The forest grows deathly still. The violet glow of the rune blade vanishes, leaving Yllamaris in a suffocating, soundless void. The shadows that pursued him now cower in the underbrush, trembling at the arrival of the newcomer.
Yllamaris
The air tastes of rot and ancient dust. Whatever this thing is, it has power that dwarfs the simple void-spawn.
Malakor
You carry a flame that does not belong to you, exile. It is a flickering insult to the silence.
Yllamaris
I need to find a weakness in his stance before he swings that staff. His presence is crushing the very breath from my lungs.
Malakor
Hand over the blade. Your struggle is merely a delay of the inevitable end.
The masked figure steps forward, the bone mask gleaming with a pale, sickly light. He gestures with his staff, and the ground beneath Yllamaris begins to crack and warp.
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive the encounter with Malakor
“"Even if I did, it would return to me, leave me be..." in my mind - 'maybe the shadows can aid me, become on with the shadows, let it be my blanket in the night”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +0)
— He pulls the darkness toward his own skin, weaving the ambient shadows into a mantle of protection. If the land belongs to the night, then I belong to it as well.
Yllamaris
Even if I did, it would return to me. My exile is written in the blood of this land. Leave me be.
The shadows surge at the command of the half-elf, coalescing into swirling, ink-black ribbons that wrap around him like a shroud. The warped ground groans as the void energy shifts, momentarily stabilized by Yllamaris as he sinks into the shifting gloom. Malakor pauses, his bone mask tilting as the shadows obscure his target.
Malakor
A child playing with the abyss. You hide behind the curtain of the night, but the darkness has a master, and it is not you.
Malakor slams his staff into the cracked earth. A ripple of necrotic force erupts outward, tearing through the shadow-shroud and forcing Yllamaris to choose between holding his position or breaking cover.
“I'll use the shadows to confuse him of my location, then appear behind him and to destroy his staff”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
The shadows cling to Yllamaris, a velvet veil that bends light and sound alike. As Malakor’s necrotic pulse shatters the earth, the half-elf dissolves into a plume of soot and smoke.
Yllamaris
He moves with the arrogance of one who believes he owns the dark. Let him find only empty air.
Yllamaris surges upward behind the knight, his boots silent against the jagged terrain. The purple runes upon his blade ignite with a sudden, starving brilliance. With a fluid, practiced motion, he pivots his body, driving the warlock blade into the heart of the ornate, glowing staff. The wood splinters under the unnatural bite of the steel, releasing a screeching wail of trapped void energy.
Malakor
You fool! You have no idea what you are unleashing!
The staff cracks, and raw, unstable light begins to pour from the fissure, threatening to consume the very space where the two figures stand.
Quest Complete
Survive the encounter with Malakor
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary