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The Ancient Pact Broken

An ancient pact still runs. Banish the demon that signed it.

Requirements

Quest Prerequisites

Walkthrough

  1. Check the Drypocket ward
    The ward-tender meets you with the seal lines half re-poured. 'It split again the day after Glowrock burned. Same hairline. Whatever you cut over there had a parent. The court ledger pointed at Sootstep. So do my lines.'
  2. Meet the bard at the Sootstep campfire
    The bard hums a stanza you know. The same key as the pact.
  3. Stage at Sootstep Bank
    You arrange your kit. The crater air smells of cinder.
  4. Cut the binding sigil
    You cut the sigil onto two fresh wax discs while the clerk reads the name from the second ledger out loud. The discs warm in your hand. They'll hold once, against the one they were cut for.
  5. Channel the rift origin
    The Sootstep crystal is twice the size of the Drypocket one and twice as steady. You feed it the first sigil disc. The far side of the rift goes quiet for the first time in a month. Something on the other side stops pretending it didn't hear you.
  6. Cut down a herald
    It came through to test the disc. The disc held the rift, not the herald. You finished the herald yourself. One enforcer down before the main contract holder shows.
  7. Recover the original pact
    The pact is bound in something that isn't leather. The signature is older than the building. The counter-signature is six names long, all of them mayors of towns that no longer exist. The terms still run.
  8. Confirm the terms with the old ward-tender
    The retired ward-tender at the fire reads the pact twice and laughs once. 'My grandfather signed the fourth line. We've been paying the interest in rifts ever since. Burn it on the demon, not before. It only counts as broken if the holder sees it end.'
  9. Cut down the contract enforcer
    The greater demon came in with the pact's own seal on its chest. It wanted to renegotiate. You answered with the second sigil disc and a clean blade. The seal cracked in three. Two enforcers gone.
  10. Cut the banishing sigil
    The clerk cuts the banishing sigil onto the pact itself. It glows once and stays glowing. 'When it sees this lit, the contract ends. It will not be calm about that. It hasn't been calm since the third mayor died.'
  11. Bind the pact to a haft
    You wrap the lit pact around a clean blade haft at the workbench. The glow climbs the blade. The clerk steps back. 'That'll only last one swing. Make it count. It will already know you're coming.'
  12. End the ancient demon
    It met you on the lip of the crater with a contract folder under one arm. It opened with terms. You answered with the bound blade. The pact ended on the first swing. The rest of the fight was an old thing that already knew it was over, refusing to admit it.
  13. Re-pour the Drypocket ward
    The ward-tender pours the new seal lines herself this time. The font runs clean for the first time since Glowrock. 'No more hairlines. No more debtors at the crystal. Whatever you did at Sootstep, the contract on this town is closed. Sit down. You look terrible.'

Rewards

Experience

Items

Reroll Credits: 80