The peat at Imogen’s boots gives way with a wet sigh. Cold seep climbs her shins, and the bog’s surface opens wider, slow and hungry.
Elias
Give me the bundle. It keeps the hunger down.
The Spiritualist
No. It feeds it. It was meant to bind a child to the mire, and now it wants more.
The Spiritualist jerks against the unseen grip on his ankle, one knee sinking, his face gone chalk-white. The Grave Warden does not move, only keeps his hand extended over the widening hole.
Elias
He lies to save himself. The wrap is the lid, Imogen. Take it away, and the thing below wakes fully.
The Spiritualist
If you hand it over, it will loose the bond. The bog will have a mouth again.
A thin frost crawls across Imogen’s fingers where they grip the waxed bundle, as if something inside it breathes against her skin. The choice sharpens into one fact, the bundle is either a seal, or a mouth.
“Is the Grave Warden telling the truth?”
NO (Even, rolled 84)
The Grave Warden’s eyes remain fixed on the bundle, but his composure cracks as he shifts his weight, his posture betraying a subtle, predatory impatience that contradicts his calm words.
Elias
You hesitate, Imogen. That is a mistake. My name is Elias, and I am the only one here who knows how to keep the earth from swallowing you whole.
Imogen
His eyes do not match the urgency in his voice, and the frost on my hands feels like a warning, not a seal.
“I grip the bundle and step back from him”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -2)
Imogen grips the wax-wrapped bundle tighter and steps back. The frost bites through her gloves, but the retreat holds. Elias's smile thins as the mist at his feet churns harder.
Imogen
The bundle is colder now, and the wax feels brittle under my fingers.
Elias
Careful. If it slips, you may not get a second chance to put it right.
The peat behind Elias bulges once, as if something below answers his warning. The sinking man jerks against the mire and loses another inch.
The Spiritualist
Don’t listen to him, Imogen. He wants the seal, not the truth.
A sharp crack runs along the bundle's wax seam, and a sour, sweet breath leaks from it into the fog.
Elias
Then open it, if you dare. But do it now, before the bog chooses for you.
“I open the wax-wrapped bundle”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled -1)
Imogen works the brittle seam with her thumbs, and the wax gives way in a dry split. The bundle loosens in her hands, exhaling that sour sweetness into the cold.
Imogen
The wrapping is old, but the knotting beneath it is newer.
Inside lies a small form stitched in roots and ash-black cloth, crossed with little bone charms gone yellow with age. Its stillness is wrong, held tight as a prayer.
The Spiritualist
Do not let it wake. That is what was promised to the bog.
Elias
At last. Now hand it here, before the seal fails completely.
The mist around Elias tightens like a noose, and the peat behind the Spiritualist gulps once, drawing him lower as the hidden pressure shifts its attention.
The thing in the bundle stirs just enough to tug at its roots. Imogen has the truth in her hands, and the bog answers with a hungry pull.
Quest Complete
Learn what is sealed inside the bundle
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb