Sir Silas remains alone beside the peaceful dragon, his burned palm aching beneath its scorched glove. Cooling scales crack softly as ash slips into the valley.
A small ash-wyrm crawls from beneath a ridge of scales. The young, serpentine creature has charcoal hide, ember-bright eyes, and a narrow crown of cooling spines.
the ash-wyrm
Great one, forgive my approach. I bowed when the elder crossed beyond, though I could not follow.
The ash-wyrm lowers its head toward the empty space where the dragon’s spirit departed. A faint gold mark glows beneath its throat, shaped like a broken rune.
the ash-wyrm
He carried a name beneath his fire, forgotten by even his oldest memory. I heard its last fragment when his spirit opened the road.
the ash-wyrm
It is Vaeroth. Or Vaeroth's beginning. The ending is lost in the cinders, but the name still seeks the beyond.
the ash-wyrm
Death-priest, will you carry this fragment beyond the Ashlands and deliver it where the elder has gone? I cannot leave the dragon’s bones.
“I kneel down and gently pet the wrym saying, "You have given me a great honor, young one. I will gladly carry the fragment to the elder for you."”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Sir Silas kneels beside the ash-wyrm, lowering his great frame carefully among the cooling scales. His unburned hand reaches forward and gently strokes the creature’s charcoal hide.
Sir Silas Mori
You have given me a great honor, young one. I will gladly carry the fragment to the elder for you.
The ash-wyrm goes still beneath his touch, then lowers its crowned head until the broken rune rests against the ash.
the ash-wyrm
Then Vaeroth’s beginning will not vanish. You carry more than a name, death-priest. You carry the promise that he was remembered.
Gold light gathers beneath the wyrm’s throat and loosens into a tiny ember, warm but gentle. It settles against Silas’s palm without burning him.
the ash-wyrm
Keep it near your heart until the road beyond the Ashlands opens. When you speak the fragment, the elder may know the rest.
The ash-wyrm bows again and retreats beneath the dragon’s quiet scales. Around them, the valley exhales its last heat, and the ember waits faithfully in Silas’s hand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Deliver Vaeroth’s name to the elder
+ New Item Acquired
Vaeroth’s Name Ember
“I keep a firm yet gentle hold on the ember and begin my march out of the Ashlands”
SUCCESS (Great Health, rolled -1)
Sir Silas closes his fingers around the ember, firm enough to shield it and gentle enough to preserve its warmth. He rises and turns toward the Ashlands’ outer ridges.
His first steps disturb a veil of ash. The burned palm beneath his glove throbs sharply, and the ember’s heat settles into the injury like a second pulse.
the ash-wyrm
Go safely, death-priest. Carry Vaeroth’s beginning beyond these cinders, where the elder’s road may receive it.
Silas marches through the blackened valley without turning toward the buried depths. Behind him, the ash-wyrm remains beneath the dragon’s scales, guarding the quiet bones.
Wind rises across the plain, stripping soot from his cloak and driving it against his face. Each breath tastes of old fire, while the ember stays steady in his hand.
the ash-wyrm
The name will travel. The elder will not be forgotten.
By dusk, Sir Silas crosses the Ashlands’ boundary and reaches hard gray ground beyond the cinders. The ember remains safe against his palm, though the glove is scorched through.