[IC] Adventure Awaits! - Prompt Voting CYOA (Always Open)

~ Table of Contents ~

Dice Roller Page
Prologue ~ A View From the Top of the World
Chapter I ~ The Bearer of Bad News

[Light]

~ Prologue ~

---

Our story begins with the night sky, an infinite dome of deep midnight blue, decorated by the glistening motes of the heavens. From zenith to horizon, this celestial shell remained unobstructed as you crest one of the peaks of the Therakin Mountain range. The darkness above your head contrasted the ethereal silver below your feet, the snow around you illuminated by the captivating moonlight. To your sides, the cliffs of this peak dropped steeply, granting you an unobstructed view of the countryside both to the east and west. On your right, the mountains receded quickly as your gaze flew further east, and to the still somewhat unexplored forests that sat snug against this earthly spine you walked atop. There, the border leading to the Kingdom of Geland and its many provinces was drawn where tree met stone. On your left, the mountains of Therakin sloped more gently west, dotting the Daldon Empire with several more peaks as far as the eye could see.

"Th'wind's quite calm tonight, ain't it?" The only other living thing nearby spoke to you as he tossed a glance over his left shoulder. What looked back at you with beady almond-colored eyes was the stout and stocky mug of a mountain dwarf. His head was helmeted by a massive wool cap, rivaled only by the magnitude of his salt-and-pepper beard which cascaded from his lips and jaw just beyond his belt. Adding to his width was a heavy fur coat wrapped tightly over his shoulders and around his stomach. You had only met this man half a day ago, but you knew him as Umildraen Nogrid, a hermit and guide-of-sorts for those daring or foolish enough to embark on this pilgrimage. "Count yer'self lucky," Umildraen wagged a finger before facing forward and continuing to trudge through the snow. "I gave a mighty fine prayer to Ersu for a safe hike after our dinner- a bit rushed but I'm supposin' some of th'gods ain't that picky," he mused himself with a low chuckle. As he continued, the path he led you on steepened further, and you found yourself cresting yet another spike of frozen stone along the uneven spires here at the top of the world.

From this miniature peak, your intended destination finally came into view. The summit of Therakin itself rose from between the next set of ridges, with only one more pass between you and the temple that jutted from the side of the cliffs near the very top. With only its entry structure visible from the outside, you presumed that the remainder- and what you sought within- were carved, chiseled, and constructed directly into the mountain itself.

"Still don't get it, why yer' in such a rush to see th'Temple of Zorkuth," your guide very visibly shrugged as he pulled himself up to the top of this penultimate peak. "I've led many a traveler to this very peak- you know. Th'temple's a sight for sure, but ya've seen th'walk to get up here, even from me cozy little shack half-way up." Umildraen scratched his beard with a thickly gloved hand and turned to face you. "Somethin' tells me you ain't just a tourist. Nobody would come up here at this time o'night just to take a gander and walk back down. What's in there that's gotcha in a hurry?"

---

• "Reports of a missing person led me here."

• "There's a great evil residing in that temple."

• "I've heard of the vast treasures that lie within."

• "An ancient relic of great power rests there."

[Light]

> "Reports of a missing person led me here." <

---

With the inquisitive gaze of Umildraen upon you, your hand reached up to lower your scarf from around your face and give room to speak. "Not too long ago, a woman by the name of Aika Lenonne made her way up these mountains in search of this temple. She never came back down, and so here I am- to find her," you trailed off as you looked off to the temple across the peaks. The grim thought crossed your mind that in a place as cold, dark, and dangerous as this, someone unprepared, lost or injured would have a very short time remaining. Your view snapped back to your guide, a questioning leer of your own fired back at him. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about her, would you?"

The dwarf by your side flustered a bit under your scrutiny and shook his head side to side. "Can't say I do, yer th'first one to hire me services fer some while. There are other hikers among th'peaks that take travelers too- or worse- she tried gettin' up here herself," he shrugged and looked out to the temple himself. "She could be anywhere up here, y'know. What makes ye think she's in there?"

"The client- her teacher, master? He had tasked her to explore the temple. He wouldn't tell me why, but it was clear this was her intended destination."

"Well he sounds almost as daft as she does. Least he ain't tryna kill her, or there'd be no sense in sendin' ye up here."

A nod was all you felt needed as your eye scanned the pass between you and the temple, planning the final leg of the route in your head. You seemed to get lost in thought for a minute, as a nudge from your guide returned you to focus. "Seems strange to me though, don'cha think? One girl disappears up a mountain, so he only sends one more person to find her?" It dawned on you that he might be right, and that something isn't adding up here. Either way, there would be little point in turning back now. "I'm confident that I can find her," you reassured both Umildraen and yourself. The response you earned was a rather hearty "Har har! That's th'spirit," and an even heartier slap on your back. He retracted his arm into the other and folded them over his chest, pinning his beard down to it. "Unfortunately for ye, this is as far as I go. Th'path ahead speaks for itself. But unless this Aika could fend fer herself, she could be layin' face-down in some red snow in that there pass," he released his hand and aimed a fat index finger down between the two ridges in the distance, a small crevasse splitting them would be the most direct route to the temple.

"Aye, best o' luck to ye," the dwarf excused himself, turning about face and trudging back the way you came. With no one left to kill time for you, you pulled your scarf back over your mouth, and carefully made down the steep incline before you.

Even here at the top of the world, the remaining peaks towered as mountains in their own right. The base of the ridges you found yourself between was cast under an umbral curtain, shielded from the silvery gaze of the moon by the sheer cliffs that rose to your left and right. From here, the Temple of Zorkuth was no longer in view, but you were certain you were headed toward it still. With the tall stretches of rock on either side, the bitter cold wind here died down significantly, along with the accumulation of snow, revealing the remains of an old stone-worked path of large bricks. This ancient semblance of a road crept along the pass, carrying you closer and closer to the other side. Still, no sight of your missing person could be made. Any snowfall even as recent as this morning would have covered tracks before this pass in minutes, and here there was almost no snow in which to leave footprints. It wouldn't be until halfway through the pass that you encountered anything of merit.

Of course, the one thing you hoped not to cross was the exact thing blocking your way. Taking up a rather greedy amount of space between the cliffs was a hulking beast of a creature, clad ivory in thick fur and hunched over the carcass of something unrecognizable, though thankfully too large itself to be a person. This two-legged, two-armed thing was no part humanoid, as a fully monstrous maw accented small predatory eyes, all of which crowned by two massive horns which curled in erratic directions. It tore into its prey with vicious claws, bringing the color red into this otherwise black-and-white landscape as it knelt down and sunk its teeth into the meal to rip away something to chew on. It was at that moment, as it lifted its head from the food it crouched over, that its eyes locked with yours.

There was no ambiguity in what would happen next. You reached for your...

---

• Sword and shield.
[Archetype - Warrior]

• Bow and arrow.
[Archetype - Rogue]

• Mace.
[Archetype - Priest]

• Staff.
[Archetype - Mage]

[Light]

> Bow and arrow. <
[Archetype - Rogue]

---

One of your hands snapped to your bow, pointing it at the mountain troll as your other hand lifted an arrow from your quiver and nocked it in place. You always came prepared with plenty of ammunition, but the thick fur and hide of this thing meant you'd have to aim your shots well if you wanted to make it through alive. With a careful poise, you kept your weapon between you and your potential foe, waiting for the perfect moment. The troll however, was far less patient. A low and gravelly mixture of a roar and screech tested your resolve as the monster picked itself up from its dinner. With the howl of the wind far behind at the entrance of this pass, the battle cry of the beast was unfiltered in its predation as it leaned forward and began to charge.

Where the beast claimed superiority of strength, you claimed superiority of dexterity. The moment it sprung into action, you loosed your arrow with impeccable reaction, sinking the projectile into the shoulder of the hulking behemoth as it trampled its way toward you. To both your expectation and dismay, a single shot of this caliber was not enough to slow the stampede. Your eyes risked a brief moment away from the troll as you scanned to your left and right for an escape. There was nowhere to hide fully, but plenty of crumbled cliffside nestled where the walls met the floor on both sides; rocks and boulders of varying sizes laid about, perfect for climbing atop. Hesitation was deadly at the moment, and so you took the opportunity presented to scramble onto the high ground just in time to avoid a swipe from the troll.

