The graveyard floor liquefies into a slurry of wet soil and ancient, splintered bone. Bera scrabbles at the slick granite of a weathered tombstone, her fingernails tearing against the stone as the ledge beneath her vanishes into the abyss.
Bera
I cannot hold on. The weight of the earth is pulling me down into the throat of the grave.
She twists her torso, eyes wide with terror as she stares into the swirling darkness below. With a final, desperate heave, she kicks off the crumbling foundation, launching her body toward the only solid patch of ground remaining on the shifting shelf.
Xarsthos
Hold firm, I have you!
Xarsthos lunges across the gap, his boots sliding through the mud as he stretches his arm forward. His fingers lock onto Bera's forearm just as the tombstone she held snaps away, plummeting into the void.
“With all my strength, I lift Bera out of the whole and safely out of harms way”
SUCCESS (Good Strength, rolled +2)
Xarsthos plants his boots into the shifting muck, his muscles coiling beneath his skin as he anchors himself against the slide. With a guttural roar, he heaves, his massive frame acting as a fulcrum.
Xarsthos
Not today, you wretched earth.
The raw power in his arms defies the gravity of the pit. Bera is hoisted effortlessly from the precipice, her boots scuffing the edge before she is deposited onto solid, dry ground. The tombstone she previously clung to vanishes into the dark, swallowed by the settling dust of the abyss.
Bera
He moved with the strength of a falling mountain. I am alive.
The ground groans, the sinkhole widening further to reveal the jagged remnants of burial caskets below. Behind them, Valerius remains still, his shadow stretching long and thin across the broken graveyard floor.
+ Scene Quest Added
Escort Bera and Valerius safely out of the crumbling graveyard
“I grab Valerius' body and motion to Bera "come, let us leave this accursed place"”
SUCCESS (Good Strength, rolled +1)
Xarsthos pivots, his boots crushing dry grave-soil into the widening fissure. He lunges toward the stiffening form of Valerius, his hands locking onto the dead man's tunic with effortless, iron-grip strength. With a grunt of exertion, he heaves the corpse over his shoulder as if it were a mere sack of grain.
Xarsthos
Come, Bera. We do not linger for the dead to reclaim their secrets. We leave this accursed place now.
The ground heaves once more, a deep, resonant rumble vibrating through the soles of their boots. Stones tumble into the abyss, clattering against the shattered caskets far below. Bera stares at the hollow darkness for a heartbeat, her eyes wide, before she scramble toward Xarsthos.
Bera
The earth is hungry today. I will not be its meal.
She clutches her tattered shawl and moves toward the path, her gaze fixed on the solid ground beyond the graveyard fence.
Quest Complete
Escort Bera and Valerius safely out of the crumbling graveyard