The broken breach remains behind Bottu, a wound of storm-red radiance between realities. Tiamat guides him from the shattered seal into the Maw’s vast outer halls, her colossal body bending the air like a rising tempest.
Through the Crown, distant wards gutter across the world. Histol’s protective runes fade, mountain seals lose their glow, and scattered dragons answer Tiamat’s decree, gathering beyond the sanctuary beneath awakened skies.
Tiamat
The first refuge must have a boundary, bearer. Mark it, and the Maw will teach the world where dragonkind’s sovereign ground begins.
Ahead, enormous halls unfold between rib-like columns, their floors carved with ancient borders and oath-glyphs. Beyond them, unseen wings beat through the mountain’s deepening resonance.
Tiamat
Choose carefully. Every stone you claim draws strength from mortal protections, and those protections are already failing beneath my return.
The Crown pulls at Bottu’s wounded body as the Maw’s ancient magic streams outward. His side tightens under the strain, while pale boundary lines awaken across the hall floor.
Tiamat waits beside the first unmarked archway, five heads watching in silence. Beyond it lies open stone, ancient power, and the choice of where the returned age will begin.
“It’s only fitting we mark the start of our territory here! But Tiamat, we must be prepared. Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Giants. They once all you united to seal you away. Their kingdoms will unite once more and try to repeat it once they realize what has happened.””
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
Bottu
It is only fitting that we mark the start of our territory here. But we must be prepared, Tiamat. Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and Giants once united to seal you away. Their kingdoms will unite again when they learn what has happened.
Tiamat
You remember the old coalition well, bearer. Yes, they will gather again, and they will call their fear wisdom.
Tiamat lowers her central head beside the unmarked archway. Her breath rolls across the floor, and the ancient border-glyphs ignite beneath its shadow.
Tiamat
Then let this arch be the first boundary of our sovereign ground. Let every kingdom understand that the age of sealing dragons has ended.
Red light races through the carved borders, sealing the first territory into the Maw’s foundations. The mark is made, but the old histories leave Bottu uncertain which kingdoms still possess the strength to answer.
Tiamat
Your warning has merit. We will prepare for their union, but first you must learn who still commands those failing wards. Knowledge bought with haste is often knowledge missing its sharpest edge.
The boundary settles into dark stone, unmistakable and permanent. Beyond it, the Maw’s halls open toward deeper chambers where mortal protections, surviving kingdoms, and the shape of their coming response await discovery.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn which kingdoms still command the failing wards
“That can be arranged. The grand library of Histol could be of use, they’d carry that history surely.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Lore, rolled +0)
Bottu
That can be arranged. The grand library of Histol could be of use. They would carry that history surely.
Tiamat
Then seek its records, bearer. The old coalition’s history may reveal who still commands the failing wards.
The Crown answers Bottu’s purpose. Red light threads through the boundary-glyphs, and an archway opens onto Histol’s grand library, its towering shelves preserved beyond the failing wards.
Through the open arch, dustless aisles stretch beneath a vaulted ceiling. Sealed histories bear the crests of humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, and giants who once united against Tiamat.
Tiamat
The library has received you. Read what remains, and learn which powers inherited the coalition’s purpose after my imprisonment.
The arch stabilizes, granting Bottu immediate passage into the grand library. Its oldest catalog opens before him, identifying the surviving treaties, wardens, and royal archives tied to the coalition.
Behind him, the Maw’s boundary remains marked in dark stone. Ahead, Histol’s preserved history lies open and ready for Bottu’s study.