Tuiwen bursts into the hidden shelter beside Eldred just as the creature bends over the floor. Dark strands seep from its flickering shape into the wood and root below.
The thing whips upright, smoke-thin and wrong, its hollow gaze locking on her. The runes in the planks begin to dim under the stain.
The Entity
Too late. The roots are listening now.
Tuiwen
The stain is spreading into the floor.
Eldred plants himself at Tuiwen’s side, bow half-raised, eyes fixed on the threshold behind the thing. The shelter feels suddenly smaller, as if the forest itself is holding its breath.
Eldred
Strike it before it anchors deeper. If it roots here, it will poison every path it has marked.
The creature draws its shape tighter, torn between flight and defense, while the dark seep at its feet claws farther into the ancient wood. Tuiwen has found it in its lair, and every moment now decides whether the forest is saved or tainted.
“She slashes at the roots with her sword.”
FAILURE (Good Melee Weapons, rolled -3)
Tuiwen’s blade bites into the lower tangle of roots, but the wood gives with a slick, living twist. Instead of severing, it skims aside and throws sparks of dark sap across the planks.
The roots recoil, then cinch tighter around the stain at the floor seam, dragging the corruption outward in a spreading ring. The runes dim further, half-swallowed by the black seep.
The Entity jerks back from the cut, smoke unraveling from its shoulders. It stays upright, but its shape frays where Tuiwen struck, as if the shelter itself refuses to let the blade find purchase.
The Entity
No, little star. This wood bends to me now.
Eldred
It is feeding on the floor, not just hiding in it, cut higher or drive it off!
Tuiwen’s stroke leaves a shallow notch in the roots and a fresh smear of black resin on her blade, but the anchoring line remains. The threshold behind the thing is still open, and the stain keeps creeping.
Quest Complete
Reach the foreign deceiver
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Great→Superb