The Ash Wrapped Sentinel shoves past Derick Force, his tattered robes swirling like smoke. He stops at the center of the chamber, falling to his knees as his voice rises in a rhythmic, ancient chant.
The Ash-Wrapped Sentinel
The foundation demands a final weight. It hungers for the echo of a broken vow.
Garth
He is doing something forbidden. If that light touches the walls, this entire tomb will collapse on our heads.
Derick Force
The air feels too thin here, as if the chamber itself is exhaling a long, frozen breath.
Garth
Derick, keep your sword loose. Whatever he is waking up, it is not meant to be found by the living.
Joi presses her belly against the cold stone, her ears pinned flat as the blue light from the floor begins to climb the chamber walls, twisting into unnatural, reaching shapes.
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive the awakening of the tomb
“Call Joi and the hooded man to you as you back away from the sentinel, then take a defensive posture around them with garth”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Derick Force emits a sharp, piercing whistle that vibrates against the cracking stone walls. Joi springs to his side immediately, her eyes darting toward the encroaching blue radiance.
Derick Force
Enough. Get back, all of you.
The Ash-Wrapped Sentinel
You do not understand the architecture of this ruin. To move is to invite the collapse.
Derick Force
The floor tiles beneath his knees are glowing white hot, but the fissure above is widening faster than his chant can contain.
Garth
He is wrong, Derick. The ceiling is already giving way. We hold the perimeter.
With iron resolve, Derick Force hauls the Sentinel from his kneeling position by the shoulder. He pivots, positioning himself and Garth in a solid bulwark that shields Joi and the disoriented captive as the chamber floor trembles violently.
“Try to convince the sentinel, "im sorry, ashen one, this chamber is a lost cause, its crumbling faster than you can mend it this time! We have to move! "”
FAILURE (Good Persuasion, rolled -2)
Derick Force
I am sorry, ashen one, this chamber is a lost cause, it is crumbling faster than you can mend it this time! We have to move!
The Ash-Wrapped Sentinel
Silence. Your ignorance of the Spire's heartbeat is profound. To leave is to shatter the seal entirely.
The Ash-Wrapped Sentinel
He tries to bargain with the inevitable. He does not see that the stone requires a life, not a retreat.
The Sentinel refuses to budge, his hands pressing harder into the glowing masonry. A jagged crack splits the pedestal, and the blue light flares with a violent, blinding intensity.
Garth
Derick, look! The structural integrity is failing because he is anchoring it! We cannot persuade him, we have to force the issue or we are buried here.
A massive slab of ceiling stone detaches above the Sentinel, plummeting downward with a deafening groan.
+ Scene Quest Added
Escape the collapsing chamber
− Scene Quest Removed
Survive the awakening of the tomb
“Try to convince the sentinel, "im sorry, ashen one, this chamber is a lost cause, its crumbling faster than you can mend it this time! We have to move! "”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +1)
Derick Force
I am sorry, Ashen One. This chamber is a lost cause. It is crumbling faster than you can mend it this time! We have to move!
Derick Force
The foundation under my boots feels like liquid sand.
The Ash-Wrapped Sentinel
The weight of the ages holds no mercy for the living. You speak truth, swordsman. The stone heart refuses to beat again.
The Sentinel lets the blue light fade from their fingertips, the ritual collapsing into gray ash.
Garth
Derick, the archway is bowing! We have seconds before the ceiling becomes our tomb!
Garth
Get the Sentinel and Joi to the fissure. I will hold the shifting slab back for as long as I can.
“Usher Joi, the hooded man, and the sentinel through the archway, then help Garth drop the stone slab and get through the archway together”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +2)
Derick Force lunges toward the struggling group, his boots finding purchase on the shifting stone floor as he shoulders past the Sentinel.
Derick Force
Joi, with me! Now!
Joi darts between his legs, her tail tucked, as Derick Force shoves the Sentinel toward the jagged fissure, his grip firm and unrelenting.
Garth
Go! I will drop this weight and follow the moment you clear the archway!
With a roar of effort, Derick Force assists Garth in shifting his angle, pulling his rival back as the massive stone slab crashes down, sealing the collapsing chamber behind them.
Derick Force
The exit is clear, but the spire will not settle for long.
Quest Complete
Escape the collapsing chamber
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Good→Great