The mage's tower trembles around its central scrying basin. Blue fire circles the water, while bloodstained parchment hangs above it in the hands of The Marked Hero.
Burning script crawls across the parchment, one line at a time. Beneath the stone floor, something ancient answers with a deep, grinding crack.
Sereth
The seal is breaking with every verse. I cannot stop reading, or the final warning will be lost.
A jagged crimson fracture races through the mosaic beneath the basin. Ash lifts from the floor and hangs in the air like dark snow.
Sereth
Magna, act now. Bind the seal, break the basin, anything. The next line is already forming.
The parchment flares. A new verse begins to burn across its surface, and a pulse from below throws cold light over Magna's blood-red markings.
From beneath the tower comes a second crack, louder than the first. The basin's water rises into a dark, twisting shape as the next words ignite.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prevent the seal from breaking
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn the final warning
Director's note
I seize the basin's rim and try to shatter it.
Magna’s hands clamp around the basin’s rim. His shattering force jolts through the black stone, but the vessel answers with a burst of crimson light. Hairline fractures race beneath his fingers as the rising darkness coils inward.
Sereth
The warning is changing. Hold it, Magna, hold it!
Director's note
I channel blood magic into the basin's cracks, attempting to bring the blood to the stone as a glue of sorts to hold it together
Blood-red radiance threads from Magna’s palms into the basin’s fractures. The black stone drinks it, then draws the cracks tight as the dark water shudders and settles. The burning script steadies long enough for the final lines to emerge.
Sereth
There. The warning holds. I can read it.
Quest Complete
Prevent the seal from breaking