From your new perch, you were not fully out of reach, but you did have time to sink a few more arrows into your attacker as it recovered from the miss. Another intimidating roar bellowed as it turned and rose its arms to reach you. As best as you could, you led the monster astray, hopping across the uneven and treacherous shelf of cold earth. Each jump and roll you made dodged the slashing of claws, piercing of teeth, and crushing of limbs that each sundered any stone your feet crossed. Even a single successful strike against you would spell disaster, leading you to only take retaliation shots when you believed it to be absolutely safe. That was, until you ran out of running room at the top of these rocks. The next set of toppled stonework was far beyond the range of a leap, and almost instantly as you spent searching for somewhere closer to run or jump to, you felt the air in your lungs vacate from a mighty impact against your back. The troll's fist launched you off the boulder and onto the ground in a rough tumble across the cold stones.

Your body was wracked with pain; scratches and bruises from the landing only intensified the soreness of your back and legs from the swipe that knocked you down. As you turned onto your back and reclaimed your bow, you looked up just in time to see the beast looming overhead. Both of its arms rose high, clenched together in an overt desire to turn you into crimson paste against the ground. Looking past the arrow-filled monster, you saw high above it a large crack in the cliffs, splitting near the top to barely support a massive chunk of earth that looked like even the slightest nudge could set it free.

---

• Try to get out of the way.

• Shoot the troll.
[Write in: Choose a part of the body]

• Shoot the fragile cliffs above.

[Light]

> Shoot the fragile cliffs above. <

---

A blood-curdling roar bellowed from the grotesquely fanged maw of the troll, its hands balled into fists high above its head as its strained and red eyes glared down at you with an angry hunger. Its arms began to swing down just as you fired one final arrow, which whistled over its head and climbed high toward the edge of the cliffs. While the metal arrow tip itself only made a barely audible "plink" off the loose stone between the cracks, the impact was enough to release them. A low and loud rumble shook the troll from its final attack, saving you from its crushing blow as it twisted its head up to the sky. Neither you nor the troll had much time to react, though. As quickly as you struck your target, rocks and snow began to slip from the edge of the cliff and rain down upon you both, followed soon after by a cascade of earth and ice as the wedge between the cracks slipped further and further out from the wall it sat in.

The troll rose its hand to its face, shielding its eyes from the collapsing debris and backing away from you. Now was your chance! You quickly stood up, and even more quickly felt a surge of pain strangle your legs, causing you to collapse onto your hands and knees. The frozen stones striking your back grew bigger with each passing second, trying to keep you pinned under the impending landslide. Fighting past the crumbling cliffside and the weakness in your body, you picked yourself up again and began to limp away from the danger zone before it was too late. Unfortunately, doing so only lured the monster to follow you, it too seeking refuge from the harassment above. It growled and roared, stumbling after you while suffering the same battering and bruising that you were. Luckily, it was just barely too far away to strike you, and its attempts to hold its arms out to you were met with falling chunks of cliffside swatting its hands back down.

You wouldn't dare look behind you. Every moment wasted was life or death. You pressed on against the pain, the glistening clouds of powdery dust and snow that obscured your vision, the rumbling, roaring and growling behind you. It all culminated in a earth-shaking crash behind you. An explosion of stone as you were certain the massive wedge finally met the ground. What followed was near-silence; the pattering of smaller pebbles sounded like pleasant rain in comparison to the storm of earth you suffered through as the dust settled both metaphorically and physically. Notably- the visceral roars of your foe were also absent, evident as your looked over your shoulder to see a single large, fur coated claw, stained red and poking out from underneath the colossal boulder.

Were you to feel remorse for killing this troll? You pondered if it would have felt the same while it bit into its dessert had things gone the other way. The quandary didn't last much longer in your mind, as the sting of your body returned you to reality. Regardless of how you felt, standing here wouldn't change it. In the silence following the fight, you lowered yourself against a newly fallen boulder to recuperate and make sure you were still in one piece. Nothing was missing- that's good. Nothing looks like it's bent the wrong way- also good. The pain from just moving though, like whip cracks against your knees and shins- not good. You pulled at the bandolier across your chest, plucking from it one of three small vials with a glimmering red fluid sloshing about inside. These potions were expensive, but putting you back to form was worth the gold. Rolling it between your thumb and index finger, you pondered if it was worth drinking. On the one hand, you could still move. On the other hand, it hurt like hell.

---

• Drink the health potion, and continue on your way.
[Spend 1 of 3 health potions: return to a healthy condition]

• Press on without drinking the potion.
[No cost: Maintain harm at moderate, "weakened legs"]

• Rest here for a bit to catch your breath before continuing.
[Spend 1 hour resting: Reduce harm to minor, "bruised legs"]

[Light]

> Rest here for a bit to catch your breath before continuing. <
[Spend 1 hour resting: Reduce harm to minor, "bruised legs"]

---

A short but strong breath escaped your lungs, as you returned the little vial to its slightly-less-little leather strap affixed to your armor. Your head tilted back, the stars between the cliffs coming to view as you slumped a bit further into the rock. Every part of you screamed to stay here, to stay still and rest. You were inclined to agree but, out in the open like this wasn't the best spot. There was always the threat that this wasn't the only troll nearby. Reluctantly, you pushed yourself to your feet, your legs wobbling as you slowly carried yourself further down the pass. You weren't looking to make it to the temple like this, instead scanning the corners again for somewhere dark and quiet. Luckily, one such place came into view around the next bend, and you carefully slipped between the large crack in the wall. A wave of relief washed over you as you lowered yourself once again onto the ground. Just an hour or so would be enough, you figured, eyeing the angle of the moonlight outside to mark the passing of time. Hopefully Aika had that much time to wait as well.

When you awoke from your short respite, the soreness coursing through you was certainly still present, but at least it wasn't nearly crippling. It only hurt quite a bit instead. The cold and rough stone around you didn't exactly make for a luxury nap though, something your neck and back scolded you for as you began to move but quickly wore off as you stretched in the open.

The remainder of your hike through the pass was- thankfully- less than eventful. Your footsteps were the only sound for several minutes as you made your way through, breaching the other side and finally bringing the temple's face into view. The only problem was, the final peak upon which the entrance sat put the rest of the mountain range to shame, tall and wide enough to once again shield you from the glare of the moon. A staircase before you granted you a delayed ingress to the temple, if you could conquer its many flights which wound around the peak several times on the way up. Nowhere to go but up, you redoubled your resolve, putting as many steps of the stairs behind you as you could- one at a time.

Along the snaking set of layered and leveled bricks, many small altars sat adorned with age-old decorations; offerings of visitors past in the forms of dried and dead wreaths, flowers, and meats, all too cold and stagnant to decay further, as well as miniscule sums of coin, pendants, and rings. Even an old and rusted sword laid propped artistically against one such pedestal, undisturbed likely for decades if not longer due to the wear of the now unusable blade. Worst of all, though, were the bodies of those who failed to make the pilgrimage in full, either from exhaustion or- by the look of most of them- done in by the cruelty of gravity. Your eyes rose to the flights above, noting that each lap around the mountain left the stairs more deteriorated than the last. As you might have expected, inspecting these corpses offered little, any possessions not plucked clean from them already were ruined by time. Nevertheless, you cautiously pressed on, determined not to let yourself or Aika end up like them.

If you had thought the view standing beside Umildraen was remarkable, looking back across your journey's path from the entrance to the temple was simply breathtaking. The edge of the platform faced south, meaning that the forests of Vatiir now sat on your left in the far distance. From this elevation, you were certain that in the day you might be able to see the rainbow flower fields beyond that marked the center of the Gelish Kingdom. Before you, the snow-covered tops of the cliffs you walked though once again were visible, eerily flat planes of white untouched by the prints of passage, and beyond them the smaller peak you had stood at when your guide left you. Further down the mountain was somewhat obscured by the mountain itself, but you could reasonably assume in which direction Umildraen's cottage sat nestled into the snow, much further south and down the roads that winded toward the world below.

As you turned to face the temple, you were met with several stone pillars in pairs that supported archways to walk under as you approached the entrance. Perhaps to your surprise- perhaps not- the doors to the temple itself were open, humanoid sized stone slats emblazoned with the depiction of a dragon on the right side, and several small humanoid figures on the left both bowed inward to allow you to slip through. This was it, the Temple of Zorkuth. You took a deep breath, checked your gear once over, and turned to sidle your way through the doors and into the temple.

