label pondweed:
window hide
with Pause(1)
show text "The Woman with Pondweed Hair" with dissolve
with Pause(2)
hide text with dissolve
window show
show woods zorder 1 with dissolve
"""

The shape, the dark shadow you have been watching the whole time you have been fishing, moves.

You had wondered what it was.  Some piece of flotsam, dredged up by some unusual current and now lying in a heap on the bank just a little way downriver from you.

You must have walked past it on your way here, but in the darkness you had not noticed it until you had already begun your work, idly looking around while you waited.

But now, when you are all packed up, it moves.

The tangled mess of organic material that you had presumed it had picked up in the water does not fall off as the figure uncurls, its long limbs straightening, arms moving beneath its chest and legs bracing, pushing up until the woman stands bent and lopsided.

Your shock turns to worry, but the worry turns to fear as the woman's eyes meet yours.  They are muddy and mottled.  Patches of small fish scales cover the woman's lower jaw and chin.  Her skin is wrinkled and a mottle of green and brown.

Her hair is not hair at all, but glistening, slimy pondweed.

She extends a bent hand, wet mud sliding out from beneath her long nails as she gestures for you to approach her.
"""
menu:
    "*Approach the woman with pondweed hair*":
        $c=5
        """

        You approach the woman, who nods appreciatively as you approach.  You plan, subconsciously, to slow as soon as you get within range of her arms, but you never get the chance.

        You are still several feet away when, with unexpected speed, the woman's legs bend like a frog's and…

        She freezes.  The snarl falls from her face and she sniffs the air like a dog, her head cocked to one side.  And then, her legs straightening, she smiles, nodding eagerly.

        Again, she points towards you, but this time you are close enough to see that she is pointing specifically towards your food bag.  

        She nods when your eyes follow her finger and she makes a mime that you guess is supposed to mimic eating a fish, although you have seen dogs eat more delicately than her.
        """
        menu:
            "*Give her a fish*":
                $c=7
                """

                You pick out a fish and throw it towards her.  She snatches it out of the air, efficiently but without grace.

                Then she begins to retch.

                Black, lumpy water falls from her mouth, staining the mud.  She makes a sound similar to a cat bringing up a hair ball, but wetter.  The urgency and pitch of her gags rises for several seconds, before her hand flies to her mouth, coming back down slowly, a long, filthy chain tugged out of her throat.

                She balls the chain up and throws it to you.  Despite your better judgment, your instincts kick in and you catch the warm, wet amulet.  The chain is simply made and the amulet itself is even more basically crafted.  A rough, flat, beaten copper fish shape looks back at you from behind the grime.

                You hear a splash and look up to see a large ripple in the water just by where the woman had been standing.

                Shrugging, and sliding the amulet into one of your pockets, you make your way back to town.
                """
                $game.pondweedstatus = "gift"
                $game.town_stability +=1 
                $game.occult_connection +=4

            "*Shake your head and walk away*":
                $c=6
                "The woman snarls and before you can react her legs have bent again and she's flying through the air towards you."

                $c=3



    "*Stand your ground*":
        $c=2
        """

        You refuse to move as the woman becomes more and more frustrated, her gesticulations becoming larger and larger until eventually she shakes her head sadly and, with surprising speed, dives into the river.

        You wait, but when she does not come up for air you decide to move on.  Your equipment already packed, you start to head back to town.

        You don't make it very far.  The river beside you erupts.  You are instantly soaked and you wipe the muddy water from your eyes just in time to see the woman lunging at you.
        """

        $c=3


    "*Run and find some way back to town that doesn't involve going anywhere near the woman or the river*":
        $c=1
        """

        You turn and dash away from the woman, then turn off into the woods.

        Spurred on by your fear or excitement, you make good time back to town and deliver your catch not long after you had originally planned to.

        It is a sign of the times that everyone believes your story.  No one else has seen exactly what you describe, but the other fishermen promise to keep their guards up.
        """

        $game.town_stability +=1

if c==3:
    """

    Her fingers, pointed straight forward, slam into your stomach and you feel her long, filthy nails slide into your skin.

    For a moment you are in the air, your legs flying upwards, and then you are down, the woman on top of you, using the force of the ground against your back to slam her open mouth into your shoulder.  

    Her teeth glance off your collar bone, several of them splintering out and embedding in your flesh; your blood, clean red, mixing with hers, viscous brown.

    The wind and the pain have pushed all the air from your lungs, but despite the blood pooling behind her bottom lip, the woman does not seem at all slowed as she deftly unhooks your sack of fish and, using your chest as a launching pad, dives into the river.

    You push yourself onto your elbows, ready for another strike, but after several minutes you assume that you are safe.

    Gingerly checking your wounds shows that, while painful, none are particularly deep.  They are, however, filled with dirt, black foul-smelling dirt much worse than any normal riverbank filth.

    Feeling it better to take the risk than not, you clean them out with river water, only breathing easy when you leave the water behind you and return, empty handed, to town.
    """
    $game.pondweedstatus = "attack"
    $game.town_stability -=2


hide woods with dissolve
return