King vs Beast: Shattersword Cavern

Shattersword Cavern — The king and the beast

Decades before the Hero went to Shattersword, a young Alteon defeated Graveclaw the Defiler. Alteon said he nearly died in the battle. He imprisoned the beast beneath the Forest of Chaos to protect the nearby villages.

As Alteon told the Hero about Graveclaw from his sickbed, he ordered Princess Victoria to put down her weapon and leave. The Hero remarked that her shooting could be useful. Alteon hoped to spare his daughters the dangers of combat and believed Victoria would understand someday.

Shattersword Cavern — The Defiler rises again

Alteon said his mages discovered that continuous battle drained Graveclaw’s power. Gravelyn sent warriors into the cavern to keep his strength from returning. Alteon said Graveclaw’s power combined with the cavern’s dark magic, changing the beast and twisting the warriors sent to fight him.

Graveclaw had gathered an army and grown strong enough to break out of his prison. When the Hero asked where Gravelyn found volunteers for such a duty, Alteon said she had never told him and he had never asked. With Graveclaw an immediate threat, he asked the Hero for help.

Shattersword Cavern — Robina in the cavern

Robina joined the Hero in Shattersword. She said her father had no idea what she did outside the palace and hoped their adventures would show him what she could do. They reinforced the security orbs and drove off the Forest Imps that kept breaking them. They fought the Fallen Warriors and the Dark Faeries whose magic strengthened Graveclaw’s corruption.

The prisoners and Fallen Warriors had become part of the Defiler’s army. The Hero brought Robina ingredients for a potion against the cavern’s poison. She sent the Hero ahead while she prepared it. The prisoners who had once served Gravelyn were attacking an elf. Robina sent the Hero to intervene and then told the Hero to find JiSerai.

Shattersword Cavern — JiSerai and the Tree of Hope

JiSerai thanked the Hero for the rescue. Her people had fled the area as Chaos grew stronger, though some still returned to test themselves against its creatures. She believed Graveclaw’s taint had driven the Forest Elves who came with her mad. The Hero fought them and collected the gear needed to descend. JiSerai asked for help bringing her relatives’ bodies home.

The Hero defended an elven tree from the Forest Imps. JiSerai believed the Tree of Hope’s light was already weakening Graveclaw’s hold. She asked the Hero to nourish its roots with cavern water and fight off the prisoners threatening it. She hoped the tree could help heal the cavern and the Forest of Chaos. She sent the Hero to meet Robina at the end of the cave.

JiSerai also offered the Hero a separate task. Her people collected the sparks left by Dark Faeries for their Elixir of Light.

Shattersword Cavern — The battle Alteon began

The Hero went to the end of the cavern to finish the battle Alteon had begun decades earlier. The Hero could take the same task from either Robina or JiSerai. They asked the Hero to defeat Graveclaw before he could attack Swordhaven. The Hero faced the Defiler in a cavern strewn with bones and defeated him. Robina thanked the Hero for removing a threat to Swordhaven and Shadowfall and hoped the cavern and forest could recover.

Shattersword Cavern — Back at court

Victoria recognized the traces the cavern had left on the Hero’s gear and offered help from the armory. Alteon started to ask how she knew, then turned to the Hero to discuss what had happened. Victoria asked the Hero to meet her later in the common hall, because her father left her out of his discussions of strategy.

Alteon said the land was safer because of the Hero and offered a reward. The Hero said they had acted while Alteon was ill and that he would have fought as bravely himself if he had been well. Alteon feared the Hero would have to fight on his behalf or for those he loved again. The Hero promised to come whenever his land needed aid.