The narrow gap in the treeline shivers wider, then closes halfway again, like something breathing behind the bark. The crying is gone. In its place is a silence that feels listened to.
A gaunt figure pushes out of the mist, root-wrapped and slick with black peat, not charging, only advancing with the patience of a thing that knows the ground owes it passage. The cold drops hard around Imogen.
Kaelus
That bundle is mine by old right. Give it here, and I will not trouble your crossing.
Elias
Do not hand it over. It has no right to claim anything.
The trees bend inward with a slow, creaking pressure, their branches knitting the way back into a dim wall of wet black needles. Behind Imogen, the bog seems farther away than it should.
Imogen
The gap is still open, but only just.
Kaelus
You feel it too. The seal is thinning. I am the nearest thing to a witness left alive in this place. Hand it over before it learns your name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Cross the marked threshold
✓ Quest Accepted
Survive the bog's reaction
“Step through the narrow gap in the trees before it closes completely.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +2)