The high pass opens beneath a bruised violet sky. Snow lashes the black road, where a stranded waystone leans inside a ring of pale fire.
An elven emissary stands within the burning circle, cloak snapping in the wind. Above, a vast dragon circles the peaks, its shadow gliding over stone, flame, and trapped elf.
The Elven Emissary
Do not cross the fire, traveler. It answers no hand but the hand that proves its worth.
The emissary raises a silver seal. Pale flames climb higher, hemming the waystone and tightening the perilous silence.
The Elven Emissary
I am Caelithra Veyr. The dragon has watched three dawns without striking. That is no mercy. It is a trial.
Maximus Magi stands at the edge of the pass, white hair streaming, glowing eyes fixed beneath the dragon's circling shadow. His spellbook and arcane focus wait at his side.
The dragon banks sharply. Thunder rolls from its wings, and the pale ring surges toward Maximus Magi across the snow.
The Elven Emissary
Choose, Netheril-born. Break the seal, face the wyrm, or leave me to the mountain.
✓ Quest Accepted
Free Caelithra Veyr
“I raise my arcane focus and study the silver seal for its weakness.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled +1)
The arcane focus rises into the gale. Its light catches the silver seal, and the advancing fire pauses around the edge of your vision.
Through the focus, hidden script burns beneath the seal's surface. Three runes feed the ring, but the central rune is only an anchor, not a lock.
A hair-thin fracture runs through that anchor rune, linking it to the waystone. The seal's weakness is clear: sever the link, and the ring must release its captive.
The Elven Emissary
You have found it. The anchor binds me to the stone, and the stone to the trial.
The pale flames recoil from the focus, exposing the fractured line in the silver sigil. Snow hisses where the fire withdraws.
The Elven Emissary
But the wyrm sees the weakness as well. Choose your stroke carefully, Netheril-born.
Above the pass, the dragon folds one wing and dives lower. Its shadow swallows the waystone, while the exposed fracture waits beneath your raised focus.
“I sever the fractured anchor link”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled +2)
Maximus Magi drives the arcane focus along the fractured line. Silver light cuts through the anchor rune without touching the surrounding fire.
The link snaps. The waystone releases a bell-like crack, and the pale ring collapses inward into harmless sparks.
The Elven Emissary
The trial accepts your hand. I am free.
The Elven Emissary steps beyond the ruined circle as the last sparks fade from her boots. The ancient waystone darkens behind her.
The Circling Dragon
A clever severing, Netheril-born. You have claimed the prisoner, but not yet the pass.
The dragon lands upon the ridge, and the mountain shudders beneath its weight. Its lowered head blocks the twilight while one talon points toward the freed emissary.
The Elven Emissary
Do not mistake release for safety. It demands an answer from you now.
Earn the dragon’s acknowledgment
Quest Complete
Free Caelithra Veyr
Skill Upgrade: Stealth Mediocre