Bria leads Magnus through the eastern ravine, where red stone walls squeeze the daylight into a narrow gold blade. Beneath a shaded cleft, three campfires still smolder.
Bootprints cross the sand, fresh enough to show every heel. A scrap of parchment lies pinned beneath a black stone, marked with half of the Ashen Crown.
Bria
Veyr’s scouts. They came this way, and they knew what they were seeking.
Bria kneels beside the nearest fire and finds a bronze tube hidden beneath the ash. Its seal bears the same crown, cracked but unbroken.
Bria
This was meant for the warlord’s hand. If the map fragment opens the road to the vault, this may tell us where his soldiers are digging.
Inside the tube, a charcoal sketch reveals the ravine continuing beneath the desert. At its end, a barred chamber is labeled in old script: DEMON BELOW. Fresh ink circles the chamber and names the next watch post.
Bria
Veyr is not hunting a rumor. His scouts are already marking the prison. We can reach their watch post before the next signal, or follow them straight to the vault.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the vault
“I wish to find this vault and attack this demon to absorbe its soul energy to become stronger”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
Bria follows the charcoal marks beneath the ravine, through a split in the sandstone that opens into a descending stair.
The stair ends at the barred chamber from the sketch. The Ashen Crown fragment fits against a hollow in the lock, and ancient wards peel away in silent ribbons.
Bria
The vault. We reached it before the watch post could signal.
Beyond the threshold, a vast prison of black stone surrounds a chained shape of ember-dark shadow. The demon raises its horned head as Magnus enters.
Magnus crosses the ward-line and drives the black iron greatsword into the demon's binding circle. The circle breaks, and the demon's soul-fire surges into the armour.
The demon's form collapses into a storm of ash and crimson sparks, all of it drawn through Magnus's blade and swallowed by the living shadow within.
Bria
Its prison is empty, but the stone is waking. Magnus, the vault has opened beneath us. What do we do before Veyr arrives?
Escape the collapsing vault
Quest Complete
Reach the vault