The breach folds inward as blue wardlight races beneath the ridge. Cryos thrusts his wings wide, shielding Crystalious from falling stone while Maelis drags the wounded hunters clear.
Cryos
Rrha... the mountain is closing. Crystalious, stay beneath Cryos’s wings.
The elderly hunter breaks from the collapsing command stone, one hand gripping his hooked sword. Maelis intercepts him, their blades ringing as snow and dark sparks whirl around them.
Hunter
You break the command, but the mountain will still bury your family. I will not surrender its fire.
A final surge throws the hunter off balance and tears his sword from his grasp. He falls near the ridge edge, trapped between a widening fissure and Maelis’s guarded blade.
Warden Maelis
It is over. Reach for that weapon, and the ridge decides your fate. Crystalious, the choice of what happens next is yours.
Cryos lowers one immense wing as the breach contracts behind them. The hunter remains alive and cornered, while the path home flickers open through the settling snow.
“i order the hunters to surrender with rimbreaker pointed to the elders throat”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
crystalious
Surrender. Drop every weapon, and call your hunters back from my family and the dragons.
Crystalious steps through the settling snow and levels Rimebreaker beneath the elderly hunter’s throat. The blade’s blue-white edge holds steady, while his burned palm begins bleeding anew around the hilt.
Hunter
Lower the sword, and I may still bargain for my life.
Warden Maelis
You have no terms left. Yield now, and you leave this mountain alive.
The hunter studies the blade, then the immense wyvern blocking the ridge and Maelis’s guarded stance. At last, he releases his remaining dagger and raises both hands.
Hunter
Hunters, stand down. The mountain’s fire is lost. Lay down your arms.
Weapons fall into the snow one by one. Maelis binds the surrendered hunters and leads them away as Cryos shields the return path. Beyond the ridge, the lodge ward brightens, carrying Luna’s silver-scaled presence and the safe voices of family and dragons.
Quest Complete
Defeat the elderly hunter
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Great→Superb