The god-forged library shudders in a low, stone-deep groan. Dust drifts from the vaulted ceiling as a spectral tether burns pale blue around an apprentice pinned hard against a towering shelf.
Tanor stands at the threshold, magic longsword in hand, spellbook at his side. Across the chamber, a rift hangs in the air like a wound, pulsing green with a failed summoning.
The Apprentice
Tanor, please. Strike the tether before the curse finishes cycling.
The apprentice’s hands blaze sickly green, their fingers trembling against the shelf. The rift answers with a heavier pulse, and another crack runs through the ceiling overhead.
Tanor
The tether is holding the apprentice in place, not the rift.
Chiseled tablets and chained tomes rattle on the shelves as the library’s wards flicker, dim, and flare again. The air tastes of ozone and old ash.
The Apprentice
Hurry. I can feel it pulling something through.
✓ Quest Accepted
Free the apprentice from the spectral tether
“I lunge forward and strike the glowing tether with my magic sword.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Melee Weapons, rolled +2)
Tanor lunges from the threshold, his sword cutting a bright arc through the library gloom. The blade bites into the spectral tether, and the pale coil splits with a sharp flare of blue light.
The apprentice jerks free as the binding loosens, their shoulders dropping from the shelf at last. The cursed glow tears away in ragged wisps, hissing into the air.
The Apprentice
It is gone. The tether is gone.
A final pulse snaps through the fading curse, then breaks apart. Dust swirls in the gap where the magic held, and the nearby shelves stop rattling for one trembling breath.
The Apprentice
Tanor, the rift is still open.
Above them, more stone grit trickles from the cracked ceiling as the green wound in the air throbs once, answering the freed apprentice with a hungry shimmer.
The Apprentice
I can move again... but something inside that rift is waking.
Quest Complete
Free the apprentice from the spectral tether