Near darkness engulfed you immediately as you set foot into the temple. The shimmering, almost magical silver light outside only reached so far into this first room, but the difference was made up for by a dull and mundane orange that beat with a sporadic and waning flicker. To the right, on the far wall, a lone sconce sat with a lit torch, illuminating a table and bookshelf upon which several items laid across. Too far for you to inspect from here, but looking between the space revealed that the ground between was marked with small formations of ice, likely footprints of snow dragged in from outside, melted by body heat and refrozen by the frigid infrastructure of the temple itself. To the left, the faint glow of the torch barely scraped the walls. Shapes of some objects could barely be made out in varying sizes, but...

---

• Inspect the illuminated table on the right.

• Draw and light your own torch, and inspect the shapes to the left.

• You can see more clearly in the dark than humans, inspect the shapes to the left without need of a torch.
[Write in: Define your race as one with dark vision]

[Light]

> Inspect the illuminated table on the right. <

---

The soft clapping sound of your boots against the cold stone floor echoed through this entry chamber as you made your way to the table. Your eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, the very edges of the room barely coming into view in the corners of your vision, beyond any genuine reach of the torch. The table however, sat squarely underneath the wall sconce, the contents of it cast under the amber glow. A small stack of three books sat in the corner of the table, the sides collecting a fair coating of dust. The top of this stack was oddly clean though, explained by the presence of a fourth book, opened to a page somewhere near the middle in the center of the table. This book looked to be moved recently and the cracks in the parchment of the open page confirmed that the book hadn't been opened in years. Peering down at the page, the scrawling within was faded, and the parts still legible were scribed in what you could only guess was a much older dialect of the Daldoran tongue, the language used by the peoples who live in the empire that rests at the base of these mountains to the west. Despite your familiarity with the modern form, this ancient passage shared only a few meaningful words with the lexicon you knew, leading to your deciphering to be cryptic at best, if not outright useless:

... war...
... Zorkuth... beast... rime...
... sealed... unity... man...

As little as the book could divulge to you, it seemed no coincidence that the namesake of the temple itself appeared here. You wondered if Aika had read from this passage too, in your attempts to follow any evidence of her presence. You thumbed the book over in your hands, looking through another few pages for anything more useful, but similarly vague was the best you could get. Still, it seemed like someone more familiar with historical linguistics could glean more from it. With a bit of a shrug to yourself, you slipped the book into your bag before turning your attention to the shelf to your side. You noted a few spaces on the shelf as empty, four to be exact, the rest was lined with other books and scrolls of a similar age, forgotten by time.

Further past the shelf, in the darkened far corner away from the entrance, a hallway had come into view from this angle. It seemed to delve deeper into the temple, and the initial march through it was shrouded in the pitch black that seemed to take dominance throughout the temple. It was impossible to tell how much farther the hall reached from here, especially without a source of light to guide you there.

---

• Light your own torch and follow the hallway.

• Take the torch off the wall and follow the hallway.

• Return the books to the bookshelf.

• Try something else.
[Write in: briefly describe a reasonable action.]

[Light]

> Write in: Check for Traps, Secret Doors/Passages, or any other secrets. <

---

Carelessness was the usher of untimely demise, and in a place as timeless and mysterious as this, the treacherousness of every corner needed respect if you were to survive this spelunking adventure. Surely, you wouldn't find Aika if you died along the way. Your eyes scanned the immediate area, looking for the tell-tale signs of any hidden traps or secrets.

First, the walls to either side of the desk were constructed of stone blocks, large but still varied in size enough to take note of the seams they formed. The blocks were lined well- none of them jutting out of or depressed back into the wall, and light tapping of your fingers against some of the smaller blocks revealed no give in their position.

Second, you crouched down to get a good look under the table. Gently lowering yourself to ease the burden on your injured legs, you peeked at the underside of the wooden table. At first glance there didn't seem to be anything of merit- no lever, no hole or panel. Unfortunately, the strain of kneeling quickly became too great to stay down here longer than a few moments. With a huff, you pulled yourself up with the help of the table, regaining your footing and shaking off the radial soreness through your lower limbs.

Third, the torch resting above the table fell under your scrutiny. The wooden handle of the torch itself seemed in too good of a condition to have sat upon this sconce for the many years preceding tonight's search-and-rescue. As if the torch being alight wasn't already enough of a giveaway combined with the opened book. Someone was here very recently, within the lifespan of a brand new torch at most. This could also only mean that the torch likely wasn't attached to the sconce in any way. It would be safe to remove.

Fourth, your turned your attention to the bookcase. It was clear as day that four empty spots on the shelf lined up with the three remaining books on the table, plus the one you put in your bag. Confident that pulling the torch off the wall wouldn't trigger some trap, you use it to get a closer look into the empty spaces of the shelf. Sure enough, you saw tiny rises of wood in each gap, small enough to slide back into a flush position if pushed.

Lastly, the darkened hallway. With the torch raised overhead, you carefully made your way to its entrance and peered within. Unfortunately, you couldn't see much further, but you could tell that the walls of the hall were oddly smooth, comprised of a flat stone surface rather than blocks. Looking up, the ceiling didn't seem alarming in any way, no large axes or anything absurd waiting to swing down on you. However, when you looked to your own feet, you saw the trap you were looking for. Nestled into the corners of the archway between the entry room and the hall only a few inches off the floor on either side sat a small pinhole. Strung into each pinhole was a thin silvery string, nearly unnoticeable if you weren't directly looking for it and starting straight at it. Something about it seemed off though... It was already broken! Snapped in two , the string sat limp on the floor, hanging out of the pinholes. Your eyes followed forward, as far as you could see, you could see that the floor was two long and narrow slabs trailing off into the dark.

---

• Make your way down the hallway.

• Return the books to the bookshelf.

• Pull on the broken string.

[Light]

> Make your way down the hallway. <

---

With a long breath of determination, you set forth into the darkness before you. In only a few short steps, the moonlight pouring behind you into the foyer of the temple was swallowed by the shroud of black that encroached on your meager torch, leaving you all alone in this cramped and narrowing passage. The echoes of your footsteps and the sifting of your cloths and leathers were the only stimuli to distract you from your thoughts, as you pondered where this could lead, where your target was, and if she was all right. Your inquiry about the first of these things would come to light- the light of your torch, that is- after not too long. The mountaintop upon which the temple rested within didn't seem terribly wide at this altitude, somewhat restricting a possible internal floorplan within. As you then expected, the hall came to an end, as a small circular stairwell sat snug against it. The ceiling, walls and floors of this place were starting to look more and more like they were chiseled from the mountain itself, with barely enough room to squeeze by as you followed the uneven and crudely carved steps down.

Soon, the frigid and flowing winter air of the outside world was replaced by a stagnant, stuffy, and uncomfortably warm stillness. The spiraling descent seemed to have no end, no landings or doors broke up the repetitive and cyclical journey down, until you came to the very bottom of the flight.

An opening that barely passed as a doorway without a door led you into a chamber wide enough to once again separate the walls from your torch's allowance. To both your left and right, the walls and floor extended beyond your view, though the right angle at which they met by this stairwell gave away that you were at least in some kind of corner. Looking up yielded little, the ceiling far above your light was instead replaced by a formless black. However, it was when you case your gaze forward that you finally noticed something of merit, not by sight, but a sound most critical.

"H-hello? Who's there?" A feminine voice called out from the darkness, shackled and gritty with fatigue and pain. You rushed, fighting the sting of your own legs as you briskly followed the groans until your torch illuminated a body on the floor before you. Laying partially on her left side was a woman whose appearance matched the description your client gave you. Clad in adventuring gear not dissimilar from your own, her lighter studded leather, full-slacks and front-plated boots were adorned with a long and dark-colored cape that covered much of her torso and back, contrasted by the almost-as-long silvery hair that flowed from her head. It was hard to tell how tall she was exactly as she was slightly curled in her posture, but she seemed on the shorter side for a human. Bright blue eyes stared up at you from a pale and lithe face, blemished by dirt, scratches and bruising. Just behind her but beyond her reach, near the edge of your bubble of orange light, a sword laid flat on the floor.

With one arm pinned under her side, the other struggled to lift her hand up toward you. "I fell," she explained succinctly. Her voice was desperate, willing to put her trust in whoever you were. "Can't move much. Help me- please..."

Unfortunately, before you could react, another sound began to fill both your ears and hers. A skittering, chattering-like series of taps and clicks, followed by a raspy hissing that sought to close in around you. You were familiar with these sounds, and the dangers that the swarm of giant spiders making them posed.

---

• "Are you Aika Lenonne?"

• Approach her and give her one of your healing potions.
[Spend 1 of 3 health potions: return the woman to a healthy condition]

• Run back to the entrance of the temple.

