The floor gives way, a violent tilt of stone that pitches Nogandar into darkness. Gravity reclaims him, slamming his massive frame into a chamber of claustrophobic dampness.
Nogandar
The Gatekeeper thinks a slab of stone can contain a lord of the old world. A pathetic, narrow-minded cage.
The air is heavy with the stench of decay and ancient, rotted silk. Nogandar stands, his talons clicking against a floor littered with the desiccated, hollow husks of those who failed to pass.
Nogandar
Eulstria... she collects failures like trophies. I am no trophy. I am the ruin of her entire lineage.
He turns to the blockage. A slab of solid, ink-black obsidian seals the way he came. It is impenetrable to physical force alone.
Nogandar
The pendant grows hot against my chest, suppressing my reach into the weave. I must find another way out of this tomb, or tear my way through the very foundations of this hive.
+ Scene Quest Added
Escape the side-chamber
“I cast read dead and history”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +0)
Nogandar
The air here reeks of old magic, a stale signature of those who died screaming for this queen. Let us see what secrets their bones still whisper.
Nogandar kneels, his massive hand sweeping over the brittle, dry husks scattered across the stone.
Nogandar
Speak then. Tell me of the architect who built this prison, and the path that leads through the dark.
Violent, flickering visions flood his mind. He sees a high priestess weaving obsidian shards into the bedrock, anchoring the hive's structure to a focal point behind the southern wall.
Nogandar
They built this place to feed on the resonance of the earth itself. The wall is not solid, it is a living web of stone held by a single necrotic conduit.
Nogandar
Pooril's pendant pulses with a sickening heat, trying to dull my clarity. If I strike the conduit with everything I have, the chamber will collapse, but the path will open. Is it worth the risk of being buried alive?
+ Scene Quest Added
Destroy the necrotic conduit
− Scene Quest Removed
Escape the side-chamber
“I reverse the conduit with arcana”
FAILURE (Legendary Arcana, rolled -3)
Nogandar
The conduit. If I can invert the flow of necrotic energy, the structure will eat itself from within.
Nogandar
By the ancient laws, I command this current to reverse.
Nogandar thrusts his talons into the pulsating violet veins. He pours his will into the stone.
The pendant of Pooril flares with a sickly, restrictive light. It shudders against his throat, choking the flow of his intent.
Instead of turning, the magic surges back. A blast of necrotic force erupts from the wall, slamming into the gargoyle's chest.
Nogandar
The pendant... it binds my reach, but this surge is feeding on the restraint itself. If I do not break the feedback loop, this wall will turn into my tomb.
“I fire breath it”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +1)
Nogandar
The feedback is growing too sharp. If the pendant will not let me unravel the weave, I will sear it away entirely.
Nogandar
Burn, then. Let the fire of the ancient lords consume this blight.
Nogandar lunges forward, his maw agape as he unleashes a torrent of white hot dragon fire directly into the necrotic conduit.
The violet veins scream, a sound like tearing metal, as the flames clash with the dark, jagged arcana of the conduit.
The obsidian stone glows molten red before shattering outward, turning the conduit into a spray of glowing, burning shrapnel.
Nogandar
The wall is yielding, but the shockwave is violent. I must anchor myself before the ceiling comes down upon me.
Quest Complete
Destroy the necrotic conduit
New Gift: Necrotic Energy Absorption