The opened threshold widens over Tartarus’s chasm, its pale rim trembling above the abyss. Ares still holds the basin as black bindings constrict his arms, while Helios, Zukalina, and Sisyphus remain beyond the palace-side boundary.
At the ledge, Hades stands beside Thanatos, directing pale chains through the threshold. The faceless presence hangs captive nearby, its ash-dark strands twisting against the divine restraints.
Hades
Thanatos, hold the outer chain. Do not let it retreat into the conduit. I will bind its mark without touching the basin.
Thanatos
The restraint holds, but only barely. Ares, bring the basin close enough to reveal the mark, then keep it there.
The basin’s black ember flares as it nears the captive presence. Broken crowns emerge across the entity’s shifting form, each line sharpening only within the basin’s cold light.
Ares
The bindings tighten whenever the mark becomes clear.
Hades
There. The inscription is older than Corinth and bound to Tartarus itself. One more revelation may expose its name, but the cost will fall on you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the entity’s true authority
“I hold the basin steady and endure the bindings to reveal its name.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Ares holds the basin steady above the threshold. The bindings constrict around his arms, but the vessel remains fixed as its black ember burns through every broken crown.
The captive presence bends toward the basin. Its ash-dark strands unravel into ancient lettering, while pale chains from Tartarus lock each mark in place.
Ares
The bindings are part of the inscription.
The final crown splits open. Beneath it, a name appears in stark black fire: OBRYX, THE HOLLOW SOVEREIGN, the buried will that used Corinth and the dead as its conduit.
Hades
Obryx. I know that title. It was sealed beneath Tartarus before Corinth had a name, bound for seeking dominion over the dead.
Thanatos
The name is exposed. Keep the basin steady, Ares. Now the chains can bind Obryx itself, not merely the marks it leaves behind.
Hades draws both hands apart, and the pale chains cinch around the revealed name. Obryx’s faceless form collapses inward, its threads pinned beneath the threshold while the basin’s ember dims.
✓ Quest Accepted
Separate Ares from the basin
Quest Complete
Stop the new threat targeting Corinth
Skill Upgrade: Athletics Great→Superb
Quest Complete
Expose the entity’s true authority
“I hold the basin steady while Hades and Thanatos bind Obryx.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +0)
Ares locks his grip around the basin and holds it steady despite the black ember dragging against his arms. The threshold stops trembling beneath his feet.
Hades and Thanatos pull the pale chains through the exposed name. Each link closes around Obryx’s will, pinning its ash-dark strands to the Tartarus seal.
Thanatos
Do not yield the basin. The binding is taking hold, but it is drawing strength through you.
The cost settles sharply: the black band around Ares’s wrist splits his skin with cold fire, and the mark spreads across his palm beneath the basin.
Hades
Obryx is bound to the threshold. Ares, release the basin slowly. The vessel no longer commands the chains, but it has claimed part of your divine mark.
Obryx’s name collapses into a single sealed glyph. Its faceless form remains trapped beyond the threshold, while a second pulse travels through the conduit toward Corinth.
Thanatos
The binding succeeded, but the conduit is still active. Something in Corinth is answering the captive sovereign.
