Kingnasir hauls his body through the cramped metal duct, the iron groaning under his weight. He drops into the damp, cold shadows of the monastery catacombs. The air smells of wet earth and ancient decay.
Kingnasir
Finally, out of that death trap.
A hooded figure turns from a stone sarcophagus, holding a flickering candle. The flame illuminates deep, carved runes on the walls.
Elder Hestia
You are far from the scriptorium, boy. The echoes of your clumsiness preceded you through the vents.
Kingnasir
I am just trying to survive. Who are you to be lurking in the dark?
Elder Hestia
I am the keeper of the silence. And you have brought enough noise to wake the foundation of this mountain.
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive the monastery catacombs
“Man you dont know what I had been trough I escaped from some guards that knocked me out and kept me there”
FAILURE (Poor Persuasion, rolled -1)
Kingnasir
You do not understand. I was imprisoned by guards, beaten, and left to rot until I tore my way out. I am only here because I had no choice.
Elder Hestia
This boy reeks of desperation and lies. He speaks of guards, but I hear only the frantic pulse of a thief caught in a web of his own spinning.
The Elder steps forward, her face hardening. She raises a hand, and the heavy stone slab blocking the exit grinds shut with a final, booming thud. The torchlight dims, casting long, claustrophobic shadows against the damp walls.
Elder Hestia
The guards do not patrol these depths, child. You speak riddles to a woman who has memorized the heartbeat of this mountain. If you are not a thief, then you are a harbinger of the chaos that follows your kind. Tell the truth, or you shall become another layer of dust upon this floor.
Kingnasir
She is not buying it. I am trapped in this tomb with a woman who can seal stone with a gesture. Do I draw my blade, or do I try to talk my way out of this deepening hole?
“Im not lying im so bad im pathetic im a nobody i escaped there because a guy name brand helped me if not I would had been dead”
FAILURE (Poor Persuasion, rolled +2)
Kingnasir
I am not lying. I am pathetic, a nobody, barely surviving. A man named Brand helped me escape the scriptorium. If he hadn't, I would be dead already.
Elder Hestia
More tales. The boy stammers like a cornered rat, yet his eyes hold the flickers of a draconic spark. He is either a fool or a clever actor. I have no patience for either.
The Elder’s expression darkens at the mention of the name. She steps closer, the air around her fingers crackling with faint, static energy. She ignores the plea entirely, her patience having completely evaporated.
Elder Hestia
Brand? You dare speak that name in this sanctuary? You are not a victim of circumstance, child. You are an accomplice to a shadow.
Kingnasir
My hands are shaking. The mention of Brand backfired, and now the air feels heavy, pressing against my lungs like a physical weight. My knife feels useless against someone who treats magic like a cudgel.
“Old woman what can I do for you able to belive me”
FAILURE (Poor Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kingnasir
Elder Hestia, please. I am just a traveler caught in the middle of a nightmare. There must be a way for me to earn your trust, or at least your mercy. What can I do to prove I am no shadow?
Elder Hestia
The audacity of this whelp. He asks for mercy while the stench of the abyss clings to his very soul. Every word he utters is a rhythmic beat in a song of deceit.
The Elder does not respond with words. Instead, her hand snaps forward. The air between them shudders, and the static around her fingers erupts into a violent arc of blue lightning that lashes out like a whip. It strikes the stone floor inches from Kingnasir's boots, the raw discharge shattering the masonry into a spray of jagged, lethal shrapnel.
Kingnasir
The heat of the discharge singes my clothes. There is no negotiating with a storm. She intends to break me, not hear me. I have to move, or the next bolt finds my chest.
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive Elder Hestia's assault
“Oh shit goes on alert”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled -1)
Kingnasir
Instinct screams louder than reason.
The moment the air turns ozone-heavy, I pivot. My weight shifts onto the balls of my feet, and I throw myself into a desperate roll toward the shadow of a monolithic pillar. The stone shatters, and a jagged sliver of masonry bites into my shoulder, but the searing flash of the discharge misses my vitals. I come up on one knee, my blade drawn, breath ragged in the cold, dusty air of the tomb.
Elder Hestia
Your agility is as hollow as your excuses, boy. The silence here demands an end to your intrusion.
The Elder steps over the smoking ruin of the floor, her fingers dancing with renewed arcs of hungry, blue electricity. She does not give him room to stand. She flickers forward, a blur of grey robes and glowing palms, intent on pinning him against the cold, unyielding stone of the catacomb walls.
Kingnasir
I cannot outrun the storm, but I might be able to parry the eye of it.
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive the Elder's assault
“Storm Powers now who the hell are you”
FAILURE (Poor Melee Combat, rolled +1)
Kingnasir
I try to drive my blade upward to deflect the crackling palms, but my wrist trembles, and my steel clatters uselessly against her iron-hard resolve.
Kingnasir
My muscles are weak, my form is amateurish, and she is far faster than she has any right to be.
Elder Hestia
You bring steel to a sanctuary of the soul, yet you lack the spirit to wield it. Pathetic.
The elder doesn't even recoil from the failed strike. She merely shifts her stance, her hand catching the air around my hilt with a sudden, localized surge of force. The impact throws me backward. My back slams against the cold, unyielding masonry of the catacomb wall. I slide down, the wind knocked out of me, while the blue static clinging to her fingers flares brighter, casting long, dancing shadows of the pillars against the ceiling. She looms over me now, her eyes cold as winter frost, and I am trapped between the unyielding stone and the storm she commands.
“Is this elder woman really powerfull”
NO (VeryLikely, rolled 93)
The flickering blue static surrounding the elder begins to sputter and fade, revealing that her display of force is merely a fragile illusion rather than true mastery. Her posture falters as the magical energy dissipates, exposing the limits of her actual strength.
“Will she kill me”
YES (Unlikely, rolled 30)
As the static fades, Kingnasir notices Elder Hestia’s hand trembling as she reaches for a concealed, jagged ritual dagger hidden within her robes.
Kingnasir
She is not stopping; she intends to finish this with cold steel now that her magic has failed her.
Elder Hestia
Your silence will be permanent, boy.
“Okay time to strike take this rahh launches a her trying to do some magic”
Missed — Elder Hestia struck back for 3 damage
Kingnasir lunges forward, his movements sluggish and desperate as he tries to weave a final, weak incantation to fend off the elder.
Kingnasir
I am not your enemy!
His spell fizzles into harmless smoke, leaving him wide open. Elder Hestia exhales a ragged, pained breath, her trembling hand gripping the ritual blade as she steps inside his guard.
Elder Hestia
And yet, you are the one who will bleed.
With a practiced, vicious motion, she drives the pommel of her dagger into his temple. The impact rings through the stone chamber, and the world dissolves into a haze of grey.
Kingnasir
Everything is going cold.
Quest Complete
Survive the monastery catacombs
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Poor→Mediocre