The cathedral shudders as Nogandar shatters the final pillars, the ceiling falling in a cascade of ancient masonry. He pivots, ignoring the Archive Keeper’s shrill protest, and heaves his massive frame through a narrow ventilation shaft that opens into the cold, jagged slopes of the Gloom-Pass. The air here bites with the scent of ozone and wet pine.
Nogandar
This place reeks of her filth. The spider queen Eulstria spreads her influence even into the mountain veins. I will not stop until the last web is burned away.
Archive Keeper
You fool! You destroy history to feed your own petty vendetta, yet you know nothing of the true balance!
Nogandar
Balance is a lie told by the weak to explain their submission to monsters. I serve only Lord Pooril, and he demands the extinction of your mistress.
Nogandar turns his back on the Keeper and leaps into the mist, vanishing into the darkness of the high cliffs where the ruins of a forgotten watchtower stand, silhouetted against a bruised, violet moon.
+ Story Quest Added
Burn away the spider queen's influence
“I continue fleeing”
SUCCESS (Great Stealth, rolled +2)
Nogandar
The fog is my ally now. With my heavy steps muffled by the damp mountain moss, the Archive Keeper will be chasing nothing but shadows.
Archive Keeper
Come back, creature of stone! You have stolen scrolls that do not belong to you, and you will answer for this desecration!
Nogandar
The Keeper's voice grows faint. They are still searching the rubble, blinded by their own sense of duty.
Nogandar moves with surprising grace for his size, his tattered wings folding tight against his muscular back as he slips behind a jagged crag.
Nogandar
This watchtower ahead is a perfect vantage point. If Eulstria has scouts in these passes, I will see their silk-woven traps from the heights.
Suddenly, a faint skittering noise echoes from the path ahead. A cluster of glowing, multi-faceted eyes snaps open in the darkness, blocking the only way up to the tower.
+ Scene Quest Added
Get past the spider brood
“I quitely cast an old world fire trap where their paths lead”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -3)
Nogandar
They think they can corner me with mere beasts. These spiders serve a false queen, and they will burn just like the cathedral.
Nogandar crouches low, his fingers carving intricate, glowing sigils into the frost-slicked rock of the mountain path.
Nogandar
Come closer, little scouts. Taste the fire of the ancient world.
The gargoyle pulls back into the shadows, his presence vanishing as he merges with the uneven stone of the cliffside.
Spider Scout
Movement detected. The stone vibrates with latent heat. We must swarm and secure the perimeter before the master arrives.
The ground erupts in a sudden, violent bloom of azure flame as the arachnids step onto the hidden trap, their shrill cries swallowed by the roar of magical fire.
Quest Complete
Get past the spider brood