Inside the Obsidian black tower, the study hums with old wards and scorched stone. Ellowicous the Black stands over a desk of bone-white ashwood, his staff near at hand.
The Black Book in the center of the desk shudders once, then twice, as if it recognizes the dark magic in the walls of Gullombog.
A cold image floods the air above it, not as light but as thought, the Obsidian Tower collapsing under a righteous paladin’s strike.
The vision snaps away. The book stays shut, but its spine pulses like a warning heart.
The Black Book
Do not open me yet, dark one. Bind yourself to my bargain, and I will teach you the wards that keep doom from your door.
The green gem in Ellowicous the Black’s staff answers with a faint glow, and the tower’s shadows tighten around the desk.
The Black Book
Refuse, and your fall comes sooner. Accept, and we both survive what hunts you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bind yourself to the Black Book’s bargain
“Recognizing the magical properties Elowicous tries to determine if he has the ability to resist the books prodding into his mind”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Ellowicous the Black holds the book’s pressure at bay, and the probing in the air falters like fingers meeting iron.
The sensation does not vanish. It changes shape, circling his mind without finding purchase, testing for a seam and failing.
Ellowicous the Black
Its push has a limit. I can keep it out.
The Black Book
So. Your will stands.
The Black Book
Then hear me clearly, dark one. My bargain is no dream.
The spine gives one hard pulse, and a cold thread of awareness runs outward through the tower, as if something far away has been touched.
The Black Book
Bind yourself, and you gain warded sight. Refuse, and what seeks you will know exactly where you stand.
“Confident he is the true director of this new relationship, and viewing as a major benefit and aid. He opens his mind and allows the dark book to meld with him”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Ellowicous lowers his staff a fraction and opens his mind to the book's chill, not in surrender, but in command.
The Black Book answers at once. Its pulse slides into his thoughts like ink into water, and a hidden lattice of warding shapes itself behind his eyes.
Knowledge follows, sharp and forbidden, but it comes chained to a cost. A cold, far-off attention brushes the tower, as if the bargain has rung a bell in the dark.
The Black Book
Now you are seen. Now you are marked.
Ellowicous the Black
The wards are mine. So is the price.
The shadows around the desk tighten, then draw thin, pointing outward through stone and night, toward whatever has noticed him.
The Black Book
Choose, Ellowicous the Black. Keep the gift, or cast it away before the watcher arrives.
Quest Complete
Bind yourself to the Black Book’s bargain
New Gift: Forbidden Knowledge