Every black flower opens at once. Their petals cast one shared illusion across the roots, revealing an ancient sealing rite beneath a sky crowded with dying stars.
Witnesses circle the kneeling guardian, their faces hidden by ritual masks. Among them stands the wandering ranger, wearing a much younger face but the same white scar across her brow.
the voice below
There she is. The final living keeper of the oath, and the last hand still feeding this prison.
The illusion shifts. The wandering ranger raises a blade over the dark star-shard while ancient vows coil around her wrists, then the vision fractures into frost.
the wandering ranger
That rite was generations ago. I inherited the oath, not the crime. Do not let it turn my burden into your chain.
The grove remains sealed around them, the wandering ranger staying behind the roots as Frozen Fang stands before the hollow. Frost begins drawing steadily from his numb hand, threading toward the exposed runes.
the voice below
Keeper, witness, and prisoner. Ask her what became of the others, before the seal takes your hand as well.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the ranger's oath was altered
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what became of the other oath-keepers
“"Why is it draining me?"”
SUCCESS (Good Charm, rolled +0)
Frozen Fang
Why is it draining me?
The question passes into the runes. Frost flowing from Frozen Fang’s numb palm halts, then reverses, revealing a narrow silver thread joining his hand to the buried star-shard.
the voice below
Because the seal recognizes your arcane heritage. It uses living magic to translate its divided oath, and you have become the nearest vessel capable of hearing both truths.
the wandering ranger
Not a vessel. A witness. The rite was built to draw from whoever questions the oath, but it should not have reached beyond the guardian’s bloodline.
The exposed runes open fully. Within their pale reflection, the kneeling guardian’s chains are revealed as cords of light, each fed by a different vow spoken by the masked witnesses.
the voice below
The oath is failing because its keepers are gone. Your strength is not feeding Vael Turog. It is sustaining the language that binds him.
the wandering ranger
Now you know what the seal takes, and why it answered you. I can sever its claim, but then the hidden oath will become silent.
Quest Complete
Learn what became of the other oath-keepers
“"Is it possible to carry the language without being bound?"”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
Frozen Fang
Is it possible to carry the language without being bound?
The silver thread trembles between Frozen Fang’s numb palm and the star-shard. His question separates its meanings, and the runes divide into two hovering lines of pale script.
the voice below
Yes. Carry the language, not the oath. Take its grammar into your arcane heritage, and the seal will no longer draw strength from your living body.
the wandering ranger
It can be done, but only if you accept the burden of remembering every vow. Knowledge will leave you free. Forgetting even one word may make the language seek a new vessel.
The silver thread unravels from Frozen Fang’s hand and winds into the air before him. Frost gathers into countless symbols, each clear enough to read without touching him.
the voice below
Take it now. The first word is division. The second is witness. The third is release. Together, they let you bear the binding tongue without becoming bound.
The symbols settle behind Frozen Fang’s eyes as a cold, intelligible pattern. The star-shard remains chained, the guardian remains imprisoned, and the seal no longer feeds upon his strength.
“I will try and understand the language and take it into me without forgetting so I am not bound.”
SUCCESS (Good Magic, rolled +0)
Frozen Fang steadies his numb hand beneath the hovering symbols and draws the pale script inward through his arcane heritage. The cold becomes precise, then silent.
Division settles first, separating the seal’s grammar from its demand. Witness follows, preserving every vow as an unbroken pattern rather than a chain around his will.
Release completes the language. The silver thread dissolves from his palm, and the runes close without taking strength from his living body.
the wandering ranger
Hold still. Do not speak until the last echo fades. If the words remain ordered, they belong to your understanding, not the oath.
The symbols pass behind Frozen Fang’s eyes and arrange themselves in three clear movements, each vow linked to its meaning and none linked to obedience.
the voice below
You carry the tongue now, unbound. The guardian’s prison remains, and Vael’s name remains sealed, but their language answers you.
the wandering ranger
Then the seal has a witness who is neither keeper nor prisoner. Remember what you learned, and it cannot claim you again.
“Knowing the oaths know, can I determine if the elf's was changed?”
SUCCESS (Good Magic, rolled -1)
Frozen Fang
Can I determine whether the elf’s oath was changed?
Frozen Fang lets the three movements of the binding tongue pass over the buried reflection. Division separates the oath’s original shape from later words, while Witness preserves each alteration.
The guardian’s cords of light rearrange into layered script. Beneath the old vow lies a newer strand, woven through it after the sealing rite and marked by a different hand.
The alteration did not change the elf’s command to imprison Vael Turog. It changed the burden: the guardian was made unable to leave while the star-shard remained sealed.
the voice below
You see it now. My oath was amended after the rite, not by Vael, but by those who feared the Crown’s return.
the wandering ranger
The amendment was inherited with the rest. My forebears added permanence, believing an endless guardian safer than a failing prison.
The final pattern settles clearly in Frozen Fang’s understanding: the elf’s original oath was changed, and the change bound the guardian to the star-shard beyond the rite’s first design.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the ranger's oath was altered
Skill Upgrade: Magic Good→Great