On the moonlit ridge, Titano and Alexios overlook the distant road to Ithaca. Titano’s weather cloak hangs torn from his scraped shoulder, while the badlands lie silver and still.
A blue radiance suddenly erupts above Ithaca, bright enough to stain the clouds. The ridge shudders beneath their feet as a deep tremor rolls through the stone.
Alexios
That is the sapphire flame’s pulse. Its containment has changed, Titano. The vault is no longer safely holding what we left behind.
Pebbles skitter down the ridge. Far away, the blue flare contracts into a jagged crown, then vanishes, leaving the city beneath a spreading darkness.
Alexios
The queen, the guards, and the court remain at the foundation vault. If they advance before the route is secured, the palace may become the flame’s next vessel.
Alexios
We cannot follow the safe road now. Every hour gives that ancient fire another chance to find a way out.
Alexios
We must return immediately. I know a ravine cut that reaches the old road by dawn, but it is steep, narrow, and watched by raiders.
✓ Quest Accepted
Return to the foundation vault
“I lead Alexios into the steep ravine toward the old road.”
FAILURE (Great Athletics, rolled -2)
Titano leads Alexios off the moonlit ridge and into the steep ravine. Red stone pinches close around them, forcing each descent onto narrow, shifting shelves.
His immense weight breaks loose shale beneath one foot. He catches himself against the ravine wall, but the jolt pulls sharply across his scraped shoulder.
Alexios
That descent is too unstable for your size, Titano. The lower ledge will not bear another misstep.
Titano tests the next slope and finds the stone crumbling beneath his claws. The direct route toward the old road is blocked by a fresh fall of shale.
Alexios
There is a narrower traverse above us. It will take longer, but it avoids the broken shelf and joins the ravine below the collapse.
The failed descent leaves them stranded halfway down the ravine, with the old road still distant below. Alexios points toward the higher traverse, while loose stones continue ticking into darkness.
“I secure my torn cloak and descend before the raiders spot us.”
SUCCESS (Great Athletics, rolled +0)
Titano knots the torn weather cloak across his chest, drawing the loose fabric tight beneath his immense neck. The scrape at his shoulder pulls, but the fastening holds.
Alexios
That will keep the cloth from catching. Give me the lower footholds, and I will guide your descent.
Titano lowers his center of gravity and tests each shelf before committing his weight. He descends with deliberate control, placing his claws where the stone is firmest.
Above them, faint voices drift along the ravine rim, followed by the scrape of boots on rock. The raiders have reached the ridge, but moonlight hides the travelers below.
Alexios
Quietly now. They have not seen us. The next ledge joins the ravine beneath their line of sight.
Titano completes the traverse and reaches the lower ravine without dislodging more than a few pebbles. Alexios follows, keeping close to the shadowed wall.
Alexios
He secured the cloak, mastered the descent, and brought us beneath the raiders’ notice. Ithaca still has its Bulwark.
“we march all the way to the lower vault of Ithaca”
FAILURE (Good Survival, rolled +0)
Titano leads Alexios through the lower ravine and onto the old road, marching beneath paling stars. Their pace is steady, but the distant sapphire darkness over Ithaca never lifts.
Alexios
Keep to the stone markers. The raiders’ paths circle wide, and the old road will bring us beneath the palace before dawn.
They reach Ithaca’s outer foundations as dawn grays the horizon. Titano descends through the ancient access way, but a fresh wall of fused black stone seals the passage to the lower vault.
Alexios
The flame has closed the road behind us. We cannot reach the vault from here, and forcing this seal may feed it more stone.
Blue light leaks through hairline cracks, pulsing from below. Along the foundation floor, a thin metallic thread emerges from beneath the sealed wall and runs toward a forgotten drainage arch.
Alexios
That thread was not there when we left. It is offering another route, though it may lead beneath the vault rather than into it.
The march falls short of the lower vault, but the exposed thread provides a usable path: the forgotten drainage arch now stands open, descending beneath the magical seal.
“we march all the way to the lower vault of Ithaca”
SUCCESS (Superb Health, rolled +1)
Titano follows the metallic thread through the forgotten drainage arch, his immense frame scraping old stone as he descends beneath the fused wall. Alexios keeps pace behind him.
Alexios
The passage bends beneath the seal. Keep moving, Bulwark. The thread is guiding us toward the vault’s foundation.
The drainage way opens into a broad undercroft. Blue radiance pulses through the floor, illuminating ancient pillars and black mineral veins spreading toward the lower vault.
Titano marches across the undercroft without hesitation. The stone trembles beneath each step, but the route holds, and the sapphire darkness gathers ahead instead of resisting him.
Alexios
There. That arch is the vault entrance. We have reached it from beneath, as the flame intended or feared.
They pass beneath the ancient arch and enter the lower vault. The sealed coffer rests at its center, surrounded by dim blue fire and a widening ring of fractured stone.
Alexios
Titano brought me back in time. Now the court must hear what this fire is trying to become.
Quest Complete
Return to the foundation vault
Skill Upgrade: Athletics Great→Superb