• Drop the torch and draw your bow.

[Light]

> Approach her and give her one of your healing potions. <

---

As if her call for help wasn't enough, the sounds of danger rapidly approaching put some urgency in your movements as you tried to rush toward her side. Quickly drawing one of the vials from your bandolier, you knelt down and held the small potion out to her, which she took and promptly shot down. The magic of the healing potion took its effects nearly instantly, the woman's chest heaved a strong and purging breath, a gasp for air finally satisfied as she rolled forward enough to dislodge her left arm and push herself up. She reached for her sword, lifting it into her left hand before springing into a full stand, and looked to you with a smirk. "Thanks" she nodded, lifting her blade forward towards the noise. "I thought I was gunna rot away down here." With a bit of a wince, you pushed with your legs to rise and meet her posture as the light from your torch illuminated the first of your foes.

Peering back at you from the edge of darkness were eight beady eyes, glossy and reflective of your torch's flickering dance as a grotesques arachnoid visage came into view. From the size head of this spider alone, hovering at eye-level with you, the stature of it hidden beyond the edge of light seemed daunting. Your new ally looked fearless, a renewed zeal to survive in her eye as she rose her blade and shouted to taunt the beast. "Come back for more, huh? Well- you couldn't take me when I was down, now you've definitely got no chance!" Her free hand rose before her as well, and she murmured to herself in a language you didn't recognize. As her palm turned to face upward, a gleaming white light formed between her fingers, flooding the chamber with much more light than your torch could provide. The clear colorless glow of her spell flushed away the orange tinge of flame, revealing her cape to be a deeper midnight blue rather than the black it previously appeared to be. As she finished her incantation, the orb floated further upward, posturing itself several feet into the air and revealing the swarm of spiders in all directions. Needless to say, the torch was no longer needed, a thankful notion as your hands would serve better reaching for your weapon.

Beyond the mess of creepy crawlies, the rest of the room appeared to be a large auditorium of some kind. The closer wall to your right ended in a stairwell that sat in the corner with the far right wall opposite where you had entered from, not unlike the stairs you descended. To the left, the room extended much further, culminating in a stage or platform of some kind against the far left wall, raised enough to warrant steps to reach. Beyond it, a mural that spanned the entire far wall all the way up to the ceiling, where you could see the slit where the hallway you traversed through sat, directly above where you found the woman. At the base of the mural, as well as along the other walls, several doors and archways led out of sight into what you presumed to be more rooms and halls, all except for the far right wall which contained a cave-in the mouth of which was coated in webbing. Near this web, you saw the body of a fourth, larger spider, laying limp by the mouth with what seemed to be a sizable hole burned into its abdomen.

If the light was bright enough to make your dark-adjusted eyes squint, you could only imagine how annoying it must have been for the spiders that live here. Squealing and hissing was their response, and as the larger ones- of which you could now count at three- bared their fangs and rose their front limbs, the smaller ones began their march towards you two.

Their onslaught was met with the swinging and stabbing of blades, as they drew too close too quickly to fire at them with your bow. You and your ally fended them off as best as you could with her sword and a dagger you carried with you for close-quarters just like this. Unfortunately, the larger spiders would not simply wait for you to kill off all of their children, and the stomping of their movements meant you and her had to act fast.

---

• Try convincing the woman to leave with you, back the way you came.

• Stand your ground and fend off the large spiders.

• Stand your ground and focus on clearing out the smaller spiders.

• Try a different tactic.
[Write in: briefly describe an action to take]

[Light]

> Try convincing the woman to leave with you, back the way you came. <

---

The ear-wrenching squeals of your foes engulfed the air, both in their battle cries and their death throes. As the space available for you and the woman to stand in continued to shrink around you though, you felt your back press against hers. Before you could look over your shoulder, your attention was reclaimed by the large spider in front of you, lifting its two front legs and lunging them toward you. A quick duck to the side avoided the brunt of the attack, and your ally behind you broke away to hack through another wave of smaller foes before her. As the spider in front of you stumbled from its miss with a low thud, you turned to fit in a quick cut on its front limb. It pulled the leg back, hissing at you as you threw a glance over your shoulder.

"We need to get out of here," you urged your new companion. "There's too many of them!" She met your eyes with hers for a moment, opening her mouth to respond but quickly being distracted by an attacker of her own. She sliced through the foe with a resounding "Hyahh!" before replying to you. "We're fine! I'm not afraid of these-" she tried to justify, at least until one of the larger spiders planted itself right in front of her. Her attention turned to it, her free hand glowing with energy once again. She ran her hand over her sword, and the glowing white-blue magic focused onto the blade, which began to jitter and spark in front of her. "Get outta my way!" she yelled, lunging forward and slashing clean though the giant spider with a flash of lightning. As quickly as her spell crashed through her foe, the spark faded and her sword returned to an inert state. Her posture staggered for a moment, her breath catching up to her.

Two down, and two remained among the massive eight-legged foes. A seemingly endless swarm of their offspring began to fill in the space your partner cleared, and you rushed to her side to avoid getting left behind. "That-" you began, turning to lift your dagger against the smaller spiders that relentlessly jumped at you. "Unless you've got more of that, I still think we need to get to safety," you suggested. You could slash away at these things for only so long, and the look on her face was reluctant to agree but without any real argument against it. She looked past you and you followed her gaze, to the army that was pushing you into the corner near the staircase. The two remaining giant spiders were rapidly approaching, and even the walls were darkened by movement. As the glow of her floating orb began to dwindle, you turned back to her in time to see her nod at you. "Fine," she grunted in frustration. It took another moment of carving to make your way to the stairs, but luckily the opening was far too small for the more threatening monsters to reach inside.

The climb back up towards the entrance of the temple was much more hasty than then descent, and in the cramped corners of the stairwell there wasn't space for much more than stomping or kicking away the spiderlings that nipped at your boots. Atop the stairwell though, the sprint through the trapped hallway and into the foyer once again seemed too far for the hive to follow, the stragglers that tagged along this far were easily dispatched without the entire swarm backing them up.

Finally, you leaned against the wall and drew in a long breath as the sounds of scuttling faded into the depths below, and the woman you found along the way seemed equally tense as she sheathed her sword into the scabbard at her side. The moonlight and frigid breeze from outside once again found you both, not truly illuminating the room but giving enough light for you to see her silhouette against it as she paced with pent up frustration in front of you.

"Gods- Gods damnit!" She threw her hands down at her side. "This whole damn trip was a waste!"

---

• "Are you Aika?"

• "What do you mean 'a waste'? Why did you come here?"

[Light]

> "Are you Aika?" <

---

You watched as this woman briskly kept herself moving back and forth, still energized from the fight-or-flight adrenaline pumping events of the last minutes. She seemed more frustrated at the situation itself as she kept looking back towards the hallway, as if she would take off towards the lower level of the temple again. Your hand raised slowly, an effort to ground her and draw her attention away from the spiders. "Hold for a moment," you urged her to caution. Her antsy nature paused, and in the dim light you could see her wrist flick again to give you both a small magical light to converse under. She released a long huff as her arms crossed in front of her, and the mixed feelings of her gaze locked with your eyes. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you must be, Aika Lennone?"

Her expression faltered, widening of her eyes a show of surprise as you spoke her name. Confusion and then suspicion pursed her lips, her hand falling less than subtly to the handle of her sword. "How do you know my name?" She spoke more flatly than before, a controlled and lower tone in her voice.

"Your master tasked me to find you. You had not sent word in quite some time, he feared for your safety and directed me here." Your explanation seemed to calm her down; Aika's posture relaxed, her fingers letting go of the sword as she let out a breath of relief. "Ah, I see," she shrugged and looked out towards the exit, the gleaming white mountaintops outside against the midnight blue sky. "It's quite hard to send a letter from atop a mountain, isn't it?" She gave a small and closed-lipped "hmm," as she mused to herself the notion, before looking back to you. "I must thank you for saving me, by the way. The floor in that hallway gave out when I tripped over something- I don't know what- but the fall was more than enough to leave me for dead. Luckily, I hadn't broken my right arm, so I was able to keep those giant spiders at bay with my magic. But then..." she shared with you a look of mutual understanding.

"My arrival must have stirred them again."

"Mhm, but either way I would have been a goner, spider-food eventually either dead or alive. Getting swarmed like that is a different beast than scaring them away before they get too close. So... thanks."

