Randwulf steps into the chamber and the violet light bites up from the floor like witchfire. Dark runes crawl across the stones, and the shape of Helm Hammerhand hangs in the air, strained tight as if on chains no mortal hand can see.
Gamling
By the White Horse... Saruman has bound him beneath our feet.
The Lieutenant
This was never quarantine. It is a prison.
At the chamber’s center, the runic chains sink into a cracked iron ring set in the floor. One chain shudders, and the ghostly king jerks against it, his wrath boiling through the violet haze.
Helm Hammerhand
Who dares keep me from my rest?
The Lieutenant staggers back, but Gamling plants his feet beside Randwulf, staring at the ring as if he can already see the weak point in Saruman’s work.
Gamling
Break the ring, and the binding may fail. Leave it, and Helm remains caged here while Saruman holds the keep by sorcery.
✓ Quest Accepted
Break the ring binding Helm Hammerhand
“"Peace, your Majesty, we are here to save you!" He tries his sword against the ring.”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled -2)
Randwulf
Peace, your Majesty, we are here to save you.
Randwulf brings his sword down on the cracked iron ring. The blade rings through the chamber, and the seal splits with a sharp flash of violet.
The runic chains snap loose from the floor in a burst of dust. Helm Hammerhand surges upward, no longer straining against the bindings, though the shock jars the stones under Randwulf's boots.
Helm Hammerhand
At last.
A cold draft roars out from the cracked seam, scattering grit across the chamber. The floor gives a low groan, and Gamling snaps his head toward the trembling stones.
The Lieutenant
The seal is broken. By the gods, the foundation is waking up.
Dust pours from the arch above, and the violet glow gutters unevenly as the chamber starts to shiver around the freed ghost.
Quest Complete
Break the ring binding Helm Hammerhand