Eldjhartað reaches the gate road with his bloody greatsword ready. The fortified town has lost all order: possessed inhabitants sprint through the open gate, while others lie dead in the snow.
Several plated reapers stand motionless among the fallen, their scorpion bodies and beetle-armored heads threaded with black filaments. No companion walks beside Eldjhartað; the scholar fled, and the unconscious child remains beneath the alder roots.
Beyond the gate, defenders in patched leather and wool stumble among overturned carts. Some raise weapons toward fleeing townsfolk, unable to tell the possessed from the living.
In the square, a towering dryadlike creature rises from the gatehouse timbers, an androgynous adult form of bark, root, and grey-green growth. Its branchlike crown pierces the roof, while a hollow face watches the road.
Black filaments run from the creature’s rooted limbs into the reapers and nearby bodies. With each slow pull, a corpse jerks upright or a fleeing person changes direction toward the square.
the gate captain
Hold there! Stranger, if you still command your own limbs, say so and keep that blade lowered!
The dryadlike vessel turns its hollow face toward Eldjhartað. Every motionless reaper pivots with it, while the open gate groans behind him and the defenders await his answer.
✓ Quest Accepted
Confront the dryadlike vessel
“*He moves slowly towards the creatures blade in hand ready to end it all.* “If you value your life kill that thing.””
SUCCESS (Superb Melee Weapons, rolled -1)
Eldjhartað Logison
If you value your life, kill that thing.
Eldjhartað advances slowly through the gate road, greatsword ready. The reapers pivot toward him, black filaments tightening, while the gate captain studies the rooted vessel.
the gate captain
You heard him! Bring it down before it pulls another body upright!
The defenders obey. Spears and axes strike the dryadlike creature’s rooted limbs, severing the black filaments. The vessel arches against the gatehouse timbers as its hollow face splits with a dry crack.
the gate captain
Keep striking! Do not let those roots touch you!
The dryadlike vessel collapses inward, dragging several reapers down with it. The square’s remaining possessed bodies fall still, but the gatehouse roof caves sharply, burying the captain’s left arm beneath broken timber.
the gate captain
It is dead, stranger. Now get this beam off me before the town finds another way to kill us.
Quest Complete
Confront the dryadlike vessel
““It’s not dead you simply hurt it.”*He said pulling him out, a mercy in the world of bleak. He runs towards the dryad, the hole it came from, he jumps in after it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +0)
Eldjhartað Logison
It is not dead. You simply hurt it.
Eldjhartað lowers his greatsword, seizes the gate captain by his unburied shoulder, and hauls him free from the broken timber with brutal efficiency.
the gate captain
You call that mercy? Then spend it quickly. The thing went below the gatehouse.
The captain rolls clear, clutching his injured arm. Beneath the collapsed roots, the dryadlike vessel has left a ragged opening where its rooted body pierced the earth.
Eldjhartað runs toward the hole, boots scattering splintered wood and snow. Below, black filaments writhe through the darkness, drawing the ruined vessel deeper beneath the square.
the gate captain
Stranger, wait! That shaft runs under the town. If it reaches the old foundations, every street becomes a mouth!
Eldjhartað jumps into the opening after it. He lands on a sloping bed of roots and damp earth, greatsword raised, while the gatehouse groans overhead and the darkness retreats below.
Director's note
He does not care as long as he can kill it.