Arion places his palm against the obsidian slab. Teal energy flows from the sword into the living stone, causing the runes to shriek. The floor drops away, gravity inverting as the catacombs dissolve into a cascade of astral debris.
Arion Touvengard
The lock is not of this world, but a parasite mimicking a gate. I must bleed the ley line dry to force a passage.
Sivani
The stone is weeping black ichor, Arion. If you open this, we are walking into a grave that hasn't finished rotting yet.
The reality before them tears open, revealing the familiar, cold spires of the Astral Harbor. They are no longer beneath Mesthelia, but hovering precariously on the edge of the sky-city's highest dock. The transition leaves the host body shivering and unresponsive.
Arion Touvengard
Better to rot in the light of Etheria than stay buried in the dark of those tunnels. Move.
“Arion begins to observe the seal to see if it would be posdible to undue the lock holding them in the tombs.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +2)
The obsidian seal pulses beneath Arion’s touch, not as a static barricade, but as a complex weaving of arcane strands. With a twist of his host’s fingers, Arion unravels the geometry. The heavy stone slab shudders, the runic inscriptions screaming in a high-pitched metallic wail before fracturing into glowing dust.
Arion Touvengard
A masterpiece of restriction, yet built by a hand that trembled with fear. To bind me, they shackled the very foundations of this harbor.
ID
Stand down! You are violating a closed sector of the Astral Harbor. Drop the blade and step away from the breach!
Draelik
You are far too eager to draw attention to yourself, relic. Does your vessel not realize that even a whisper in this place can summon the abyss?
Sivani
He isn't listening to anything but the pull of his own forgotten pride. I need to sever the connection before he tears the sky-city down around us.
Arion turns his teal-glowing eyes toward the masked councilman, the host's body moving with a rigid, unnatural grace.
+ Scene Quest Added
Persuade the Captain to grant passage through the breach
“"Ah, finally, the exit must be nearby. Could you guide us out of this cursed place?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Arion Touvengard
Ah, finally, the exit must be nearby. Could you guide us out of this cursed place?
Arion’s voice carries a strange, resonant weight, vibrating through the host's chest. He gestures with the sword, the blade’s edge leaking a faint, hungry teal mist that clings to the air. The City Guard Captain hesitates, her spear wavering as she stares into the hollow, piercing intensity of his gaze. She seems paralyzed, caught between the instinct to strike and a sudden, unbidden urge to submit to the entity's cold authority.
Draelik
He is commanding them as if they are his own thralls. The seal is broken, and his influence spreads like a plague in this harbor.
Sivani
Don't listen to him! He's just a weapon wrapped in skin. If you lead him to the transit lines, there won't be a city left to guard!
The Captain’s knuckles turn white. She looks at the glowing breach, then back at Arion, her breath hitching as the astral pressure within the room begins to spike, rattling the nearby docking cranes.
Quest Complete
Persuade the Captain to grant passage through the breach
+ Scene Quest Added
Guide the group to the transit lines