Amber light breathes through the root-chamber, calm for one heartbeat, then restless again. The seal on Xarsthos’s arm thrums in answer, as if something below the stone hears it and stirs.
The Hooded Figure
You have it under control. Good. Now push farther, and see whether the ward bends to you, or drains you dry.
The Hooded Figure steps half from shadow, hand lifted toward the glowing ring in the floor. Bera remains near the chamber edge, tense and watchful, her eyes fixed on Xarsthos’s arm.
Xarsthos
The ward is tied to him as much as to the stones.
Bera
Xarsthos, do not let him press you too hard. The seal is steady now, that should be enough.
The amber pulse tightens, then spills in a thin line across the floor toward a dark seam in the rootwall. The chamber is showing him a path, and a price.
The Hooded Figure
There. You feel it, don’t you? The ward leads onward, but only if you carry its weight yourself.
✓ Quest Accepted
Enter the deeper path beneath the rootwall
“I enter deeper as I can go. I am ready and willing to face any challenge.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -3)
Xarsthos rises and steps into the seam. The dark split in the rootwall yields with a dry grind, just wide enough for him to pass. Amber light spills over his boots, then thins behind him.
Xarsthos
The passage opens beneath the roots.
He moves deeper, one shoulder brushing cold stone, while the ward tightens in his arm. The seal drinks hard at his strength, leaving his breath rough and his fingers numb.
The Hooded Figure
Good. Keep going. The ward only opens for what it trusts to carry.
Bera
Xarsthos, your arm... the light is shaking.
The seam widens into a narrow root-tunnel, and the chamber behind him falls away. Dust sifts from the ceiling as the uneven pulse follows him onward.
At the threshold, the glow on his skin flares once, bright enough to sting. Then it steadies, and the deeper path lies open before him, while the strain in his body makes his knees threaten to buckle.
Quest Complete
Enter the deeper path beneath the rootwall