Sivani pushes off the pillar, her trembling fingers tracing the empty air where her flow of energy once hummed. She locks eyes with the newcomer, her posture shifting from predatory aggression to a defensive crouch as she scans the temple.
Sivani
The silence is heavy. You have hollowed me out like a dry husk, but the truth remains beneath your borrowed skin.
Captain Halloway
Enough of this sorcery. I have seen the rot you leave in your wake, and this sanctuary will not be your slaughterhouse, spirit.
Arion Touvengard
They cling to their ignorance, unaware that the void they fear is already rotting their precious council from within.
Arion Touvengard
The priest is broken, and your petty blades cannot hold back the tide. I am the only thing standing between this city and the encroaching dark.
“"Captain, why are you here, and inturrupting my instruction? Do you wish to also learn under my teaching? Perhaps both of you together could land a strike before I grow tired."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Arion Touvengard
Captain, why are you here, interrupting my instruction? Do you wish to also learn under my teaching? Perhaps both of you together could land a strike before I grow tired.
The atmosphere inside the temple shifts instantly. The teal energy coiling around Arion flares, casting long, jittering shadows against the cracked marble. Captain Halloway staggers back, his hand trembling on the pommel of his sword as the sheer weight of Arion's presence anchors the air, making every breath feel like inhaling glass. Sivani freezes, her defensive stance wavering as the sheer arrogance in the entity's voice pierces her resolve.
Sivani
He is not just a warrior. The power beneath the skin is ancient... and it is hungry.
Captain Halloway
I am not a pupil for a monster. I am the end of your errand here.
Halloway grits his teeth, his knuckles turning white, while the ambient magic of the temple pulses in a frantic, uneven rhythm.
+ Scene Quest Added
Intimidate Halloway and Sivani into silence before departing the temple
“Sensing the wrongness about captain holloway, Arion casts a spell to reveal the mask of shadow being worn by a fellow asventurer looking to undermine and/remove Arion. "Captain, I know you cant be here I saw you leave on your ship shortly after my confontation witg draelik."”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled -3)
Arion Touvengard
You speak of ends, Captain, yet you play a hollow game. Your scent is wrong, tainted by the reach of an unseen master.
Arion raises a hand, the teal energy igniting into a blinding, spectral lattice that weaves through the air toward Halloway. The Captain flinches, shielding his eyes as the sorcery tears through the illusion covering his form. The polished mirror mask he wears cracks, dissolving into shadow, and his physical features warp, revealing a jagged, nightmarish construct beneath.
Arion Touvengard
A puppet wearing a dead man's skin. Draelik does not even have the courage to stand before me himself.
Sivani
What... what is that? Halloway, your face!
The fake captain stumbles, his form flickering between a human soldier and a swarm of obsidian shards. The temple walls groan under the magical pressure, and the air grows heavy with the smell of ozone and wet earth.
Quest Complete
Intimidate Halloway and Sivani into silence before departing the temple