Cough it all up and give up on the challenge.
From Create Your Own Story
You wretch and cough out the slimy fruit.
"That's enough," you say, "I can't do it."
"Well, it was fun seeing you try," the merchant says, shaking his head at the banana. "Waste of good fruit, though. The deal was that you'd eat it, after all."
"I thought you said you didn't take money?" You stand up and approach him. If he makes your pay, you know you can expose him game. Gambling with challenges, though not illegal, was still gambling, and definitely needed to be brought to attention to the townsfolk around him.
"I don't," he says while picking up a walking cane. He points it at the exposed top half of your breasts. "But those look like they can handle themselves." He scans over your armor, stopping on your silk-covered pussy. "That too, seems strong enough."
"Strong enough?" You slap aside his cane. "What does that mean?" As if to answer you, a rattle shakes his wagon.
"Just an old curse I picked up a few years ago," he says. "I have it contained in a heavy steel box, but that thing's heavy and taking up space."
Your eyes widen. "You have a box that can capture curses?"
The merchant shakes his head. "Not that kind of a curse, but a burden that won't leave me unless I satisfy it. It's a risk that comes with making deals like I do." Instead of continuing to answer, the man reaches into his wagon and produces the said box. It's covered in a layer of chains, but with three locks he undoes them, opening the box to reveal what looks like a severed tail.
It's red and black and purple, writhing around in tight chain bindings. Out of sheer curiosity you poke it, and in that moment you get a flash of memories. This was no tail, but a piece of a tentacle that belonged to an ancient monster. Its relatives were the ancestors of beholders, powerful evil eyes that sprout spell-flinging tentacles. This creature was far stronger, and much older. Even this fragment seems powerful enough to content with them.
"What in the hells do you expect me to do with this?"
The merchant closes the box. "You're a paladin, and this is an ancient evil I cannot contain forever. I expect you know exactly how to handle it. Destroy it, tame it, keep it locked in a better prison, I don't know. I just want this thing gone from the world."