You accepted her thanks with a nod, and your curiosity pulled your own attention back down the hall. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing up here anyway, and by yourself no less?"

Your question poked at a spot she didn't readily seem willing to disclose to someone she just met, and she shook her head slightly. "It's... research, for my master. As you know since you seem to have met him, he's quite old. He's taught me invaluable lessons about magic but he simply can't hike up here like we can." Aika shrugged as she continued. "I'm his only student, so here I am doing his field-work. Not really my place to say what it is, though, wizards with their secrets and all," she cracked a smile as she lowered her arms again. "So, you know my name, what's yours?"

---

• Introduce yourself.
[Write in: choose a name, gender and race.]

• Withhold your name.

[Light]

> Introduce yourself. <
[Write in: Verity Shadowbane, female human.]

---

You nodded along to Aika's story, agreeing with her assessment of her master. You hadn't spent enough time with him to know him very well, but his to-the-point focus and matter-of-fact delivery didn't leave much of a hint anyway. As she explained the secrecy of her mission, your brow lowered slightly in concern. Nobody likes being told half-truths, and while she was holding that information from you, you decided to still be honest with her.

"My name is Verity Shadowbane."

"Verity Shadowbane," she repeated back as she held her hand out to you with a smile. "Well met then, Verity. And thanks again for picking me up."

Your hand met hers, and a firm shake between you two solidified the formalities. Still, there was a rather pressing matter that weighed on you both, and as she broke eye contact with you, her thoughts seemed clear on her face as she looked once again down the hall. "I don't suppose I can convince you to return with me, then?" You spoke with confidence in her next answer, as if she needn't say it. "How can I? I would be remiss to return empty handed," she justified. You let out a sigh, your work would be cut out for you, it would seem. Understandably so, as she was here on her own mission as well. "Unfortunately, I was hired to see your safe return. If you're set on spelunking here further, I'm coming with you," you asserted, vowing to see yourself return not empty handed as well. You could see the thoughts bubbling in Aika's head once again, though more a mixture of possible concerns, outcomes, and emotion. Eventually, she nodded and flicked her wrist again, recalling the little light to just over her shoulder. "All right, then. We'll get what I'm looking for and get out, easy with two of us."

"Sounds good."

"Great! By the way, did you happen to poke around the temple yourself before you found me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, any other doors, or traps or hidden things like that? Or should we just try to clear the rest of those spiders out?"

---

• "Let's take care of the spiders."

• "There was something odd about the bookcase."

• "I haven't checked the other side of this room yet."

[Light]

> "There was something odd about the bookcase." <

---

"Now that you mention it," you started, as your attention drifted over Aika's shoulder and to the desk you had stopped at earlier. With a lifted eyebrow, she turned to follow your gaze. You stepped past her, leading her back to the small wooden table and the shelving unit beside it. With her little arcane light, you once again peered between the dusty books that lined the case, and with increasing certainty you aimed a finger into one of the gaps between them. "Look, see that protrusion in the corner against the back of the shelf?" Aika wedged her face closer to the gap, closing one eye to get a straight look between the books. "Mmh, looks like a piece of the back came loose?" In a spur of curiosity, she simply lifted her own finger and pushed her hand into the shelf, reaching the little wooden button and pressing it flush into place for only until she retracted.

"Oh!" she pulled back and looked to the desk. "The books! Well- of course- but, let's put them back!" She moved with excited haste, scooping the three stacked books that remained, despite the decades of dust and cobwebs that had coagulated on them. She pushed each one back into a gap in the shelf, leaving only one slot remaining. Turning back to the desk, her alacrity was paused by confusion. "Wait. There were four here earlier, I left one open on the desk right here." She began to panic slightly, kneeling under the desk to look for the fourth book as you calmly drew it from your bag behind her. "You mean this one," you flashed the tome to her as she stood up and turned to you. "I scanned the page it was opened to, and thought it might be useful so I took it with me." You handed it over to her as you explained, and she accepted with a sigh of relief.

With the fourth book in place, the shelf was fully stocked. A moment of silent expectation from you both was rewarded by a sound from within the wall- a grinding of stone, low yet inducing the crawling of skin analogous to nails on a chalk board. The shelf began to move on its own, receding into the wall before sliding to the side, leaving behind a previously hidden hallway. You looked to your new companion, meeting her eager grin with your own expression more composed. With a simple "Shall we?" Aika directed her light to keep in front of you both as you made your way through.

The hall was winding, cramped, and dark. The silvery light of Aika's magic and your careful scrutiny for traps kept you safe, but the march down this narrow decent was slow. Luckily, you each had someone to talk to to keep yourselves sane. "So," Aika broke the silence. "You said you looked through that book?" You nodded with a small "Mhm," before elaborating. "My ancient Daldoran is rough, but I made out something about a beast and a seal- and this temple's name, Zorkuth," you recounted the passage you read, and Aika bobbed her head in agreement. "Yeah, I couldn't make out much more than that, especially since Daldoran isn't my first language... I'm from Geland actually- central Geland- that is." she turned to face you for a short moment as you walked together. "Are you Gelish too?" Despite your conversations with her being so far in the Daldoran tongue, her Gelish accent was certainly audible, a bit more legato and smooth than the percussive and impactful speech patterns of the empire's natives.

---

• "I am also Gelish."
[Write in: choose a province of Geland.]
[Add Elven to known languages]

• "I'm Daldoran."
[Add Dwarven to known languages]

• "I'm Ethwanean."
[Add Ethwanean to known languages]

• "I'm from Minerva."


• "I'm from Lasaruuj."
[Add Dwarven to known languages]

[Light]

> "I am also Gelish."
[Write in: Province of Aurelius]
[Add Elven to known languages] <

---

A small smile formed on your lips, the similar smoothness in your tone likely not lost on her since you met. "Yeah, I'm Aurelian," you replied in the Gelish tongue as you nodded at her assessment. A returned smile of some commonality from Aika brightened the dim hall on its own, and she commented on it further in your shared native speech. "Oh! I've heard things have been quite peaceful in Aurelia lately, since Lord Brennan now rules as Duke, anyway." Your attention turned forward into the darkness and you let out a small sigh. With a bit of somber in your eyes, you looked to her again. "It was... It was rough. His father before him- Alexander- he was always eerie and aloof, but it was a betrayal of his people through and through, whatever it was he was planning with those mind-eating monsters. Brennan did the right thing, but I can't imagine it was easy to slay one's own father..." Your sobering comment grounded the previously airy mood for a long pause, a small "I see," being the only reply given to you.

Luckily, there was a light at the end of this gloomy tunnel- both metaphorically and literally- as a yellow glow came into view as you and Aika found yourselves in a chamber much smaller than the one you rescued her from. Similar to that giant hall from earlier, this space was filled with ornate banners and decor of the ancient Daldoran culture; tattered cloths of a deep maroon accented by fraying grey trim hung from the walls, each depicting designs both abstract and symbolic. You recognized one such symbol- a halberd whose single-bladed head is backed by a sun- as the crest of the current ruling empire. Across the chamber sat an equally intricate door-shaped depression in the stonework of the wall, complete with the shape of a long scaled and winged creature coiled several times around the symbol of a hand, within which a small black glass-like orb sat imbedded into the palm. Surrounding the serpent-like creature on the door were six white circles. The most eye-catching feature of the room however, sat in the center. There, six humanoid statues of varying designs stood in a circular formation, all facing inward toward a central pedestal. All of the statues and the pedestal each contained identical looking orbs, which sat nestled in the palms of the statures and a claw-like brace of the pedestal. The culprit of this strange yellow glow was the orb of the statue nearest the door, which was alight with an equally odd iridescence from within.

"Woah..." Aika found herself in awe as she gently stepped around the room to take in the sights. Your eye was trained for anything to trip over, step on, or walk past that would trigger danger, but her eager movement in a lap around the statues combined with your careful inspections found no traps. Satisfied with your current and relative safety, you turned your attention back towards her. "What is this place?" She looked back to you, beaming with discovery. "Well, I wouldn't have found it without you so... It seems to be some kind of sealing chamber," she aimed her finger at the door. "Either keeping us out, or something else in. In short- the target of my research." You looked around the room with her, trying to make heads or tails of it all. As you followed her explanation to the door, another question fell from your lips.

"So, how do we unseal it?"

"Ah- well- I'm not sure. Partly what I'm here to figure out, right?"

"Of course. Got any ideas, then?"

