The root tunnel opens into a round hollow, and at its heart hangs a translucent orb, steady as a moon under water. Its pulse thumps through the roots, holding the ceiling from caving in.
Gobbo and the Wisp stop at the edge of the chamber. Above them, thin cracks thread the dirt like pale veins, and loose grains spill now and then onto the floor.
The Wisp
That sphere is the anchor. If it fades, the whole pocket comes down.
The Wisp’s glow weakens as it points to the orb, then to a narrow seam in the roots beside it. A hidden path, just beyond the failing light.
The Wisp
There is a way through, but the tunnel needs the sphere. We must keep it bright, or leave quickly.
Gobbo sees the answer plainly now, the secret paths only stay open while this magic holds the earth above. Follow the orb’s pulse, and the forest will let her pass. Ignore it, and the way closes behind her.
✓ Quest Accepted
Steal the orb and replace the crushing magic sphere
“"shiny.." i attempted to steal the orb, and put it in my inventory. but when i did a hoard of magical hands grabbed me, stretching me out, twisting me, inflating me, before crushing me into a handheld sphere with my face and gigantic bosom. my body put ontop the pedestal to replace the sphere. and as insult to degradation a hand gave me a magical spit-shine with a rag”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled -1)
Gobbo the Goblin
Shiny...
Through Gobbo's eyes, her reaching hands close around the orb. Its pulse slips into her inventory, leaving the pedestal bare.
The silence lasts one heartbeat. Then a hoard of luminous hands bursts from the roots and seizes Gobbo from every side.
The magic stretches and twists her durable form, compressing her into a small enchanted sphere with her face and exaggerated torso still visible across its surface.
The hands set Gobbo's transformed body on the vacant pedestal. The tunnel's pulse returns, but the ceiling cracks widen from the violent exchange.
One lingering hand rubs a rag across the sphere in a brisk magical polish, then vanishes. Gobbo remains the anchor, while the stolen orb rests safely in her inventory.
The Wisp
The path holds, but only barely. I can guide you onward if you can move, or I can search for a way to restore your shape.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the collapsing root tunnel
Quest Complete
Steal the orb and replace the crushing magic sphere
+ New Item Acquired
Magical orb
“i tried to escape, but the magic hands were gluing me down, my bosom unflattening from my sphered form with a loud bwomp, just for my magic to be sapped away gallon by gallon from my bosom to feed the tunnel. a magic hand covering my mouth to try and objectify me”
FAILURE (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Gobbo the Goblin strains against the luminous hands. The sphere-body dents beneath the pressure, but the pedestal holds her fast.
Her flattened form swells outward with a loud bwomp. The reshaping jars loose a ribbon of stolen magic, which streams from her glowing surface into the roots.
A luminous hand seals over Gobbo's mouth as the tunnel drinks faster. The anchor brightens, but fresh cracks race along the ceiling.
The Wisp
Do not fight the whole binding. There, beneath your left side, the magic is thin.
Therefore, Gobbo's struggle shifts the sphere just enough to expose a hairline seam in the pedestal's roots. Beyond it, blue light marks a narrow passage descending away from the chamber.
The Wisp
That is an opening. I can pull at the seam and guide you through, but the anchor will weaken while you move.
The hand over Gobbo's mouth tightens, and the pedestal grinds beneath her. Dust falls as the hidden passage flickers between open and sealed.
The Wisp
Choose quickly, Gobbo. The seam, or this failing chamber.
“my face dissapeared from the relentless polishing and my entire form turned green. just a orb with goblin ears and a massive bosom”
SUCCESS (Legendary Health, rolled +0)
The polishing passes over Gobbo the Goblin one final time. Her face is gone, her surface settles into a smooth green orb, and two goblin ears curl from the top beside her massive bosom.
Therefore, the luminous hands stop forcing her shape. They remain pressed around the orb, holding it firmly against the pedestal while the anchor's pulse evens into a slow rhythm.
The Wisp
There you are. Not erased, only changed. The roots recognize you more easily this way.
