The silt bursts upward. A vast, scaled limb knifes through the river, not striking Emma, but locking around the Witch’s waist and dragging her toward the brown boil of water.
The Witch
No, no, release me! Emma, move, now!
The Traveler stumbles back from the bank, staring as the current heaves around the trapped woman. The river wall bulges harder, then cracks with a wet groan.
Harlan
That thing is bigger than the crossing. Gods, what is in there?
A second shape rises in the churning silt, long-necked and hide-armored, eyes like dull brass. It fixes on the Witch, then on Emma, as if weighing both.
The Deep Serpent
Two harriers at my ford. One drowns, one kneels.
The Witch claws at the mud, one hand stretching toward Emma, her spell breaking into sparks against the water. The choice hits fast, with the river still trying to swallow everything.
✓ Quest Accepted
Survive the witch's attack
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the traveler
“If I gave weekly prayers to the god like being, and gave weekly offerings, would me and the traveler survive?”
YES, AND MORE (Unlikely, rolled 6)
The Deep Serpent tightens its grip, and the Witch's desperate reach toward Emma turns into a frantic, clawing scramble against the creature's scales. As the water surges, a faint, golden light pulses from the riverbed, a sign of ancient pacts that seem to ripple through the very silt.
The Witch
The river remembers the tithe, girl. If you offer your devotion, the depths will spare you both.
Emma
The water is shifting, and the creature seems to be listening to her.
“I let the ancient creature, take me into the water not resisting with a desperate plea. “If I gave weekly prayers to you agod like being, and gave weekly offerings, would you let me and the traveler survive?””
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +1)
The serpent loosens just enough to study Emma, its golden pulse sinking deeper into the water. The Witch hangs in its grasp, wet and shaken, no longer fighting as hard.
Emma
If I give weekly prayers to you, and weekly offerings, will you let me and the traveler survive?
The current hushes around the words. The riverbed light flares once, then steadies, as if something ancient hears her plainly.
The Deep Serpent
Prayers are remembered. Offerings are weighed. Kneel with honesty, and the ford may spare what I choose to spare.
The Witch
You bargain like a farmhand at market, girl... but the depths answer payment, not pride.
At that, the serpent shifts its coils and releases the Witch from the worst of its grip. She slips free into the shallows, coughing, alive but stripped of command.
Harlan
Then it is done? We can leave without being torn apart?
Quest Complete
Protect the traveler
Quest Complete
Survive the witch's attack