The Swordsman jerks at Drakan’s grasp, not in resistance, but in release. His shoulders empty first, then his arms, and his body slumps like cut cord.
Dark mist spills from him and crawls over the stones, thickening into a stain that writhes where his knees were pinned.
The Messenger
No, no, that is not him, Drakan, it is the vow!
The shadows around the gate gather themselves, stretching upward into a shape with no true face, only hunger and broken promise.
Drakan Fyreblade
The light is failing fast.
Drakan’s sword glow gutters, then the courtyard lamps die one by one, leaving only the faint red pulse from his blade and the black mass coiling beside the stones.
The Messenger
Do not let it reach the hall!
✓ Quest Accepted
Repel the shadow at the gate
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the inner hall
“I thrust my flaming blade into the heart of the rising shadow.”
SUCCESS (Superb Melee Combat, rolled +0)
Drakan drives his flaming blade straight into the black knot at the gate. The shadow jolts, then splits around the sword as if the light has found its seam.
Heat washes the courtyard stones. The dark mist hisses and recoils, peeling back from the threshold in torn ribbons.
What remains of the vow shudders on the blade, thin as smoke caught in a draft, then thins further under the holy fire.
The Messenger
Yes, keep it there. Burn the shape of it out.
The gate stands visible again through the clearing dark, its stones no longer smothered. The inner hall is not yet open, but the thing that threatened it is breaking apart.
The Messenger stares past Drakan’s shoulder, breath ragged, as the last tendrils of shadow pull away from the sword and sink into the cracks between the stones.
Quest Complete
Repel the shadow at the gate