The Debt-Collector melts into shadow-mist across the floor, but the tether does not die. It crawls up Butch's arm instead, black and hot, as the chamber shudders around them.
Sable
Butch, do not let it settle. Break it now.
The Hooded Figure steps from the dark breach, staring at the smoking sigil with open dread. The sealing wall behind them grinds tighter, forcing the chamber smaller by the breath.
The Hooded Figure
If it roots through you, it will make a new collector. That tether needs a will, or it feeds on yours.
Butch the Wereboar
The tether is a handle, and it is still live.
Sable shifts beside Butch, shield braced, while the black thread pulses toward the moor's heart. In the sudden silence, the choice is plain, destroy the tether now, or risk carrying the debt itself.
✓ Quest Accepted
Break the tether’s hold on Butch and Sable
✓ Quest Accepted
Destroy the debt-tether before it roots into Butch
“I grab the black thread with my bare hand and rip it from my skin”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Butch clamps his bare hand around the black thread and yanks. The tether snarls free in one brutal pull, peeling away from his skin in a ribbon of cold light.
Butch the Wereboar
It comes loose.
The thread lashes once between his fist and the air, then snaps back on itself, writhing without a body to root in.
Sable
Hold it, Butch. Do not let it find a new grip.
Butch's arm clears, the burn fading to a dull red line as the black-violet pulse falters. The chamber still grinds tighter, and the breach spits shadow-mist across the floor.
The Hooded Figure
It has no anchor now. Look, it is starving.
The severed tether coils weakly over the puddled shadow-mist, no longer rooted in Butch or Sable. For a breath, the moor's pull goes quiet, waiting for what they do next.
Quest Complete
Destroy the debt-tether before it roots into Butch
Quest Complete
Break the tether’s hold on Butch and Sable
New Gift: Tether Breaker