[color=95A5A6][b]> Try to solve the glowing statue puzzle. <[/b][/color]
[hider=Solution Spoiler]
Emperor, Knight, Scoundrel, Acolyte
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	[color=7ea7d8]"... And that should do it,"[/color] 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.

	[color=95A5A6]"What..."[/color] 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. [color=7ea7d8]"I wanna get a closer look too, but we should probably take the stairs,"[/color] she beamed with excitement. [color=7ea7d8]"I don't have any spells to help with falling, remember?"[/color] 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. [color=95A5A6]"Aika,"[/color] you turned to her, caution coating your hushed words. [color=95A5A6]"Is this- is this what you came here for?"[/color] 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. [color=7ea7d8]"You do know who this is, don't you? Son of The Comet Frindiath, namesake of this temple, Zorkuth?"[/color] The tale of Frindiath was known well enough across all of Geland, and you confirmed your familiarity with Zorkuth's mother by recounting it. [color=95A5A6]"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..."[/color] You recoiled slightly at the thought, but Aika quickly allayed your fears before instilling new ones. [color=7ea7d8]"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."[/color] Aika stood on the tips of her toes, giving herself a bit of height to scan the dragon from here. [color=7ea7d8]"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?"[/color] 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.

	[color=95A5A6]"Wait,"[/color] it was your turn to grab her by the arm. [color=95A5A6]"What are you doing?"[/color]

	[color=7ea7d8]"Well- I didn't just come here to look at him. I need his heart."[/color]

	[color=95A5A6]"You need his what!?"[/color]

	[color=7ea7d8]"Let me go, Verity,"[/color] she shook your hand off of her. [color=7ea7d8]"This is the whole reason I came here."[/color]

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[color=95A5A6]
	• Grab her arm again.

	• Let her approach Zorkuth alone.

	• Follow her onto the platform.
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