Zhurrem plunges through the mist, bronze wings knifing the cold. Below, the marsh flashes by in broken ice and steam, and Kamakulzar's bone-mark burns like a brand pulled taut by invisible hands.
The pull is coming from beneath them.
The Hooded Figure
There. Keep the flight low.
The Second Cloaked Figure
No, higher. Make the mark strain.
The Third Cloaked Figure
Good, the tether is holding. Drag him over the lattice.
The words carry up through the wind as the trio on the marsh rim work their magic in unison. Kamakulzar feels the answer in his hand, the pulse in his mark matching the rhythm of the buried thing below, as if the marsh itself is trying to claim him.
Zhurrem
They are binding you to it. Hold fast.
Zhurrem banks hard and dives again, trying to break the line. The tether does not snap, it tightens, and the steaming pit below throbs with a deeper, uglier wake.
✓ Quest Accepted
Sever the tether to the necrotic lattice
“I cast remove curse”
SUCCESS (Great Arcana, rolled +0)
Kamakulzar
Kamakulzar plants his frostbitten hand against the air beside the mark and speaks the remove curse under his breath.
The bone-glow on his hand flares white, then snaps inward like a cord cut in the dark.
The tether to the necrotic lattice breaks at once. The pull on his body vanishes, and Zhurrem’s dive jolts free of the hidden drag.
Far below, the trio’s ritual staggers. Their linked gestures break apart as the marsh rim spits frost and steam.
The Hooded Figure
No, hold it together!
The Second Cloaked Figure
He cut the line. Recast, now!
The Third Cloaked Figure
Too late, the mark is loose!
The cost lands hot and sudden, Kamakulzar’s palm smoking harder as the backlash bites through his arm, but the open grip is his again.
Quest Complete
Sever the tether to the necrotic lattice