The air tastes of burnt ozone and cold ash. Shady stands upon a bridge of obsidian that stretches into an infinite, suffocating grey mist. Before him, a monolithic figure sits upon a throne of jagged, calcified bone. The Gate keeper of the dead leans forward, eyes burning like dying embers in the gloom.
Gate keeper of the dead
Your ledger is heavy, half-elf. It reeks of stolen breaths and broken oaths.
Shady
This isn't a court. It is a slaughterhouse for souls. I have spent my life avoiding the hangman, but I cannot outrun an eternity of chains.
Gate keeper of the dead
Do you deny the blood on your hands, or do you merely hope for a mercy that died with your victims?
The Gate keeper raises a skeletal hand, and the bridge begins to crumble into the abyss beneath Shady’s boots. The ground shudders, stone segments plummeting into the void.
Shady
If I am to be damned, I will not walk into the fire quietly.
The Gate keeper points a singular, sharpened claw toward the swirling vortex behind the throne.
Gate keeper of the dead
Choose, thief. Step into the shadow of your own making, or be cast into the pit by my decree.
+ Scene Quest Added
Escape the Gate keeper's judgment
“Several demons grab me and drag me into hells flames as I resist to no avail. The flames are agonizing hot but do not actually burn me or my possessions. Every lash cut and pierce from their weapon cause pain but I heal and my possessions repair immediately.”
SUCCESS (Great Health, rolled +2)
Shady lunges, not toward the portal, but toward the Gate keeper, his dagger flashing. Before he can strike, massive, soot-stained claws erupt from the obsidian floor. The demons swarm, dragging Shady into the roaring inferno below.
Gate keeper of the dead
The cycle begins, little thief.
Shady
This flame is a mockery. It sears my nerves and tears at my skin, yet my flesh knits together as fast as the lash bites. I am not burning, I am being refined into something that can never truly die.
The heat is a physical weight, pulsing with the rhythm of his own heartbeat. Each time a demon’s hooked blade carves a jagged wound into his chest, the edges glow with white light, sealing the injury instantly. His clothes stitch themselves together, the fabric rippling back into perfect condition. He is a puppet of pain in a theater of eternal recovery.
Shady
If they want me to suffer forever, they have made a grave mistake. They are teaching me exactly how to survive the fire.
The demons pull harder, their glowing eyes fixed on his defiance.
Quest Complete
Escape the Gate keeper's judgment
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive the infernal refinement