The well remains sealed, its amber seams barely glowing. Thin golden threads crawl from Xarsthos’s marked arm across the cracked cobbles, gathering in The Hooded Figure’s outstretched hand.
The Hooded Figure
There. The power you bound has ripened. Oakhaven was never the harvest.
The threads pour into his palm. Beneath the square, something vast answers with a slow golden pulse, and the Hooded Figure’s cloak lifts in the rising force.
Bera
You used him. Every seal, every warning, every word about protecting this village, it fed whatever lies below.
The Hooded Figure
I guided him because only Xarsthos could survive the binding. The ward was not a shield. It was a key, and he has turned it.
The Village Survivors recoil as a hairline fracture opens around the well. Golden light shines from the darkness below, forming the outline of an enormous buried sigil.
The Hooded Figure
Serve willingly now, Xarsthos. Give me the rest of the power, and the thing beneath Oakhaven will wake under my command. Resist, and it will wake hungry.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prevent the buried power beneath Oakhaven from awakening under the Hooded Figure's command
✓ Quest Accepted
Claim the power and protect Oakhaven
“"I can not hand this over to you" I reply. "This is my burden to bear and my power to control. I brace for the impact as ALL the wells energy surges through me again. I take the power and become godlike.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Xarsthos
I cannot hand this over to you. This is my burden to bear, and my power to control.
The surge strikes through Xarsthos. His marked arm becomes a blazing conduit, and the golden threads whip backward from the Hooded Figure’s palm.
The Hooded Figure
No. You are a vessel, not a master.
Xarsthos braces against the force and takes it all. The buried sigil flares beneath the square, then folds inward, its immense radiance answering to his will.
Bera
The light is changing. Xarsthos is holding it.
Power crowns Xarsthos in gold beyond mortal measure. The Hooded Figure’s working collapses, while the sigil seals beneath the cobbles and its pressure settles into a protective ward around Oakhaven.
The Hooded Figure
You have taken the harvest from me.
The dark seams around the well close beneath clean stone. The survivors lower their arms as the village stands untouched, shielded by the power now claimed by Xarsthos.
Quest Complete
Prevent the buried power beneath Oakhaven from awakening under the Hooded Figure's command
Quest Complete
Claim the power and protect Oakhaven