Luna guides Crystalious through a side door into the snow-covered yard, leaving Maelis, Brynja, the rescued wardens, family, and smaller dragons gathered safely around the hearth.
Cryos follows carefully, his enlarged frame making the familiar yard feel newly narrow. Blue-white light glows beneath his cyan snowflake pattern, softly tinting the snow.
Luna
This yard was once where our elders welcomed hatchlings into the household. The custom is older than the lodge, and older than any warden oath.
Luna, her silver dragonborn scales bright beneath the falling snow, kneels beside a ring of flat stones and brushes frost from a carved draconic spiral.
Luna
A dragon joins family by choice, never by command. Cryos, will you stand within the spiral and accept our bond on your own terms?
Cryos
Rrha... no chain, no master. I choose the white warden, and I choose those he calls family.
The spiral answers with a faint silver-blue shimmer. Luna extends her open hand toward Cryos, leaving the final step to him while the lodge’s warmth and watchful voices remain behind.
“cryos why dont we see how that wound of yours i healing, i say as i move to remove the dressing”
SUCCESS (Great Animal Handling, rolled +2)
crystalious
Cryos, why don’t we see how that wound of yours is healing?
Crystalious moves to Cryos’s splinted wing and carefully loosens the dressing. Cryos lowers himself beside the stone spiral, keeping the injured limb still while snow gathers along his pale scales.
Cryos
Rrha... yes. Look closely, white warden. I trust your hands.
The dressing comes away cleanly. Beneath it, the wound has sealed along most of its length, with only a narrow tender line remaining beneath the splint; the surrounding scales are warm and unbroken.
Luna
That is good healing. The swelling has fallen, and there is no fresh seepage. Keep the wing supported, but the worst has passed.
Cryos
The wing still aches, but the pain no longer commands it.
Cryos flexes the edge of his good wing, then carefully shifts the injured one within its support. The movement is limited, but steady, and the blue-white beacon continues pulsing beneath his snowflake pattern.
“I let Luna examine my injured hand”
FAILURE (Great Health, rolled -4)
Crystalious offers his bandaged hand to Luna. She settles beside the spiral and carefully unwraps the linen, exposing the reopened burn beneath the silver sigil.
Luna
Hold still, my love. I need to see whether the wound is healing or whether the mountain left something deeper behind.
Luna rinses the blood away with melted snow. The burn looks clean, but the sigil tightens beneath her touch, drawing a sharp silver line toward Cryos’s glowing snowflake.
Cryos
Rrha... the mark answers the beacon. Luna’s hands are gentle, but the old binding does not want her near it.
A brief pulse locks Crystalious’s fingers closed before Luna can finish examining the center of the wound. The bandage slips from her grasp, and blue-white light crawls across his palm.
Luna
I cannot reach the deepest part without waking it further. Let me bind the hand again, and we will have Brynja examine the sigil indoors.
Cryos
The mountain still holds a thread of him. I will keep its cold quiet while my family decides what comes next.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover what the mountain left in Crystalious’s sigil
“I ask Brynja to study what the mountain left in my sigil.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +1)
crystalious
Brynja, please study what the mountain left in my sigil.
Luna binds Crystalious’s hand loosely for the walk inside. Cryos follows through the snow, keeping his glowing shoulder close as they return to the lodge.
Healer Brynja
Bring it to the hearth. I will examine the mark without disturbing the wound.
Brynja settles Crystalious beside the fire and unwraps the fresh linen. She cleans the silver sigil with warm water, then holds a black glass lens above his palm.
Healer Brynja
There is a thread beneath the scar, not a splinter or curse. It carries the mountain’s returning path, anchored through Cryos’s beacon.
Cryos
Rrha... it touches our bond, but it does not command me. The cold answers when I choose to answer.
Healer Brynja
Then the remnant is a conduit, not a chain. Keep the sigil covered tonight, and it should settle while your strength returns.
Quest Complete
Discover what the mountain left in Crystalious’s sigil