Skill: Guardian

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Set during Solvi's recovery in Northfall

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For a long time now Alder had tried to push the concerning dreams from his mind. There had still been a very slim chance up to this point that they were simply a result of bad meat before bed, but now there was an umistakable sense of urgency surrounding the end of the world.

It would happen when Sølvi returned.

Alder had left her sleeping in his den. He'd spent nearly every waking moment since her arrival stationed just outside, and in the few hours where he would try and catch some sleep he made sure sure to sprawl out in such a way where she could never get past without rousing him. Gods be damned, but she wouldn't disappear again on his watch.

Nothing - no one - would ever hurt her again.

Before his departure, he had made very, very sure - to the best of his ability, which included a series of loud noises and some careful prodding - she was asleep. Satisfied, he crept away from the den, and the singular thought driving him forward was: if I can help stop the end of the world, I'll have more time with Solvi.

It was a juvenile thought for a nearly four-year-old wolf, but he didn't care.

Risking the elements, Alder stepped out onto the winding paths of Northfall's mountainside and began to search for the glowing stones from his dream.

Rune Discovery : 「 Success — Tectonic Tampering 」 

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Your search leads you over rough terrain and through a blisteringly cold fog of unseasonable storm. But you know these trails, these mountains. Years of hard work have honed you into something… well, acceptable, to the task at hand. If only your training had taught you to fight the weather, or giant blue cracks!

In the end, it’s your heart that sees you to victory, more than anything. An unwavering doggedness that demands Mythris give up its secrets. Through the gloom a faint glow from beneath the snow catches your eye.

A rune! It has to be!

You hurry toward such a promising light and dig it out beneath tendrils of frozen roots. They’re stubborn, too, and don’t want to give up their prize. Its almost desperate, the way the earth holds onto this ancient magic.

You make them anyway. Nothing will stop you from protecting the one you love, least of all a tree. When they give way, and you scrape the rune free of its prison, you’re surprised to find…

More blue light? Is there another Rune here? Have you cracked some kind of ancient mystery and found a whole trove of them buried underneath this singularly obstinate evergreen?

The Dream Visitor doesn’t speak, but you feel a sudden spear of anxiety that can’t be entirely your own. It’s the only forewarning you get.

Ribbons of violent cerulean open before your paws in jerky, twisting motions. The world tears itself asunder, like the earth has gone rabid. Shaking the mountainside, it swallows trees, stones, snow—!

It’ll swallow you too, if you aren’t quick.