No. She must pay. (Retribution Path)

"No." You decide, setting your jaw in a grimace of determination beneath your helmet. "You and your fellow 'heroes' must pay for your crimes. Starting now."

She begins to protest, but her retort dies in her throat when you push forwards on your sword. Corrupted steel penetrates the soft skin of her neck and impales her to the ground, flooding her airway with blood and leaving her **** for several seconds before her weak struggles cease and she lay still beneath you.

You slowly pull your blade from her throat as the Dryad watches you in awe, having entirely ceased her struggles. The snare-vine slowly disintegrates at the same time as Anise's corpse, until both are gone entirely.

Anise leaves behind her dagger, and you sheath your bloodstained sword to pick it up. It's a simple thing, a gently curving blade approximately eighteen inches long protruding from a simple leather-wrapped handle. You go to throw it aside, but a tap on your shoulder pauldron stops you.

"Could I..." The Dryad stops, looking from you to the knife. "I mean... it could be useful, and I could stop these monsters from attacking my tree..."

You nod, handing it to her. She fumbles with it for a moment, before dropping it when it slips from her wooden talons. She mutters some Forest Tongue curse, before looking back up at you.

"Could you bring it to my tree?" She asks. "I mean... if it's not too far out of the way. I'm not too deep in the forest, just a little way's in..."

You raise an eyebrow beneath your helmet at her invitation. A Dryad inviting someone to their tree is an important gesture, sort of an offer of friendship at the least and, sometimes... something more.

"I'm Willow, by the way." She says, gesturing to herself. "Willow of the Endless Grove."