The floor gives way, dropping Nogandar through a veil of ancient dust into a silent, vaulted chamber. The air here is cold and sterile, untouched by the rot of the mines above. At the room's center, a towering construct of brass and weathered stone hums to life, its internal clockwork grinding with the friction of centuries.
Ancient Sentinel
You are not of the architect's kin. Identify your purpose, intruder, or be erased.
Nogandar
This scrap heap smells of stagnation. It is as blind to the true threat of Eulstria as the cultists were.
Nogandar
I serve only the ruin of spiders. Move aside, relic, or I will dismantle you piece by rusted piece.
Ancient Sentinel
The intruder exhibits signs of chaotic corruption. He is a blight upon this sanctum. I must purge the anomaly to preserve the seal.
+ Scene Quest Added
Dismantle the Ancient Sentinel
“I cast magic missile at it”
SUCCESS (Great Arcana, rolled +0)
Nogandar
This construct's clockwork heart will stop beating before it can strike.
Nogandar
Your gears grind in vain, machine.
Nogandar thrusts a clawed hand forward, his palm erupting in shimmering, violet force. The arcing bolts of energy snap through the stale air, unerringly slamming into the Sentinel's central housing. The brass plating buckles inward with a screech of tortured metal, and the construct staggers back, its internal illumination flickering violently as the magical projectiles shatter its delicate core stabilizers.
Ancient Sentinel
My containment protocols. They are failing. This entity possesses power beyond the architect's designs.
Ancient Sentinel
Critical damage sustained. Structural integrity at... minimal threshold. Cease this aggression, or the foundation of this entire vault will collapse upon us both.
The Sentinel hunkers down, shielding its damaged chassis with heavy arms, while the very ceiling of the chamber begins to groan under the stress of the magical impact.
“I cast hold on the sentinel and flee”
SUCCESS (Great Arcana, rolled +2)
Nogandar raises his palm, weaving the ancient, jagged glyphs of binding into the air. A cage of shimmering violet light materializes around the Sentinel, its brass limbs snapping taut against an invisible, paralyzing pressure. The construct’s internal light flares a brilliant, dying white before dimming to a rhythmic, stuttering pulse.
Nogandar
Let the rubble claim this relic of a lost age. I have no time to finish what the ceiling will soon complete.
With a heavy, guttural grunt, Nogandar pivots on his stone-hewn heel. He lunges toward the narrow fissure in the wall, his powerful legs driving him forward just as the ceiling above the immobilized sentinel gives way with a sound like grinding mountains. Huge slabs of worked granite plummet into the center of the vault, dust and debris billowing out to choke the air behind him.
Quest Complete
Dismantle the Ancient Sentinel
Skill Upgrade: Arcana Great→Superb