[BONUS]
Up ahead on the path, Ren spotted a small, childlike figure carved from stone. Its face and body were hidden beneath a dark robe, and as he approached, the statue slowly stirred to life.
It lifted its cupped hands and, from somewhere beneath its deep cowl, a grating whisper emerged.
"A price must be paid to forge ahead,
Pay too much, and you'll be dead.
After the war, it paints the lands,
Let your offering fill my hands."
Ren narrowed his eyes.
If his guess was correct, the statue demanded blood.
Beast blood would have worked just as well, but Ren was in no mood to waste time hunting something down. Instead, he nicked his own palm with a blade and let the blood drip into the idol's waiting hands.
The damage was minor.
When the stone palms had collected roughly a pint, the statue crumbled into dust, leaving the path clear.
Had players tried to pass without paying the toll, the idol would instead rasp:
"What is not given freely is taken by force.