Dust still drifts through the chamber, but the falling grit thins. The blue passage stays open beneath the pedestal, its light resting quietly along the roots.
The Wisp
I have guided you through hidden places, yet I have never asked what it is like to be carried by magic instead of walking through it.
The Wisp lowers its glow beside Gobbo's new ear, close enough for the orb's green surface to reflect the soft blue light. For a moment, the chamber offers only that reflection and the steady pulse beneath her.
The Wisp
We can stay with this quiet for a breath, Gobbo. Then, when you are ready, I will show you the way down.
“i was going through extreme exhaution, sensation euphoria, extreme embarrassment, and anger from my bosom being used as a mana resevoir. and the wisp is simply teasing me as im reduced to a mere magic orb. any physical hints of me being a person was gone. just a dark green orb with goblin ears and a massive bosom, not even a torso or shoulders were seen”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
The magic continues to draw through Gobbo the Goblin, a steady current from her reshaped body into the roots. Exhaustion presses at her awareness, but it does not carry her away.
Her anger remains clear beneath the strange, bright sensation. The luminous hands hold her in place, yet her awareness stays wholly her own.
The Wisp
Still listening, are you? I wondered whether becoming an anchor would make you more patient.
The Wisp's glow ripples with unmistakable amusement. Gobbo the Goblin endures the teasing without losing track of the chamber, the pedestal, or the blue passage below.
The Wisp
You are not a mere orb to me. You are a very stubborn traveler temporarily shaped like one.
That distinction changes nothing about the pressure against her, but it gives the quiet a sharper edge. Gobbo the Goblin remains present inside the smooth dark-green sphere, alert beneath the borrowed shape.
The Wisp
I can keep talking, if it helps. Or I can be quiet beside you until the roots finish taking what they need.
“the roots began to make this more and more degrading for me, making me more and more objectified”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
The roots change their pressure. Their glow traces Gobbo the Goblin's rounded surface in neat bands, measuring her like a useful vessel instead of recognizing the person within.
The pedestal answers with a dull pulse. Gobbo the Goblin remains aware through every humiliating adjustment, keeping hold of the simple fact that she is still herself.
The Wisp
I see it. They are not merely anchoring you now. They are assigning you a purpose, as if purpose were the same thing as permission.
Gobbo the Goblin endures without surrendering that distinction. The roots settle her into a polished, convenient shape, and her resistance survives inside it.
The Wisp
You do not have to make their shape mean anything about you. A cage can be ornate and still be a cage.
The cost arrives quietly. The steady draining leaves Gobbo the Goblin's awareness heavy and slow, while the luminous hand remains over her mouth, denying even a muffled reply.
The Wisp
I can keep witness. I can remember the traveler beneath the spell, if that is useful to you.
The blue passage continues to glow below the pedestal. Dust drifts through the chamber in thin, harmless veils as the Wisp waits beside her, giving the silence room.
“the cavern failed to consume my endless supply of mana. and instead rediverting EVERYTHING it had into me, the plant energy, monster dna's, water, moss, queen bee honey, slimes, non-sentient wisps, it forced me to be the canister of it all. bloating my bosom more and more, the magic hands pulling and stretching me out, forcing me to take all of it”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Gobbo the Goblin turns the cavern's failing current inward. Plant-force, water, moss, honey, slime, and dormant monster traces pour through the anchor and gather inside her malleable form.
The luminous hands stretch her into a swollen living vessel, forcing every stray reserve into one contained body. The flow obeys her redirection, but the strain leaves her awareness sluggish and her shape painfully heavy.
The Wisp
You caught it. All of it. But the anchor has nothing left to hold the chamber together.
The pedestal's pulse stops. A deep crack splits the chamber floor, and the root walls fold inward as the gathered magic abandons their support.
The luminous hands release Gobbo the Goblin. Her newly burdened form drops through the blue-lit passage as roots shear shut behind her, sealing the collapsing chamber away.
The Wisp
Keep moving. I will guide you through the dark, but I cannot carry what you have become.
Quest Complete
Escape the collapsing root tunnel
Skill Upgrade: Survival Mediocre