At the upper bamboo pool, the black water stills. The ink-like silhouette rises again, and this time it matches Nanera’s stance almost exactly, as if the corruption remembers her form from the dojo floor.
The pool reflects only a warped canopy and the curve of Nanera’s robes. Around the edge, the dark seep crawls through cracked stone, linking this place to the stain she saw spreading below.
Nanera plants her feet on the wet bank and raises her bamboo staff. The silhouette mirrors the motion a heartbeat later, pulsing in rhythm with the water.
Brenth
It learns by watching. Break the pattern, not the body.
The surface ripples once. The mirrored shape leans in, testing Nanera’s guard without striking, as if waiting for her next move.
The Traveling Healer
Nanera, the pool is feeding on your form. If you make a mistake here, the village feels it below.
“I break the mirror pattern with an irregular stance”
SUCCESS (Great Hand-to-Hand Combat, rolled +0)
Nanera shifts off the centerline, one foot skimming the wet stone. Her stance breaks its own rhythm on purpose, a soft feint into stillness.
The mirrored shape stutters. Its guard slips out of sync, as if the pool cannot decide which Nanera to follow.
She lets the staff dip, then rises through an angle the reflection does not expect. The black surface ripples wide and loses her exact shape.
For a breath, the water shows only broken bamboo, dark stone, and Nanera’s true form, unblended and whole.
Brenth
Good. It cannot hold what refuses its rhythm.
The Traveling Healer
The pool has lost its grip on your posture. Look, the seep is thinning at the edge.
A faint line of blackness withdraws from the nearest crack, leaving the pool’s surface restless and open, waiting for Nanera’s next choice.
Quest Complete
Investigate the upper bamboo pool
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb