Rolled 18, 13, 14, 10 = 55 (4d20)
>>5523011“I carry your spirit,” you assert. “I am your successor.”
“Then you will find your own path to success,” the Dragon King tells you, “but the only way forward is to crush the spirit and soul of the enemy. They must be severed from their gods. I see you are close with our own—the Dark Ones, my mothers and fathers. That closeness is its own dangers… But you have no doubt come to understand the sheer power which comes with accepting that risk. The truth is that the Gods of Light are weaker, lesser… But they ask less. They are numerous. Their creations form pacts with them, and marry them, quite readily. If you drive back the light, the rats, deer, monkeys, pigs and dogs which they made into men will be reduced once more to meat-beasts and vermin. They will break and die like animals.”
You squint. More riddles? You will need to think on this answer.
“If that is all,” the Red Dragon King interrupts your silent consideration, “send me on my way. I am done here.”
You open your mouth to speak, but your courage wavers What you are about to ask seems… Almost an insult, certainly an impropriety. Dare you do?
“Well?” demands your ancestor.
“Not yet,” you say.
“WHAT?”
“I request your aid,” you explain. “I wish to be the bearer of your essence, your spirit… To carry not just your legacy, but your very Dragon Soul, that might become his true and indisputable successor!”
He laughs a bitter, furious laugh. The Nothic fidgets in the corner of your vision, unfurling wings and twiddling claws in keen interest.
“YOU request this? REQUEST this? You little mewling thing—you distant and withered branch, you young and simple newt of a descendant! If you would rise above your station, I will commend the effort. Maybe, in this degenerate era, you could even succeed in being a bulwark against the Light, and reclaiming our world… But to hold MY soul within you? You are too weak. You would BURN! You do not have the strength of spirit for it.”
“Fine,” you hiss, through gritted teeth, pride wounded by this demeaning assessment. “Then I do not REQUEST any longer. I have you in my power, Great One. YOU are in a state of weakness—not I. I COMMAND it: join with me, and give me your power!”
The dark gaze suddenly burns with a rising tide of red, and the spirit of your ancestor fills your vision entirely. Red is all you see. Fire is all you feel. It burns as mundane fire, even dragonfire as you know it, could never burn one so far down the path as you.
“You wish to for the Red Dragon King to rule Bloodrise again?” he laughs darkly. “So be it. I will show you the True Love, the Right Path to reclaim this wretched and fallen world! Follow me, and you will SEE what it is to COMMAND, little dragonspawn!”
[DC 10/15/18, reduced by 3 for correct guesses. On a 15, you hold a true Dragon Soul. On a 12, you will be dominated or wounded. On a 7 or lower...
You die.]
