Elianor lays her living gift against the red script. The marks blaze, and the sealed throat opens with a grinding roar beneath the chamber floor.
Pain climbs from the silver brand to her skull, but satisfaction answers from her patron and steadies her. Red streaks spread through her dark hair as consecrated fire gathers in her lungs.
Aureth
The source must be destroyed. I will aid you.
A breath leaves Elianor as a brief tongue of consecrated flame, hot enough to promise ruin to whatever waits below. The new fire settles deep in her chest.
Black stone grinds apart beneath the chamber, revealing a descending passage. Pressure swells through the walls as the buried army stirs around Celia and Maurice.
Celia Graves
The passage is open. Whatever waits below now knows we are here.
Maurice Headsman
Then the choice is no longer hidden. Elianor, can you walk, and can you control that fire?
✓ Quest Accepted
Destroy the source of the undead army
“I imbue Maurice's sword with divine flame, while Celia imbues his sword with the power of undead destruction. The I ask Maurice to lead us into the passage.”
FAILURE (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Elianor reaches toward Maurice's weapon, calling divine flame through the red-lit chamber. Her power searches for steel, but no sword answers from his belt or hands.
The fire recoils into her chest instead of taking form on a blade. The passage below shudders, and a thin line of consecrated light remains across its threshold.
Celia Graves
There is no sword to receive either gift. We must not pretend otherwise.
Maurice Headsman
Then the blade is elsewhere, and we enter without it. I can still lead, but our first strike must be chosen carefully.
Elianor Vale
Maurice, lead us into the passage.
Maurice steps over the bright threshold first, empty-handed but steady. Celia follows close behind him, her death-marked power gathering around her blade.
Elianor enters after them. The consecrated line fades behind her, sealing the open throat's rim and leaving retreat possible only by retracing the descending stones.
“I ask Maurice to lead us into the passage.”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Elianor Vale
Maurice, lead us into the passage.
Maurice Headsman
Stay close. I will take the first danger, and Celia will guard our rear.
Maurice advances down the descending stones, his massive silhouette filling the red-lit passage. Elianor follows at his shoulder, while Celia comes behind with her flail held ready.
Celia Graves
The dead are close. They remain still, but something beneath us holds them in place.
The stairs end in a low circular vault. Three black archways divide the walls, and a red glow pulses beneath a broad stone basin at the center.
Elianor Vale
The strongest pressure comes from beneath the basin.
Maurice Headsman
Then we begin there. Celia, watch the arches. Elianor, find the source beneath that stone.
“I destroy the basin and source with the my divine flame.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +1)
Elianor draws the divine flame from her chest and pours it into the basin. Consecrated fire floods the red seams, turning black stone white-hot beneath her hands.
The basin splits with a thunderous crack. Fire drives through its foundation, collapsing the pulsing source below and severing the pressure that held the hidden dead in place.
Maurice Headsman
Back from the breaking stone. The source is dying, and this vault will follow it.
The three archways vomit dust as buried currents fail. In the darkness beyond them, corpses drop heavily, no longer commanded, while the red glow gutters into ordinary shadow.
Celia Graves
It is gone. The death-command has broken, and no more is being sent to the undead army.
A final pillar of flame erupts from the shattered basin and folds inward around Elianor without burning her. The silver brand cools as the divine fire returns to her chest.
Maurice Headsman
You destroyed the source. Now we leave before the ruin buries the victory with us.
Quest Complete
Destroy the source of the undead army
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb