I too will help end this.
Nella stands up after her ministrations over the corpse of the pterafolk and prepares to enter the jungle but she does not volunteer to take the lead.
Spike quietly scouts ahead of the party making use of his dark vision.
Spike creeps ahead as quietly as he can be considering he has to hack his way through the blanket of jungle. He seems to time his strikes with the machete with the crashes of the thunderclouds...
A few minutes pass and you are soon deep within, any signs of Malar's Throat or the port as a whole completely gone.
*Zzzz*
A tiny little unidentified bug flies into your ear canal.
*Fwwwwp*
A larger beetle flaps its thorax lazily into your face as it flies clumsily along.
*rustle rustle rustle*
You brace yourself for what sounds like a charging beast, only to be set upon by an avalanche of fire ants! Spilling out of every wooden nook and cranny, dropping like honey from the leaves above and churning in the muddy dirt below...clinging to themselves like little bridges and finding new and exciting nooks and crannies in your armor....
Bhoors sees the strings of ants and grabs too large leaves from an elephant ear plant using them like an ant umbrella and a fan blowing them away. "Bugs . . . big ones. I heard stories about these. Eat a man to the bone."
Bjorn , you can feel the little ant bites having an effect on your physiology, your vision is a bit blurred and you feel quite dizzy.
Nella observes the ants with great interest while hopping lightly away to avoid them.
She examines Bjorn's bite marks closely.
Nella, these ants are known as "Satabayi" and are a much larger relative of a certain species found in the Chondalwood. You can tell they are not healthy at all, and little spots on their exoskeletons hint at some sort of disease. As far as you know, the effects of the bites only persist around an hour before it works its way out of the system.
Dex:
Davin feels the bits and also gets the 'woozy' feeling.
Bhoors, Bjorn, Nella, Davin, Shal, Spike, Dwalar
Spike barely manages to avoid the vicious insects as he makes his way through the jungle. He looks in horror at his companions as they are bitten.
Nella makes a makeshift poultice from some of the leaves she finds nearby and applies it to her affected comrades.
This will reduce the pain. The dizziness will pass soon. In the mean time, you will not be seriously impaired.
She raises one palm to the sky to indicate the passage of one hour.
Smiling wanly, Davin thanks the little druidess.
"Well that is something. If it is not the heat, then the bugs will get you! Everything about this place seems so hostile, but also so beautiful and colorful...so very strange!"
|
Hot and wet and miserable, Dwalar stomps through the foliage, axe in hand to hack away at the plants in front of him. "Gimme someone or some beastie ta fight, I can do that," he grumbles. "What good's a shield if yer fightin' weather?"
"No!" I refuse ta be taken down by some ants. Dwalar grabs his shield. Wham! Smash! He slams it on the ground, smashing the ants around him. Surprisingly, it keeps enough of them at bay that he staves off the worst of the bites.
Following the group into the jungle, Shaldinari watches for any sign of those they seek. When the ants descend upon her, she begins to whirl and twirl so her light silks flip and flap wildly scattering the insects and keeping them from landing and biting.
"An old trick for evading mosquito swarms back home." She says. "Works better when my clothes aren't soaked through though."
Bhoors looks over in Shaldinari's direction and slinks over, "Its true. I say its clean and dry clothes for you or nothing at all." He continues in a quiet voice an intended sultry tone. "I bet when this is all over we can find no clean dry clothes for you in my room." He gives her a wink less playfully than he has in the past.
20 more minutes or so pass and progress through the thick mass of blighted vegetation is still slow. Underneath the layer of dampness on your skin from the rain is no doubt a second layer of sweat...the humidity making the bite marks quite itchy and irritating.
Spike doesn't notice a strange shifting mass of brown brush that seemingly moves on its own, and bites into his little dark calves with a myriad of thorns, their long barbs picking at the top layer of his skin...
Spike isn't sure what is on those thorns, but he knows it isn't good an it could have been a lot worse. He looks back toward his friends, "I found something unpleasant up here, but at least my feet found it before yours did."
Spike can point out the baneful bushes to anyone who might wish to take a look before moving on.
Nella rushes to a few feet away to examine the strange bushes.
Nella, it seems to be Okuligbu Weed, a highly poisonous bramble capable of minor movement. It nearly blends in with the others, but now that you see it, you can trace out its branches and spot other nearby patches relatively easily.
