The nursery dais hums with a warm, steady golden light. Kalazan watches the ley-anchor lock into place, the structural tremors finally dying away into a blissful, heavy silence.
The nursery door grinds open, revealing the Head Cleric. He looks disheveled, his robes thick with grey dust and his face etched with a frantic, sharp intensity that defies his usual composure.
Head Cleric
You fools. You have not stabilized the mountain. You have rung the dinner bell for the things that sleep beneath the Willow Dale.
Kalazan
He is not alone, he carries the scent of damp loam and rotting wood on his hem.
Head Cleric
The stabilization of the ley-lines was merely a signal, a beacon of order in their chaotic dark. Something massive has stirred, and it is carving a path directly toward our walls as we speak.
Commander Korth
Your words carry heavy poison for a man of the cloth, Cleric. State your business before I decide your tongue is the source of this alarm.
+ Story Quest Added
Defend the hold against the encroaching threat from beneath the Willow Dale
“I cast remove curse on the cleric”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +4)
Kalazan
His hysteria feels forced, stained by a lingering, foul influence I can reach out and sever.
Kalazan raises his staff, his knuckles glowing with the violet light of his arcane mastery. He weaves a sigil into the air, a sharp, biting resonance that snaps against the Head Cleric like a whip.
Head Cleric
I tell you... the shaking... it is not... wait. My mind... what did I just say?
A black, oily mist evaporates from the cleric's brow, dissolving into the gold-lit air. The manic intensity in his eyes softens, replaced by a hollow, profound confusion.
Head Cleric
The earth... it felt as if it were whispering, calling for an opening. Why did I come here with such rage?
Commander Korth
The shadow is gone from his eyes, Kalazan. But look at his palms. The skin is burned with the sigil of the Pale Moon tribe.
+ Scene Quest Added
Secure the Head Cleric's testimony regarding the Pale Moon influence
“I bless the faith of Ao him”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Kalazan
The burns are a mark of binding, a sigil of the Pale Moon that tethered his mind to their dark hunger.
Kalazan steps forward, the violet light from his staff bleeding into a soft, celestial gold as he invokes the favor of Ao. He places a hand upon the cleric's trembling shoulder, the air humming with the weight of ancient divine authority.
Head Cleric
I feel... the chill is receding. It is as if the fog has been lifted from my very soul.
As the blessing takes hold, the scorched flesh on the cleric's palms knits back together. The black, ritualistic scarring peels away like charred paper, revealing healthy skin beneath, and the cleric gasps as the sudden clarity of his own restored faith rushes back.
Head Cleric
Thank you, noble protector. I remember now. They caught me on the road from Herma. They forced a vision upon me, a compulsion to bring discord to your gates.
Commander Korth
If the Pale Moon tribe is hunting pilgrims on the road to our hold, our supply lines are no longer safe. We must decide how to answer this.
Quest Complete
Secure the Head Cleric's testimony regarding the Pale Moon influence