The cargo hold groans, its wooden beams splintering like dry bone under the crushing pressure of the void. Teal veins of light bleed from Arion’s blade into the architecture, agonizingly slowing the ship’s dissolution.
Scavenger
I am not dying for a cursed spirit and a sinking heap of timber.
Scavenger
You can keep your doomed vessel and your magic, freak. I am done being a casualty in your war.
The scavenger scrambles over a pile of broken crates, his eyes wide with frantic, animal terror. He avoids Arion’s gaze, leaping toward the open bulkhead that leads to the upper decks and the waiting lifeboats. He vanishes into the swirling mist, leaving the hold to the screeching timber and the desperate Captain.
Arion Touvengard
Coward. His departure is irrelevant, so long as the vessel holds until we clear this rift.
Captain Halloway
Hold the line, entity! If you let that wood snap, we are both lost to the nothing!
+ Scene Quest Added
Keep the ship intact until clearing the rift
“Arion continues feeding a steady stream of mana into the vessel, keeping it afloat and steady as the captain guides it forth.”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +3)
Teal light erupts from the blade, flooding the timber with arcane reinforcements. The wood groans, a sound like grinding stone, as the fissures cease their spreading and begin to fuse. The ship ceases its violent trembling, stabilizing amidst the churning void.
Arion Touvengard
The hull holds for now. My essence is sufficient to bind this splintering reality, but I feel the strain on this host. His vitality thins with every pulse of my will.
Captain Halloway
By the gods... you truly are holding it together. Keep it steady, you unnatural thing! We hit the edge of the rift in seconds!
The Captain slams his shoulder against the wheel, his knuckles white, staring forward as the swirling abyss begins to thin into the familiar starlight of the astral path.
Captain Halloway
If we survive this, you are never stepping foot on my deck again.
Quest Complete
Keep the ship intact until clearing the rift