The shattered iron coffer gives a low, rhythmic hum. Floorboards tremble under Talimaryl’s feet as the sound thickens into a pulse, hungry and precise.
The Messenger
It is not dying. It is reaching.
Pale chains unspool from the broken metal like mist made solid, coiling through the passage and groping for warmth, breath, a mind to clutch.
The Deserter Soldier
No. That thing rode my armor. It is looking for the next one.
A spark runs along the deserter’s breastplate in answer. The hidden truth lands hard, the baron’s debt was never coin or service, but a living tether feeding the coffer from host to host.
Talimaryl
The chains are trying to bind a replacement.
Behind them, alarm boots hammer nearer through the passage. The attendants flinch back, while the coffer’s chains lash outward, choosing the closest living target.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the Deserter Soldier from the coffer's chains
“take a deep breath, connecting to my draconic heritage and exhale a blast of purifying fire cleansing the coffers dark magic.”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +1)
Talimaryl draws a steady breath, then releases purifying fire in a tight, controlled rush. It strikes the coffer and runs through the pale chains like dawn through fog.
The tether snaps its grip at once. Black residue peels away in burning threads, and the chains wilt into harmless sparks before they can taste fresh flesh.
The Deserter Soldier
By all the gods... it is off me.
The sparks crawling over the deserter’s armor die out. He staggers, then straightens, one hand pressed to his breastplate as if checking that his own will is still his.
The Messenger
Look at the floor.
Where the chains fed, the ledger lies in the mud beside the shattered coffer, untouched by the last flare. The alarm boots are still coming, but the coffer only smokes now, blind and spent.
Quest Complete
Break the parasitic enchantment on the iron coffer
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
Quest Complete
Protect the Deserter Soldier from the coffer's chains