Blinking the sleep from his eyes, Allistor looked again.  The thing was maybe two feet thick and tubular, stretching the full distance across the road and disappearing into the brush on either side.  It sure looked like a tree to him.

Until it moved.

A section near the side of the road bent, then straightened again as the whole tree seemed to slide from left to right.  Allistor’s eyes widened.  “Son of a… that’s a snake!”

He Examined it as Helen responded. “I’m glad you saw that, too.  Thought I was seeing things.”

Infant Ophidian Queen

Level 12

Health: 7,800/7,800

“Infant?  This thing’s an infant?” Allistor cursed under his breath, stepped back up into the truck.

“What do you mean, infant?” Helen asked him.   Thing’s gotta be fifty feet long at least.  Nothing in this forest grows that big.

“You haven’t learned how to Examine things yet?” Allistor asked.  When she shook her head, he said, “Okay, stare at the thing for a minute.  Really focus on it, and clear your mind.”

She did as he said, and after about half a minute, her mouth dropped open.  “Holy shit.  It does say it’s an infant!”

Allistor took a deep breath.   “You know how you said you wanted to level up?”

Helen looked at him, mouth still open, and began to shake her head. “Not that badly, I don’t.”

He chuckled.  “Well, our choice is to kill it, or wait here and hope it slithers off the road.  But it hasn’t moved much.  I think it might be sunning itself.”

Helen looked at again.  “I’m wondering where its head is.  And how long its teeth are, and whether they’re poisonous, and if they can puncture this truck, and-”

Allistor held up a hand.  “All good thoughts.  I’ve been asking myself the same thing.  And the inevitable answer is… there’s only one way to find out!   Let’s see if we can get its attention and maybe do some damage at the same time.  Drive right over that bad boy!”

Helen stared at him like he was insane, then she said, “You’re insane!”

He sent her a party invite, then on a whim, he tried sending one to Fuzzy, too.

Your companion is already a member of your party.  Do you wish to remove companion Fuzzy from your party at this time?

Feeling a little ‘duh’, he mentally selected “No” and the message went away.  Helen accepted the invite and raised shaky hands to grip the wheel and put the truck in gear.

As they got closer, she picked up speed.  The truck had large tires and a high clearance, designed to move through rough terrain when necessary.  But this was going to hurt.  Allistor braced himself against the dash.