The scouts are scattered in the root-choked chamber, and The Unseen Watcher finally stops backing away. Ozone prickles over the rot-thick air as they square up to Teef, no longer a guide, but the hand behind the trap.
The Unseen Watcher
You were never meant to win cleanly. The trail-skull was bait, and you were the answer.
They lift one hand toward the crater wall. Hidden roots twitch, then split, revealing a jagged hollow packed with blackened bones and pale fungus. The chamber was built to funnel fighters here.
The Unseen Watcher
The scouts were only the leash. When the strongest stepped forward, the root-heart would wake.
Teef advances through drifting dust, her bloodied warhammer raised. Behind the Watcher, Scout One hangs limp against the wall, and the others falter, suddenly less certain of their master's promise.
Teef
It was a trap. They wanted the chamber opened, not the skull recovered.
Cresher
Then say it plain. What wakes in there, and how many of us did you mean to feed it?
✓ Quest Accepted
Confront The Unseen Watcher
✓ Quest Accepted
Kill The Unseen Watcher
“Teef doesn't care what he has to say, he backstabbed them, and now he dies. She swings for his head.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Combat, rolled +0)
Teef’s warhammer crashes through the Watcher’s guard with a wet, final crack. Their head snaps sideways, and they fold under the blow, stumbling hard into the torn roots by the hollow.
Pale fungus trembles in the gap as dust bursts from the wall. The chamber seems to hold its breath, while Cresher and the scouts freeze at the impact.
The Unseen Watcher
No, wait...
The Watcher drops to their knees, one hand slapping the stone for balance. Blood runs down into the blackened bones, and their hood hangs askew, their face slack with shock.
Cresher
There, then. Speak your poison now, if you can still manage it.
Scout Two recoils and backs toward the broken passage, while Scout Three turns fully to flee. In the wall, the ominous hollow keeps twitching with pale glints deep inside.
The Unseen Watcher
If I die here, the root-heart wakes without a leash...
Quest Complete
Confront The Unseen Watcher