Cold violet mist coils across the broken floor and gathers at the hall’s center. Within it, the Witch’s withered silhouette takes shape, hollow-eyed and spectral.
She ignores the princess and the chained warlord. Her gaze fixes upon Thorgar, while the last falling grit hangs motionless in the deathly still air.
The Witch
...
The Witch raises one translucent finger and points toward the dark threshold. There, the pale stranger remains half-hidden, its outline wavering like a memory.
The Princess
The dead have chosen their warning. Do not mistake it for mercy.
The Warlord
That ghost knows the thing beyond the threshold. Barbarian, keep your blade ready.
The spectral finger stays fixed on the stranger. Behind Thorgar, the princess watches the apparition, while the warlord’s chains rasp softly against the pillar.
✓ Quest Accepted
Slay the spectral witch
✓ Quest Accepted
Befriend the pale outworlder
“Cry out to the witch " you shall not bind the outworlder " as I channel the runes and bring my blade down attempting to sever her soul”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Weapons, rolled +1)
Thorgar
You shall not bind the outworlder!
Thorgar’s runes flare gold and jade, wind shrieking through the broken hall as he channels their force into the bardiche’s descending edge.
The blade passes through the Witch’s spectral form. Violet mist bursts outward, then folds inward as the soul-binding frays and snaps beneath the runic strike.
The Witch
No chain... no master... the threshold remembers...
Her hollow eyes lose their cold focus. The apparition unravels into pale motes that scatter across the stones, leaving the air suddenly still around Thorgar.
The Princess
You severed her spirit. Foolish, perhaps, but cleaner than the rite deserved.
The Warlord
The stranger is unbound, then. Keep that blade raised, barbarian. Whatever waits beyond the threshold has lost its tether.
Quest Complete
Slay the spectral witch