The edge of the Tanglewood Plains crumbles into the void, where the astral river runs dark and silent. Arion Touvengard stands upon the precipice, his body moving with the stilted, rhythmic cadence of a puppet on invisible strings. Across the floating dais, a man in tattered robes kneels amidst a ring of flickering violet candles, his hands pressed into the stone as teal energy pulses through his veins.
Wandering Swordsman
He is here, the relic of the old world. If I can bind his essence to the rift, the masters from beyond will grant me the strength to surpass the council.
Arion Touvengard
The host’s life force gutters like a candle in a gale. This practitioner reeks of the same rot that sealed me away. I must reclaim the blade’s authority before he stabilizes the gate.
Wandering Swordsman
Look at you, dragging your shell across the abyss. Do you truly think a ghost in a stolen skin can stop the opening of the path?
The practitioner shifts his grip, and a jagged rift begins to tear open in the air.
+ Scene Quest Added
Stop the Wandering Swordsman from opening the rift
“Arion forces magic out of his blade to seal the routes of escape with pale teal flames, as the host draws Arion forth. The Host then says, "you fool, prepare to meet your dark master after I rid this realm of your filth"”
SUCCESS (Great Arcana, rolled +2)
The air screams as Arion’s willpower surges, surging through the host like a torrential flood. Pale teal flames erupt from the ancient steel, leaping hungrily from the blade to the perimeter of the dais. The violet candles vanish, swallowed by the cold, azure fire that seals every exit in a ring of searing, spectral frost.
Arion Touvengard
You fool, prepare to meet your dark master after I rid this realm of your filth.
Wandering Swordsman
My reach... it is severed! The path is locked away by his command!
The rift above them shudders, the edges of reality beginning to fray and snap as the trapped entity's ancient authority asserts control. The practitioner stumbles back, his hands raw and smoking, eyes wide with the realization that he is now caged alongside his prey.
Quest Complete
Stop the Wandering Swordsman from opening the rift