand over Torix’s offered wrist. Frost jumps across Torix’s skin, and the crack in the wall answers with a deeper groan.
Neris
If it can be tethered, do it now. The shrine will not hold much longer.
Stone light threads from the Warden into Torix, not as chains, but as a harsh, measuring weight. For a heartbeat, the shard grows warm, then settles, as if it has found a new mouth to feed.
Ardent Vale
Look to the walls, the seal is shifting.
The altar ring steadies, but the floor gives a hard, final tremor. A fissure opens beneath the shrine’s far arch, and cold air pours in from the darkness beyond.
“The small youth musters ever ounce of magic he can. Once more, his confidence returning in the face of discord. "No...no, do long as I have breath, I won't let it...I'll fight to keep it closed." He closes his eyes, trying to block out the sound, the sensation and focus only on the magic, on sealing all the cracks before darkness seeps in. A silent prayer to his home, to his passed guardian to grant him the strength he needs repeats in his mind as a mantra. He has to do this. He must succeed.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +2)
Torix draws the cold inward and the shrine answers him. The fissure under the arch stitches shut with a hiss of rime, then the frost-webs retreat from the stones in thin, cracking veins.
Torix Reincor
The heat leaves the cracks first.
The altar ring loosens its glare. The shard in Torix’s grasp pulses once, hard and bright, then goes still, as if it has accepted the seal’s shape.
The Warden of Stone
So. You can hear the gate after all.
Ardent Vale
The floor is settling. By the saints, it is settling.
Neris
That was no prayer. That was command.
Stone dust falls from the far arch, but the dark beyond it stays back. The shrine still groans, yet the worst of the breaking has passed for now.
Quest Complete
Learn how to keep the gate from opening
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb