The inner wards flare as horned demons crash through both courtyard entrances, black frost spreading beneath their feet. Witnesses retreat toward the hall’s sealed archive.
Valia Wulfharth
The tome remains sealed. Move the records inward, but do not break the ward around them.
King Theodan Valiks
Clerk, take the Grathan rider behind the oldest royal protections. Guards, form a living barrier and preserve every witness.
The royal clerk and House Grathan rider hurry beneath the stone archway, carrying the ledger between them. Theodan follows, directing guards into the archive’s ancient ward-line.
Tilla Valren
They will not pass this way. Keep the demons from the archive, and I will hold this passage as long as steel allows.
Tilla plants herself in the narrowing eastern passage, blade raised as frost-veiled servants advance. Hildra remains gone beyond the breach, summoned into the storm by her family’s demons.
the horned demon leader
Ignore the storm-bearer. Break the witnesses first. Let every royal record vanish before House Wulfharth’s judgment.
“Moving to Tilla's side I let storms coat my blade once more. Ready to face down all demons that assail us.”
SUCCESS (Good Magic, rolled +0)
Beareth crosses the frost-slick stones to Tilla’s side, placing himself at the passage mouth between the advancing demons and the archive wards.
Stormlight pours from the black clouds into his blade, coating its edge in white-blue arcs. The discharge cracks across the stones, and his injured sword arm jolts painfully.
Beareth Wulfharth
The wards remain behind us, and the demons are within striking distance.
Tilla Valren
Good. Hold beside me, Beareth. We give them no path to the archive.
Two frost-veiled servants rush the passage, their shadows twisting against the walls. Tilla meets the first while Beareth’s storm-lit blade drives the second back from the ward-line.
the horned demon leader
The storm-bearer joins the shield. Break them together, and the records will burn with the witnesses.
The demons press closer, but Beareth and Tilla now stand shoulder to shoulder before the archive. Lightning crawls over his blade as the ancient wards flare behind them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Force the horned demons away from the archive
“Using my Storm magic I summon a snow cloud into the face of the demon, following with a stab towards his heart”
FAILURE (Good Magic, rolled -1)
“Using my Storm magic I summon a snow cloud into the face of the demon, following with a stab towards his heart”
FAILURE (Good Magic, rolled -1)
Beareth twists his blade toward the storm, drawing a dense snow cloud down into the passage. It bursts across the demon leader’s face, blinding him in a white roar.
He drives forward through the swirling veil, aiming a storm-lit thrust toward the creature’s heart. The demon turns at the last instant, and the blade slips past its chest.
the horned demon leader
Your storm blinds the eye, but not the shadow beneath it.
The demon’s twisted counter catches Beareth’s guard and knocks his sword wide. Its opened stance exposes a dark sigil beneath the frost-plated ribs, briefly visible through the fading snow.
Beareth Wulfharth
The sigil is the source of its warded protection.
Tilla Valren
There, Beareth! The mark beneath its guard is sustaining the shadow. Strike that, not the heart.
The snow cloud collapses around the demon, but its blindness has forced it back from the archive threshold. Tilla holds the passage while the exposed sigil flickers within reach.
“Using my Storm magic I summon a snow cloud into the face of the demon, following with a stab towards his heart”
SUCCESS (Good Magic, rolled +0)
Beareth twists with the demon’s deflection, letting the storm carry his blade beneath its raised guard. The point drives into the exposed sigil.
White lightning erupts through the mark. The demon’s shadow armor fractures, and the creature is hurled backward across the frost-slick stones, away from the archive threshold.
the horned demon leader
You pierce the seal, but the storm has marked you in return.
The sigil collapses into black sparks, but its dying ward lashes through Beareth’s injured arm. His fingers spasm around the hilt, and blood darkens his sleeve where the old wound opens.
Tilla Valren
The mark is broken! Keep your grip, Beareth. I will drive the servants back.
Tilla surges into the breach, forcing the frost-veiled servants away as the archive wards thunder behind them. The demon leader rises unsteadily, its protection gone and its shadow leaking into the snow.
the horned demon leader
The records may endure this night, but House Wulfharth’s judgment has only begun.
Defeat the horned demon leader
Quest Complete
Force the horned demons away from the archive
Skill Upgrade: Magic Good→Great