Commander Korth steps in close to the writing desk, one gauntleted hand cutting through the air as he signals for the messenger to wait.
Kalazan crosses out the old draft and pulls the fresh page smooth. He writes with hard, deliberate strokes, asking his family for urgent cleric support, five powerful clerics sent at once to Red Tide.
Kalazan
Five should be enough to answer a breach this deep.
He presses his signet ring into the wax. The seal takes cleanly, then the ward stone underfoot gives a sickly pulse.
Commander Korth
The letter goes out now. Willow Dale is no place for delay.
The hairline crack near the sealed breach spiders another finger of dark residue across the floor, thin as soot but moving like a living stain.
Korth points at the messenger, then to the door. The runner tightens his pack strap and heads for the hall, while Korth keeps his sword hand ready and watches Kalazan for the next command.
Quest Complete
Send a request for aid to the family
“I ask the dark caster if he thinks my wards will hold till my family brings clerics”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +0)
Kalazan
Answer me, caster. Do these wards hold against the decay until the clerics arrive, or is the stone already lost?
The Dark Arcana Caster
The resonance is stronger than he realizes, but the architecture of his magic is sound.
The Dark Arcana Caster
The wards are reinforced by your own conviction, Kalazan. They will not falter, and I have found the source of the rot. It is not external, but a rift pulsing from within the masonry.
The caster traces a glowing sigil in the air, revealing a hidden seam of light beneath the spreading shadow.
Kalazan
The stone hums with a frequency that matches the warding, confirming the seal's integrity.
The dark stain halts its spread, retreating slightly as the caster's influence stabilizes the threshold.
+ Scene Quest Added
Secure the ancient Red Tide sigil
“I put the dark caster in charge of the hole, giving him authority to pick gaurds and their watches for watching the hole for now”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled +3)
Kalazan
The command is yours now. You have full authority to select whichever guards you deem capable. Monitor this rift, keep it contained, and hold the watch.
The Dark Arcana Caster
Understood, Kalazan. I shall handpick those with the sharpest eyes for arcane ripples. They will not leave this spot.
The caster gestures sharply, and two members of Unit 1 move forward, their steel armor clanking rhythmically as they take up rigid positions flanking the cracked stone.
The Dark Arcana Caster
The energy here is hungry. It wants to consume the foundation, but these mortals are stubborn, and so am I.
A sudden chime rings out from the control orb embedded in the far wall, pulsating with a rhythmic, agitated frequency that contradicts the newfound stability at the floor.
Kalazan
Something is moving through the outer tunnels, far faster than any patrol.
Quest Complete
Secure the ancient Red Tide sigil
+ Scene Quest Added
Investigate the disturbance at the control orb
“I cast a visual of the control orbs space”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +1)
Kalazan channels his focus, forcing his will into the faceted glass of the control orb. The violet light flares, bleeding outward to saturate the room with a jagged, spectral map of the underground network.
Kalazan
The shadows in the north tunnel are moving against the current of the air.
A sharp, translucent display manifests in the air before him. The image shows a sleek, hunched figure darting through the maintenance shafts, moving with a fluid, unnatural grace that bypasses the iron-barred gates effortlessly.
The Dark Arcana Caster
That is no beast, Kalazan. Look at the way it peels the stone wards back like wet parchment. It is an intruder of our own kind.
The entity stops, its head snapping toward the orb's vantage point. Even through the magical projection, the creature's eyes glow with a cold, piercing malice that seems to lock directly onto Kalazan's gaze.
The Dark Arcana Caster
It knows we are watching. It is not just infiltrating, it is hunting for the source of this rift.
Quest Complete
Investigate the disturbance at the control orb