Golden light coils around Soros Corvanus in steady pulses, but each beat of it lands like a hammer behind his ribs. The calm ring of the seal holds, yet the bone-pit hums with hungry pressure, waiting for a keeper to prove he can bear it.
The Grave-Warden
Contain it fully, or it will tear at you until it finds a newer master.
He gestures once toward the Bound Noble, then toward the ring at Soros’s feet, making the choice plain. The chamber wants an act, not a promise.
Valerius
You cannot hold that power. It will scorch your spirit and leave me to reclaim what is mine.
Soros Corvanus
The seal is stable, but the rhythm is straining him.
Ash swirls higher as the pulse quickens. Soros stands at the center of the old bones, staff in hand, with the noble still pinned to the post and the Warden watching for the moment he either masters the dragon’s breath or falters under it.
The Grave-Warden
Choose, keeper. Bind it deeper, or lose the pit.
✓ Quest Accepted
Bind the dragon essence deeper
“Can I force the ritual to consume the noble's remaining strength?”
YES (Likely, rolled 52)
The golden light pulses against the noble's skin, and Soros senses a thin, brittle tether still connecting the man to the ritual's core. It is a residual anchor, a hidden drain that can be inverted to feed the very power he seeks to master.
Soros Corvanus
The noble's own vitality is the fuel the ritual is currently starving for.
Valerius
Why do you stare at me so, sorcerer. My name is Valerius, and you will find that even in chains, I am not so easily drained.
“I turn Valerius's drain back on himself and bind the tether into the seal”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled -1)
Soros turns the tether in his grasp, and the golden filament snaps taut, then bends inward toward the seal.
Valerius jerks against the post as the drain reverses, his fury breaking into a raw, startled gasp.
The ritual seal drinks deeply now, not from Soros, but from the noble’s own straining pulse.
Valerius
No, stop, that is not mine to lose.
Ash whirls higher around the bone-pit floor, and the gold in the chamber steadies into a tighter, colder ring.
The Grave-Warden
There. Bind it deeper, keeper. Make the pit remember your hand.
For a breath, the pressure on Soros’s chest eases, though the light still shivers as if waiting for his next command.
Quest Complete
Bind the dragon essence deeper