Aika lifted her hand to the handprint on the door, pressing her palm against the orb. "Something important enough to secure like this, it's definitely sealed off with some kind of magic- there's no breaking this door down anyway." She removed her hand and took a step back, just as you joined by her side to aid in inspecting the designs on the door. "Perhaps this artwork is a clue for how to open it?" She leaned in and studied the designs for a long and silent moment, then turned to the statues, wagging her finger at each one as she took stock of the room. "Six circles, six statues. And these glass balls," her curiosity got the better of her, as she reached her hand out to touch the glowing orb in the folded palms of the first statue. With a flash of light, the orbs of the other five statues began to glow, and the light of the orb she touched faded away into darkness. A surprised "Whah!" loosed itself from her as she recoiled. She laughed it off, then looked at you briefly. "Sorry- I couldn't help myself, hmmm," the gears in her head began to turn as she reached again toward the orb with greater confidence. At a second touch, the other five statues' orbs faded and this first one began to glow once again.

As you watched her little experiment, you had a view of this first statue from behind. Upon closer inspection, you noticed something engraved across its back. You squinted in the dim light and read the small Daldoran text, which read:

The Emperor - Commander of the Realm

You looked back up, taking note of the statue itself. As the engraving suggested, the shape of a royal crown built onto the head of the statue gave it a rather regal appearance. Your eyes shifted to the other five statues, realizing then that each similarly was constructed with different attire. "Aika, look," you beckoned her to join you as you walked around the statues, reading each engraving on its back:

The Acolyte - Advisor to His Glory

The Knight - Pursuant of the Vile

The Scoundrel - Pilferer of the Court

The Fool - A simple Distraction

The Hermit - Avatar of Solitude

"What do you make of this," you asked her as you returned to where you started. "Another clue?" She scratched the back of her head as she walked between the statues, pacing around within the hexagon they made. "Looks like it, but what about the centerpiece? It looks like just a claw... And there's no name or title on it. We could try experimenting with it more, what do you think?"

---

• "Do you know any magic that can help us decipher it?"

• "What of all these banners on the walls?"

• Touch one of the statue's orbs.
[Write in: Choose a statue.]

• Touch the orb on the central pedestal.

[Light]

> "Do you know any magic that can help us decipher it?" <

---

"I'm not savvy with magical seals," you mentioned with a light-hearted shrug. "Maybe there's a spell you can cast that can help?" Aika squinted at you, a leer of slight and musing judgement. You returned to her a more animated shrug and excused yourself again. "What- isn't that how magic works, you just make it do what you want?" You seemed to dig yourself even deeper into this comedic hole, and Aika closed her eyes with a long sigh in response. "N-no, you can't just wave your hands and make anything happen," she explained as she took a step closer to the central pedestal. "I do happen to know one spell that can help but- I swear it's just a coincidence!" she threw her gaze back at you with an intense glare, one that soon after broke into a smile, fully aware of the joke in the room. She shook herself back to focus, and turned her attention to the dim glass orb clutched within the spindly fingers of the stone claw before her. Her hand lifted, not to the orb, but to her own face as she spoke the arcane tongue to weave her spell. You could see a blueish illumination reflecting off of her fingers as her hand pulled away, and as she stepped slowly around the pedestal, the origin of this glow became apparent in her eyes.

"Hmm..." Aika pondered out loud as she scrutinized the orb carefully, and then the other orbs around you two. "It seems like these glass spheres share a harmonized and multi-layered aura of abjuration and transmutation. The aura in its entirety is misaligned, preventing the energy flow needed to operate what is likely some kind of arcano-technological mechanism within the door itself." She blinked, and the spell alighting her eyes faded as she looked into yours. Perhaps she was expecting some equally educated response? Nevertheless, you could only muster a murky "Huh?" She blinked a second time, registering only after that you were confused. "Oh! Right- um- these orbs aren't sealing the door. They're the magical focal points to unsealing it, like uh... like the teeth on a key, for each pin within the lock." You nodded along as best as you could, the analogy certainly helping. "Well then, we might as well try to pick this lock then, yeah?" You gave her a nod of confidence, and she returned it with a smile. As you huddled together around the orbs, you got to work exploring the functions of their light and dark states.

First, the central pedestal. Upon touching the glass, the light from the Emperor statue faded momentarily as the center orb took on a smidgen of a little light within, not nearly as bright. The orb on the door flickered a similar wilting luster before they both faded and the Emperor reignited to a full glow.

Second, the Emperor. As Aika stumbled upon earlier, touching this orb seemed cause to all six of the statue orbs to switch their lit and dim states.

Third, the Acolyte. Each time you touched this orb, it would change its own state, and the Emperor would then match this new state.

Fourth, the Knight. If and only if the Scoundrel was alight, touching the Knight would snuff out the Scoundrel and alight the Emperor, otherwise this orb seemed to do nothing.

Fifth, the Scoundrel. Touching this orb if and only if it is dark and the Emperor and Acolyte are both alight would cause all three to switch states.

Sixth, the Fool. Frustratingly, every time you tried to use this orb, any one of the six statue orbs would instead change its state at random.

Lastly, the Hermit. This orb only changed its own state when touched.

With seeing how the orbs changed their luminescence at your fingertips, the central orb seemed to never glow quite as bright each time. It did seem to glow more true with every glowing statue around it, but you had yet to see what would happen if you could manage to alight all six statues at once. You reached out to the center once more, and in a now familiar flash, the room returned to its initial permutation, only the Emperor held a glowing orb.

---

• Try to solve the glowing statue puzzle.
[Write in: Choose which statues to touch and in which order.]

[Light]

> Try to solve the glowing statue puzzle. <

Solution Spoiler

Emperor, Knight, Scoundrel, Acolyte

---

"... And that should do it," Aika withdrew her hand from the small glass sphere held by the final statue in the sequence. All six surrounding you both shimmered with an arcane golden radiance, and with a nod from her, you lowered your palm against the central pedestal. Each time you had tried this before, the concentration of energies into the center was meager and fleeting, yet this time it captured the light from each statue into a brilliant shine that focused between the claw that held this central orb, casting long shadows from you both and the statues onto the red and gray banners that hung along the walls. As you looked up toward the door in expectation, it too matched this newer, pure potent light with its own, and the slow churning sounds of grinding age-old stone mechanisms informed you that you and Aika were correct. That did indeed do it, as the door separated into the walls, sliding out of your way and giving you both a view into what lay behond.

Your heads poked through the door in unison, and as you glanced up and down through the massive and dark cylindrical chasm before you, the familiar whistling of wind poured through a hole high above you. A small circle in the high ceiling let in the cold mountaintop air along with a moonbeam of silvery blue that filtered gently down several stories-worth of a staircase that sloped downward around the walls. As you crossed the door and out onto the top landing of stairs, the slightly less cold underground you had just explored stayed behind, and a unnaturally frigid air seemed to settle over you. Even under the weight of your winter-gear, your skin crawled and your shoulders shivered. There were no banisters to protect you from falling, yet curiosity won as you peered over the edge to discover that the decent would most assuredly be fatal should you slip.

With the aid of moonlight above, your view all the way to the bottom of this chamber was unimpeded by darkness. Cast in the ethereal glow was a raised platform of sorts in the center of the room. Surrounding it, the glint of gold reflecting back up to you was a strong contender for your attention, but there was something much more important at the center of the platform. Curled in the poise of slumber rested a shape that no self-respecting adventurer could mistake. Glimmering with tiny sparkles off of scales as white as perfect snow laid none other than a dragon, and quite an old one if tales about their size and age were to be believed.

"What..." your eyes widened as you leaned even further, only to be seized from both the sight of the creature and the danger of the ledge by your new partner. Her tight grip on your shoulder pulled you back to safety. "I wanna get a closer look too, but we should probably take the stairs," she beamed with excitement. "I don't have any spells to help with falling, remember?" Aika winked at you before letting you go, pivoting on her heel, and making her way down the stairs.

Whatever was about to happen was assuredly too important to miss, and so your pace caught up to her briskly as you both plunged deeper into the mountain than you thought possible.

