The inner cairn buckles behind them and cold slams in from the ridge. Bram braces at Slaan’s side while Lord Markul lifts the iron scroll case, its hum turning sharp and eager.
Slaan sets her focus on the bane stone’s poisoned seam. Shadow gathers around the case, then runs through the chamber like a held breath breaking loose.
The mountain air warps. Dust lifts in spirals, and half-seen figures tear into view on the barren slope, Church agents forced out of concealment by the purification pulse.
Lord Markul
There. The hidden hand shows itself.
Slaan’s ritual bites deeper. The bane stone’s sickly pressure peels back, and the slope ahead shifts as if the mountain itself is choosing a side.
Bram
Slaan, now. Before they close on us.
The trap is live, the masters of the Chaos node are exposed, and the fight for the ridge begins in the open.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reveal the Church agents on the ridge
“To Bram, " follow my lead," I cast plauge of blindness on them and bram casts saint morlons wraith, an area effect fire spell that does double fire damage to the forces of chaos.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -1)
Slaan
Follow my lead.
Slaan turns the blindness outward. A dark wash bursts across the exposed slope, swallowing the revealed Church agents in a choking veil of night.
Bram answers at once, driving Saint Morlon’s wrath into the same line. Fire blooms through the blind haze, harsh and holy, forcing the hidden enemy shape to break and flare.
Church Agent One
We have been seen!
Church Agent Two
Hold the ridge, hold it!
The two agents stumble apart, outlines ruined by shadow and flame. One drops to a knee, clawing at the air, while the other reels backward toward the split stone.
Lord Markul
Good. Now the mountain shows us who it serves.
Cold wind knifes through the chamber mouth. The iron scroll case still hums in Markul’s grip, and the ridge answers with a deeper tremor, as if something further above has noticed the strike.
Quest Complete
Reveal the Church agents on the ridge