Nella turns to Spike and speaks aloud for the benefit of everyone nearby.
These poisonous brambles are capable of some movement. Avoid them.
She points out the patches as we move along.
Bhoors looks around the jungle, [b]"I do think this place wants us uncomfortable."[b]
Bhoors looks around the jungle, "I do think this place wants us uncomfortable."
Leaving the poisonous thorns behind, you continue hacking and slashing your way through the tangled mess. After another 20 minutes, you finally come across a makeshift path made from grey, muddy dirt and dead foliage. It cuts through a cluster of trees covered in more thorny brambles. A fin-headed humanoid lies dead on the side of the path. You see two figures tangled in the brambles. On the left is a tabaxi, who is motionless. Next to him, an elven woman reaches out toward you and moans out, "Help me…"
Spike leaps over to the trapped people,'We will help. Try not to move too much.' Then turns to the others and says, ' Nella, how can we help them free from these vines?'
Davin keeps a lookout as the others try to free the trapped person. He swings his bow back and forth as he surveys the area.
Perception:
Bhoors is about to assist but Spike's pragmatic question stops him and he looks to Nella for any advice on the matter.
The elven woman screams "...please! Those flying creatures are trying to use me as some kind of sacrifice...hurr-gggorggllg" a vine twists around and goes down her throat, and quickly her entire body is pulled into a writhing mass of churning vegetation before the party can even act.
As you struggle to help, other sections of the jungle seem to peel off and stand large...masses of bramble and brush standing tall as a man! They point their bizzare appendages at you, releasing a scatter blast of thorns cutting through the rain...
Surprise Round:
Shal, Davin, Spike, Nella, Bjorn <--UP
Enemy
Dwalar
Nella utters the wisdom of her ancestors as she steps forward while waving her arms.
Divide and conquer.
Nella's own verdant manipulations assault the blights, tugging at them this way and that...
...her fresh vines grown from the Feywild seem to graft onto the blights, locking them down in the mud hard.
Surprise Round:
Nella, Bjorn, Shal, Davin, Spike <--UP
Enemy
Dwalar
Davin fires at the closest twig-beast to him (red).
Attack:
Damage:
Seeing the creatures emerge from the jungle, Shaldinari taps into her patron's eldritch powers and sends a blast of energy into the nearest enemy.
Advantage-Attack:
Spike punches at the nearest blight.
Davin steps out of the bush to get a clear shot, instantly downing Red. Shal somehow weaves her energies through Spike and Bjorn's melee, sending Yellow plopping down face first in the mud (timmmmberrrr). Finally, Spike lands a backhand chop as damaging as a great axe, breaking the small creature in half.
Green and Cyan's needle covered bodies rise like a cat in fright, before ejecting towards Spike...
...but the rain and the wind flip and bash their trajectories all over the path leaving spike unscathed.
Surprise Round:
Nella, Bjorn, Shal, Davin, Spike
Enemy
Dwalar <--UP
Bhoors moves up to get a good look at the path and the situation. Bhoors sinks a slingstone in his sling and launches it at the rear blight.
Bhoors' sling shot bores through the bramble, the rotted bramble crumbing easily and falling in chunks.
Davin pulls another arrow from his quiver and takes aim at another of the twig-like creatures (blue).
Attack:
Damage:
Surprise Round:
Nella, Bjorn, Shal, Davin, Spike
Enemy
Dwalar <--UP
Round 1:
Bhoors, Davin, Nella, Bjorn, Shal, Spike
Enemy
Dwalar
As Spike cuts through these abominations, he begins to think of the horror on the elven woman's face as she was killed by these things. They aren't alive. They are a blight on the world, and a threat to all who live. And he acted too slowly to help her. Spike is filled with rage, and he lets out a shrill scream as he flies toward Cyan. At this point the little goblin is little more than a spinning ball of hands and feet lashing out at his enemies.
Seeing her goblin ally advance, Nella drops the entangle's difficult terrain.
She somersaults through Bjorn's legs toward the tabaxi. She attempts to discern how best to help the captive.
Unless Nella figures out something else to do, she will begin hacking at the vines with her scimitar.
Once again the eyes appears at the center of the wooden symbol hanging from Shaldinari's neck. At the same moment, the blights are highlighted with a purple eldritch aura.