Aria reaches the ashlands beneath a bruised violet sky. Black glass crunches underfoot, and the crater yawns ahead where the dragon fell, its bones buried in smoking earth.
At the rim stands a young hero, a lean boy in a weather-stained green cloak, copper hair whipping around a bright mark burned into his brow. Below, a gaunt fugitive, a young adult man with a hollow-cheeked face, close-cropped black hair, and a broken silver clasp at his throat in ash-gray robes stands within a ring of ancient blue flames.
fugitive
You came to witness the beginning. The prophesied return has already started.
The fugitive takes one measured step across the crater floor. Every flame bends toward him, and the hero's prophecy-mark flares gold, casting sharp light across his startled face.
young hero
There. Again. Whenever he moves, the mark burns. If he reaches the old wyrm's heart, the ashlands will wake.
Far beneath the cinders, something vast answers with a muffled thud. A fissure opens between Aria and the crater rim, glowing red through its jagged seams.
fugitive
Angel, choose quickly. Chase me, or stand here while the dead dragon remembers how to breathe.
✓ Quest Accepted
Delay the prophesied return
“I move to block the fugitive before he reaches the wyrm's heart.”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled -1)
“I move to block the fugitive before he reaches the wyrm's heart.”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled +0)
“I move to block the fugitive before he reaches the wyrm's heart.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +2)
Aria crosses the fissure in a beat of white and black wings, landing between the fugitive and the buried wyrm's heart. Her shadow falls across the blue flames.
The ancient fire recoils from her halo. Ash spirals around her armored form, while the red seams behind her dim beneath the force of her arrival.
fugitive
So the battle angel chooses a gate instead of a blade. Sensible, perhaps, but it will not halt what wakes below.
The fugitive stops with one boot lifted, then lowers it outside the circle of Aria's reach. His hollow face tightens as the path to the heart closes.
young hero
You blocked him! Hold there, angel. The mark is fading while he stands still.
The prophecy-mark on the boy's brow steadies to a dull gold. Beneath the crater, the buried bones give one final tremor and fall silent.
fugitive
Then let us see how long your wings can bar the dead from rising.
Stop the fugitive from awakening the dead wyrm
Quest Complete
Delay the prophesied return