By the time you landed at the bottom of the chasm, the shivering that draped over your shoulders like silk before now buffeted your very soul like a blizzard. The stairs let you go poetically in front of the beast, who had not seemed to respond to or otherwise acknowledge your presence. It remained coiled, its head poking out from a blanket formed by its own wing which folded over its body. Even with docile, closed eyes, the dragon's visage and presence was fulfilling some kind of awe- be it awe inspiring or awfully terrifying, or perhaps both. "Aika," you turned to her, caution coating your hushed words. "Is this- is this what you came here for?" A complete foil to your apprehension, Aika nodded with the giddiness of a child. Her arm and hand outstretched, gesturing to the dragon as she spoke. "You do know who this is, don't you? Son of The Comet Frindiath, namesake of this temple, Zorkuth?" The tale of Frindiath was known well enough across all of Geland, and you confirmed your familiarity with Zorkuth's mother by recounting it. "The general of the Minervan army during the Golden War, and spearhead of the attack on Albrigh at the war's end, that Frindiath? What in Atros do you plan to do here? And don't proclaim it so loud! You might wake him..." You recoiled slightly at the thought, but Aika quickly allayed your fears before instilling new ones. "While she was slain by Roethel the First, he was captured and imprisoned here. But it seems like my mentor's lead was rock-solid. He didn't last long down here by the looks of it." Aika stood on the tips of her toes, giving herself a bit of height to scan the dragon from here. "Strange, dragons usually live a long time. Maybe he simply succumbed to the injuries he had at Albrigh? Or maybe the Daldorans did him in when Geland handed him over? There's no way he'd just let us get this close if he wasn't already dead, right?" While she started off talking to you, she seemed more like she was wondering out loud to herself as she trailed on, eventually taking a step closer.

"Wait," it was your turn to grab her by the arm. "What are you doing?"

"Well- I didn't just come here to look at him. I need his heart."

"You need his what!?"

"Let me go, Verity," she shook your hand off of her. "This is the whole reason I came here."

---

• Grab her arm again.

• Let her approach Zorkuth alone.

• Follow her onto the platform.

[Light]

> Grab her arm again. <

---

Aika only managed to take one more step toward the riser between the ground and platform, when your hand seized her wrist once again. She stuttered in that step and shot a uncharacteristically sharp leer at you over her shoulder, lifting her arm in a similarly sharp motion to wrench it free of your grasp. However, you were set on disallowing this, and maintained your grip. "I said let me go," she restated with more emphasis. Your rebuttal was equally filled with agitation, as you sought to remind her of the dangers here. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Stop for one second and just think this through," you urged her to caution. Unfortunately, she seemed unswayed, shaking her head against your advice. "I told you, this is why I'm here, I'm not leaving empty handed," her eyes met yours with a determined glint. "Now let me go!" You couldn't help but shake your head in disbelief. "Listen to yourself! Who just strolls up to a dragon and tries to gut out its heart?"

"I told you, he's dead!"

"You said 'maybe.' If this is one of the most powerful dragons of the First Era, I wouldn't be surprised if- I dunno- maybe it's some kind of trick or trap?"

"Do you really think he'd let us get even this close? Look at him. He's not even breathing."

"All right, maybe not the big scary dragon that needed an army to fell and there's only two of us, of course." You rolled your eyes with sarcasm. "But why not be as careful as possible, right? This place was build to seal Zorkuth away, forever, presumably. If I was going to hollow out the top of an entire mountain for the sole purpose of preventing one of the most dangerous dragons in history from escaping, I think I'd wanna make sure nobody else gets in either. Just in case some old wizard across the country side wanted- oh I dunno- his heart!?" You would have thrown both arms up in the air, but with one occupied restraining the woman you were hired to find and escort alive, only one hand would suffice for expressive gesticulation. As your posture calmed down, your free hand pinched your brow, baffled that you needed to argue against such wanton recklessness. "What- what does he need this dragon heart for, anyway?"

Your reasoning seemed to calm Aika down as well, she no longer tugged to escape your hold. She didn't look convinced, but she also didn't look like she'd take off the moment you released her. With some kind of understanding reached, you slowly unfurled your fingers from around her wrist, which she then coddled in her other hand to rub away the soreness of your tight grasp. "I... That's..." she hesitated to answer, finally choosing not to. "That's not for you to know." As you looked up at her again, you could see a deeper worry in her eyes, one that sunk further down than the concerns of magical or mechanical traps, or even the prospect of a dragon's trick to ambush two simple travelers. There was also the worry that you wouldn't take kindly to such an answer, one that you made sure she was right about.

"Excuse me?" You could feel your skin of your cheeks heating against the frigid air. "My reason for being here is to bring you back to your master. Alive. He never mentioned anything about toying with dragons on the top of the world, but if it's a danger to both you and myself, I think I deserve to know what's really going on here," you justified yourself and finished with a crossing of your arms and one final statement. "I don't care what you were hired to do here, I won't let it get in the way of what I'm here for, which is both of our wellbeings. If your boss really wants this heart, why did he send only you? What in Atros is so important that he's willing to send you on a suicide mission?"

Aika seemed to emotionally crumple under your verbal barrage, shaking her head to let loose her building adrenaline and anxiety before snapping back at you. "This is not a suicide mission! I know what I'm doing, and I don't need to explain myself to you! My master trusts me, and one slip-up and fall isn't going to change that!" After her explosion, her shoulders slumped and she let out a tense breath. "Look, I appreciate your help so far, really I do. But this?" she turned and cast her gaze upon Zorkuth, who still hadn't budged this whole time. "This is far too important. I need- I mean- he needs this. So," she turned back to you, that deeper concern still in her eye. "Either help me or stay out of my way."

---

• "All right, I'll help."

• "Fine, you're on your own then."

• "Wait. We should get reinforcements in case this proves too dangerous."

• "No. I'm taking you back to your master."

[Light]

> "Wait. We should get reinforcements in case this proves too dangerous." <

---

You felt for a moment a pull from the sincerity of Aika's plea, but one more glance at the beast lying in wait before you shook you to your core. With a heavy sigh, you wracked your mind for a compromise that would make sure you both leave here with all limbs intact. Just as she seemed fed up with waiting for you to reply, an idea stuck you. "So, you want to ferry the heart of a massive dragon across the country side, right?" you asked, getting a curious nod from your companion before continuing. "A heart that- and you can excuse me if my know-how about the insides of a dragon are off- is probably itself bigger than both of us combined, right?" After a bit of stammering, she could only reply with "W-what's your point?" You threw your attention backwards to the thin stairs that spiraled their way back up the edges of this deep chamber, and rose a finger to them. "There's a lot more than me telling you this is a bad idea-" you began. Her brow furrowed in frustration, but you held a hand up to her. "- so far. You found this place on your own, you fought off giant cave spiders with a broken arm and leg, and you cracked an ancient arcane lock in mere minutes. You're really capable, Aika, but unless you have some kind of spell to help us whisk the heart back home..." You rose an eyebrow at her, and as you let the line of thought linger, she seemed to understand more and more.

"I'm willing to help you on this, but we need even more help to not only carry, but protect this thing. Nobody from the lowest thug to the King himself would decline a chance to pilfer a dragon's heart from us once the word gets out."

It all seemed to make sense to her now, and you would see the glint of defeat in her eye as she turned toward Zorkuth. "So, what do we do, then?" Her voice was as cold as the air around you, and she refused to turn around. "I can't just return empty handed." As she lamented, you lifted your hand to her shoulder, a supportive touch compared to the protective grasp from earlier. "You're far from empty handed. Imagine how elated your master will be to hear that not only are you alive, but Zorkuth's remains truly do lie here in this temple. He's a smart man, he'll understand our caution. He might even be able to help us round up a few more hands and make this work. What do you say?"

Aika lowered her head for a moment, you could feel her shoulder heave slowly with a very deep breath. Before looking back at you, her head lifted with a nod. "All right," she forced herself to say. "Ok, we'll get some help." Aika finally allowed you to view her face once again. Her expression was one that- as an adventurer yourself- you could resonate with. Just out of reach from one's goals, only for circumstance to put miles between. You gave her a pat on the shoulder, and nodded in mutual understanding. "Now, let's get out of here, I'm freezing!" Your little quip put a hint of a smile on her otherwise somber face, and as you began to follow her back up the stairs, you threw one more glance at the dragon.

For just the smallest of moments, you could have sworn he moved but an inch.

Aika didn't seem to notice, her eyes down at the steps.

You were just seeing things then. Surely.

You shook yourself right, and carefully made your way back up to the surface.

The crystalline breeze atop the powdery snow cliffs outside were not much more comforting than the bone-chilling aura of Zorkuth's chamber. Electing to still make some haste to avoid another run in with the spiders, you and Aika now stood at the edge of the entry platform that decorated the front doors of the temple. The howl of winter wind whistled through the canyon that you fought the mountain troll in, reaching your ears as an ethereal wail that matched the bright white landscape all too well. It was as if time were as frozen as the weather itself, with the moon's glow not angled much more than when you had first delved down. "It's kind of beautiful, isn't it?" Aika's voice had regained its airy quality, shackled less by the chains of doubt and defeat. You nodded, at least understanding her point if not agreeing with it. "It certainly is something, a view from the top of the world."

