Orc Cave

Ilmadia begins to glow.

At first the radiance appears much like Zenithral’s own when he calls on his divine power. Ilmadia stares in wonder at her hands for a moment as they ripple with light. Then she flinches, a precursor of what is to come.

A moment later, light bursts from her eyes and mouth, a scalding torrent that causes the air in the cave to hum. Ilmadia lets out a cry of pain, and then a pulse of radiant energy billows out into the rest of the cave (Everyone present takes 20 radiant damage).

As the companions blink away the blinding light, they see that whatever is happening to Ilmadia is only beginning. The glow intensifies again, and they know another charring pulse is imminent.

Another pulse of light rips free from Ilmadia’s form, and for a moment Zenithral’s vision goes entirely white. Just before him, Ilmadia gasps in pain (30 radiant damage to all in the cave).

As his sight clears, Zenithral notices an afterimage lingering in his vision: a web of chains wrapped all about his mother, intricately fashioned and crushing her with terrible strength. The outmost layer of chains has a molten glow about it, as though it is being superheated to a breaking point.

The area around Ilmadia’s eyes reddens as if burned as the light continues to pour out, but Zenithral absorbs as much of the pain as he can, channeling it into his own body.

The outer layer of chains about Ilmadia glows white-hot and then shatters, revealing another layer below. The bindings are deep.

This isn’t over yet.

Another pulse of light condenses around Ilmadia and then radiates outward, even more powerful than the first two (40 radiant damage).

Another layer of chains explodes into light. How many more are there to go? Just how deeply can one bind oneself to a hellish patron?

The floor rumbles as the light continues to expand.

Those without the cave can hardly stand to look at the cave entrance as a fourth pulse flashes from within (50 damage to those in the cave). Surely only those gifted with celestial resistance can survive in that. But for how long...?

Ilmadia screams with pain, but seems determined to see this through.

Ilmadia clutches Zenithral’s hand and gasps as his strength flows into her. As Zenithral summons his heavenly power, he notices something on the floor nearby. Two somethings.

Through the blinding light, Zenithral just barely makes out two severed wings on the ground. They appear much as his own that he can sometimes call upon, but these are crumpled. Discarded.

Another pulse of light threatens to char body and soul (Another 50 radiant damage).

Ilmadia weeps, but the tears immediately vaporize before fully forming.

Zenithral’s own light adds to the glow in the room, but rather than blind him further, he finds he can suddenly see much more clearly with his own eyes alight. The cave walls and floor, the discarded wings. His mother’s face...

She looks terrified. Not only from the searing radiance within and around her, but also the hellish chains that continue to restrict her. Even as each of the thick chains breaks, yet another reveals itself beneath.

With this newfound awareness, Zenithral notices for the first time a golden tether behind himself that seems to extend upward, through the cave ceiling and beyond. Somehow, he is simply aware of Myllandra on the far end of the tether. His counselor. His guide. His unique connection to the divine.

I cannot. The pact still binds her, and so Ilmater will continue. Myllandra’s voice is stiff and formal, but Zenithral thinks he detects sorrow in her voice.

His own radiance will not be enough to protect him from this next pulse. As the wave builds, he knows that it will be the worst one yet.

Something about his mother draws his attention once more in the moments before the next pulse is released. There, just beneath the next layer of chains, Zenithral sees slack line - another tether, this one connected to Ilmadia. Unlike his own shining one, Ilmadia’s is dim and sickly, as though it has never been used.

The floor rumbles, and Ilmadia lets out a ragged sob. Any moment now...