Kalazan leaves the flickering Hollow Crown, the weight of the star metal shard still pulsing against his palm. He ascends through a spiraling ventilation shaft, emerging onto the frost-slicked balcony of the high outer battlement.
The wind howls across Crag Crimson Rise, carrying the scent of pine and distant ozone. Below, the warded drawbridge stands silent and imposing against the dark silhouette of the mountain.
Kalazan
The signal from the Hollow Crown is clearer from here, pulsing in perfect synchronization with the hooded figure standing at the causeway base.
The Defector
Do not descend yet, Commander. That lantern flame is not merely light. It is a bridge.
Kalazan watches as the figure raises the lantern, the wick burning with an unnatural, violet hue that bleeds into the surrounding air like ink in water.
The Defector
He is not calling for aid, he is preparing to overwrite the fortress wards entirely.
+ Scene Quest Added
Stop the hooded figure from overwriting the fortress wards
“I lift my sword and call lighting the threat”
SUCCESS (Legendary Conjuration arcana, rolled +0)
Kalazan
By the weight of my blood and the iron of this keep, your intrusion ends now.
Kalazan raises his staff, his fingers glowing with intense arcane static. The air above the causeway shudders as he draws down a jagged lance of electrical fire.
The bolt strikes the hooded figure with a deafening crack, turning the violet lantern into a shower of harmless glass and freezing cinders.
The Defector
He channels the storm itself. The wards are already beginning to hum with renewed stability.
As the smoke clears, the figure lies slumped against the stone, but Kalazan notices a strange, metallic artifact glowing beneath the assassin's tattered robes.
Kalazan
That is not a religious icon. It is a focus for the rift itself.
Quest Complete
Stop the hooded figure from overwriting the fortress wards