~

[Light]

~ Chapter I ~

---

The savory and sweet aromas of braised goat stew wafted around you like a soothing quilt of warmth, a much needed contrast to the bitter and frigid air that stung your nostrils for the better part of the night. It was well past anyone's bedtime, yet the man who had left you to reach the temple alone was more than willing to allow you and your new companion to rest before hiking back down to the world below. This cantle lit hole-in-the-cliffs served as Umildraen's humble abode; cramped not only in a stature befitting a lone dwarf rather than two humans, but it also was cluttered with a myriad of books, pelts, tools, and climbing gear adorning the walls that would encroach upon your back no matter which side of the miniscule table you sat at. Aiding to warm your belly was a rather generous serving of mead, the smooth honey wine that complimented your dinner perfectly. Sitting across from you was the man himself, looking much more awake now than he did when you stood just outside his doorway not an hour prior. To your left, Aika justified the frenzy with which she devoured her meal by graciously thanking Umildraen over and over both before and during the feast.

"We don't have goats in Geland," Aika explained in a rough Daldoran. "I've always wanted to see one for myself but, this isn't what I had in mind." A small laugh was had around the even smaller table, and she looked up from the bowl to you and him. "Even so, this is simply divine, Mister Nogrid." As you nodded in agreement, your host took a long swig of drink, comically disparaging the respectful titling of his name with a hearty belch. "No need for formalities, lass," he assured her with an affable smile. "Enjoyin' me cookin's more than enough. That, and seein' ye both safe n' sound." Umildraen leaned back in his chair and cast his gaze to you for but a moment with the same wagging finger from earlier in the night. "Ersu heard me prayer, he did. If anyone needs thankin' it's him. He ain't th'god of weather n' travels for nothin'!" Another belch succinctly ended his point as he tilted forward once more and seized his spoon with a similar hunger to Aika's.

"Indeed," you agreed as you more gracefully tended to your meal than either of those sitting with you. "We'll likely needs his fortune once again as we make our way east, we've quite a trek ahead of us." Umildraen rose an eyebrow at this, curiosity bubbling. "Oh? Is yer business in Daldon over then?" Aika shook her head to clarify. "Well- not exactly. I- we-" she seemed to freeze up, again showing apprehension to divulge the details of her mission. Luckily, you could step in before the dwarf asked too many questions. "Aika's mentor, the client that hired me to find her, simply wants to see that she's alive and well. We may yet return after some time, if the temple proves enough interest to him." You looked to your companion, who in turn gave you a very short and relieved glance in gratitude. "Ahh, seems a simple enough prayer to whip up then, har har!" Umildraen pushed his empty bowl closer to the center of the table and began to run his fingers through his long beard. "Say, I've been livin' in th'temple's shadow fer years and ain't once set foot inside. Folks like you two comin' n' goin' seem like ye handle yerselves just fine tho. I can't help but thinkin', what's in there?"

Your eyes turned to Aika, and as she met your look with one of caution, she returned to your native Gelish tongue to ask you in secret. "Should we tell him? You said we need the help but, we can't just tell everyone either, right?"

---

• Tell Umildraen about Zorkuth and Aika's goal to extract his heart.

• Tell Umildraen about the books and spiders to deflect suspicion.

• Say something else.
[Write in: Describe something to say in either Gelish or Daloran.]

[Light]

> Say something else.
[Write in: Ask Umildraen something to test his knowledge and interests.] <

---

"Follow my lead," you replied in your native tongue, leading to one cautious Aika and one confused Umildraen. "Wha- H-Hey," the dwarf stammered as he flicked his eyes between you two. "It ain't polite to leave someone outta conversatin' in his own home, y'know." Umildraen fell back in his chair with a thud, crossing his arms with a slightly disgruntled huff. Luckily, you quickly diffused the situation with some silvery wordplay. "Oh, no no you mistake us," you sought to reassure him, returning to the common Daldoran between you. "You see, part of the walk back down from the temple was filled with second-hand stories, tales of wanderlust and lofty dreams of heroism. Tales told from you to me, and then from myself to our new friend here Aika," you turned to face her, and her eyes widened as she became the center of attention. She nodded a bit too hard with a slightly lagging "Mhm!" You looked back toward your host, and folded your hands on the table before you as you continued. "She told me that she'd like to hear them from you directly though, and I'd certainly love to see what rumors or tales have spun about what the temple holds, before we er- burst your bubble- no offense." As you finished your deflective speech, it seemed like Aika finally picked up on what you were trying to say, and she threw in her own flare to sell the bit. "Oh! Yes Mister Nogrid, I'd love to compare notes about what people who live here believe and the research I collected. Who knows, maybe your wildest dreams are true?" Perhaps a bit too strong on the sell but, maybe this was one area you were the expert in.

Umildraen unfolded his hands and ran his fingers through his beard once more, humming a low and long gravelly "Mmmmmhhh," as he pondered the proposition. "All-righty lasses," he sparked with a renewed jovial expression. "Ye've earned ye'selves quite th'story then. Now, th'only thing that can make a story better is more mead!"

---

When I was but a wee lad, m'folks raised me in th'city of Jotov. Ifn' ye ain't been in Daldon for long, it's a walk n' a half down th'mountain west o'here. Anyway, Jotov's a perfect spot for folk o'all shapes n' sizes to take a trip to n' fro between Daldon and me folk's homeland below in Lasaruuj. I've been seein' travelers n' so-called "adventurers" like ye'selves long before either of you were a glint in yer folks' eyes. Th'King's men, th'Emperor's men, mercenaries, even folk you'd call vagrants. You name it, they'd been somewhere neat that wee lad Umildreaen never heard of. But when I take a gander up th'pass at that stone structure atop the highest peak in all o'Daldon, one man's tale fills me more than a thousand bowls of goat stew.

Y'see, it seemed like an ordinary day to everyone else. But to me? Every day I see someone new is anythin' but ordinary. Th'men that took a table at the bar I was workin' that night sure weren't ordinary to me. Ye take one stroll 'round Jotov above or below ground, the knights n' soldiers are wearin' red. Th'Emperor's men red n' silver, th'King's red n' gold. No, this knight n' his boys flew the bluest flag I've ever seen in me life. I sat em' down, got em' all drinks, and wasted no time askin' where they were from n' where they were goin'. Well- to me delight- it was a longer answer than I thought.

Gelish soldiers they were. Th'King's men- different King, of course. They spoke among themselves like you two just did, n' I suppose their captain saw no harm in talkin' about what he said was already common news "back home." Said they were meetin' with th'Emperor to talk about the temple atop Therakin. Yer Geland saw a nasty war with yer other neighbor Minerva quite some time ago, I'm sure you two know all about it, and word made it west of the Spine, but when they told me what was in that temple, I thought I had rocks in me ears.

Accordin' to these folk, yer King's great-great grandfather- th'man who won ye th'war- took the son of Minerva's greatest war general as a prisoner o'war. Took him west, hiked him up Therakn, dug a hole in th'mountain, tossed him down it, and closed it up good. Now- ye might be thinkin "Oh that ain't too crazy a story," but ye'd be wrong! What floored me the most was the nature of this supposed son. Turns out, he's a dragon! I couldn't believe me ears one bit! Men capturin' a dragon- alive- and sealing him in a mountain.

---

Umildraen tilted back another mug of mead, one that you, Aika, and probably Umildraen himself likely lost count of by now. He closed his tale with a mighty belch and let the mug clatter onto the table with a heavy fist. "Now, as mighty fine a tale they spun for wee lad Umildraen, there's no way it can be true, yeah?" He leaned forward and eyed you and Aika closely. "I mean- how do a bunch o'elves n' humans capture a dragon alive? N' why would they build a temple on Daldoran land-" Umildraen seemed to have an epiphany as he asked that last question, his eyes going wide in realization. "Is- is that why th'blue knight wanted to talk to th'Emperor? Is there some kinda deal between Geland and Daldon?" He went to take another drink, only to remember that his mug was empty, and so he stood to help himself again. "Is it true then? Is Zorkuth truly a dragon?"

---

• "It's true."

• "It's not true."

• "We don't know."

• Give Aika the chance to reply first.