At the breach, the slack claw still hangs from the broken wall like a warning. The Elder Knight keeps his sword up, but he does not look at the limb, he looks to the dark beyond it.
The Elder Knight
We cannot wait in silence now. It knows where this place is, and it may come back with more teeth.
The newborn dragon stays within the ward, small eyes fixed on the doorway of stone. Bracken hovers near the outer tunnel, ready to bark an alarm, while dust drifts through the pale green glow around the eggs.
The Elder Knight
I go first. I clear the path, or I drive it farther off. Keep the clutch behind you.
The tunnel answers with a low scrape from deeper in the dark, then a pause, as if something out there is listening back. The ward flickers once, but holds.
The choice sharpens the danger, if the enemy is already marked, the first dragon must now defend the nest before the next strike finds the eggs.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the outer perimeter
“I increase the wards range”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
The first dragon draws the ward wider with a slow, steady breath. Green light spills past the alcove, over the cracked stone, and into the outer tunnel.
The boundary does not thin, it stretches, smooth as glass, taking the breach edge and the nearer bend into its shelter. Dust hovers at the new edge and stops there.
Bracken
It reaches farther than before. I can feel the dark hesitate at the line.
The Elder Knight
Then the passage is partly ours. We hold this lip, and watch the rest.
The newborn dragon lifts its head, no longer pressed so tightly to the eggs, as the glow settles into a broader calm around the nest.
The Scarred Knight
The ward covers the bend now. If the thing returns, it must cross light before it reaches the clutch.
Far off, beyond the widened safety, something answers with a dull scrape against stone, then goes still again.
Quest Complete
Secure the outer perimeter