Prospero's barrage of fire rips one of the animals apart while Cueta's second swipe with her sword ends the life of the wounded Kaukiri in front of her.
The last of them sees it's been left alone and it screeches in fear as it scampers back to the safety of the trees. The tribe quiets a little at the sight of the corpses. They don't retreat though and continue to stare at warble at the four.
"Aw ..." Leila sighs as her head pops up behind the rocks to survey the carnage. Dammit couldn't they have realized they were outmatched a lot quicker? Why did they have to be so dumb! And the rest wasn't relenting either. But hopefully they wouldn't cause more trouble right now!
"How are you holding up Cueta?" the halfling asked while still keeping her gun and eyes peeled at the treeline.
"I *uh* think one of them dropped something by the base of a tree before picking a fight. That one!" she pointed to where she saw the stashing happen. She had this sinking feeling that it might be something small and valuable and ... none of their enemies had moved to retrieve it.
Astrianna laughs as the last Kaukiri flees in the face of their overwhelming firepower. "The only thing Those dipshits respect is strength. They shouldn't bother us, now that we've reduced their surplus population."
She stands up from behind their cover, glancing at Leila. "Maybe they nicked something off the a*!@$&#s that kidnapped Soltrani. They had to come by this landmark too, right?" She speculates, waiting for someone other than her to go get it.
Cueta nods to Leila - fine and then to Prospero - thanks and moves towards the tree that Leila pointed to, keeping one eye on the Kikis as she goes, and her curve blade gripped tight.
The remaining Kukirikis screech and scamper backwards as Cueta advances. At the hollow Leila pointed out Cueta retrieves a scratched up package containing three serums of mk2 healing.
This done the group resumes approaching the Rune Obelisk. It rises above the jungle, just as Zan's notes promised. It's an immense pillar of stone, approximately fifteen feet wide with an X-shaped cross section that provides climbing plants - including a network of green vines, several brilliant fuchsia bromeliads, and a host of violet flowers - excellent purchase.
As the group gets within 30 metrons Leila's excellent eyesight notices a rustling from the flowers that shouldn't be happening based on the current complete absence of wind stirring the fetid air of the jungle. There's something hiding there!
"Oh? What is it what is it?!" Leila cries out in trepidation. She calms down once it becomes clear that it is only a few healing serums. Her wild imagination had feared that it might be a child or something. Pew!
Though this begged the question - did they have it because it was shiny or because they were smart enough to know what it did? "Hmm. I wonder how dumb these things really are..." Now Leila wasn't expecting to carry that discussion too far, somehow the atmosphere was a bit hostile ...
---
"There! There's something in that flower! Or, *uhm*, possibly behind it. Maybe beside it? Definitely not in front of it." Leila points at one of the pretty flowers. "Could also be a 'someone'! Maybe some other cute critter? Or oh oh a people eating plant!"
"Hmm. Should we poke it? Anyone see a long stick somewhere?" Leila suggests with a quick look around. "Ooooor take a look with the binoculars?"
Tossing the serums to Astriana, Cueta takes point, moving towards the obelisk. Once Leila notices the movement, Cueta draws her curveblade and begins slowly approaching the someone or critter or people eating plant, keeping an eye out for danger as she does so. "Poking it, good idea."
"Oi! Tuyo up to in there, yeah?"
Taking the point of the curveblade, Cueta moves some of the flowers aside...
As Cueta approaches the suspicious shrubbery the jungle falls silent. The violet flowers look somewhat off to her but she shurgs it off and keeps approaching the vines. When she's three metrons away her nose is assaulted by a sickly sweet odor that is almost overpowering. It smells like fruit ripened to the point of rotting.
Still she soldiers on. She's almost at the greenery climbing around the obelisk to poke it that a large green leaf suddenly lashes out and clamps down on her arm. Crazily it has incredibly sharp serrated ridges that not only resemble razor sharp teeth but feel like it too.
Most of the vines and moss clinging onto the Obelisk detaches and clambers down to face off against Cueta as the violet flowers start swaying around threateningly.
It's a large, horrific looking plant creature with multiple mouth leaves, one of which has done quite a lot of damage to the human and it seems like it's peparing to do more as sticky sap like drool starts to bleed from its jagged serrations and snap at Ceuta!
The silence permeating the area explodes into triumphant screeches of Kau-Keee-Reee-Keee Kau-Keee-Reee-Keee Kau-Keee-Reee-Keee from the trees behind the group. The winged beasts had been watching Cueta's approach with anticipation and are seemingly VERY pleased and what's happening. They start pelting the lagging team members with small rocks and fruits. Seemingly intent on driving all of you into the fangs of the plant predator.
"Learning from this experience, I suggest when we next detect any movement, we shoot first and poke later. Now, what is that creature!?"
Steady and calm, Prospero-4 approaches the plant creature, and seeks cover from the flying rocks and fruits. As he walks, the android opens fire - clearly following his new shoot first, think later protocol.
"Cueta, try to disengage! That thing might be too big for you to handle alone!"
Prospero recalls that this is a plant creature known as a Vracinea. It's considered to be quite deadly.
"Oh no! We really should have looked before we poked!" Leila cried out as even the plants tried to attack them. Well mostly Cueta. Still! I don't feel very welcome here anymore!
The halfling sighed and looked through the scope of her rifle. Hopefully this situation could also be solved by a few bullets!
Round 1
"Oh, come on!" Astrianna cries as Cueta nearly gets chomped in half by some carnivorous plant beast. "Gods, I hate this place. Sniff a flower and it will try to jump down your throat and replace your liver." The half-elf complains while drawing her laser pistol.
"Cueta! Draw it back here so we can surround it! Everyone else, make it bleed! Or sap, whatever!" She yells, taking cover behind a nearby piece of disheveled stone.
Cueta would pretend that she was following Astri's directions, if she had her wits about her - which, all things considered, she doesn't. Stumbling backwards, Cueta swears and wipes the blood from her face, vaguely aware that her companions are yelling at her.
The plant creature makes no sound except for rustlings as it drags itself after Cueta while the Kakurikis screech in the background. It's not as fast as the human, but it manages to get back within striking distance of her. The movement seems to tire it out though and isn't able to lash out at her before she can react.
The rest of the group feels an odd sensation as the plant gets closer though. The violet flowers are now close enough to examine and the effect is... strange. Leila is able to shrug off the almost hypnotic urge to get close to the flowers just as Cueta did but Astrianna and Prospero-4 find themselves with an overwhelming, undeniable, need to get as close as possible to them.
Leila and Cueta watch in shock as Astrianna and Prospero-4 seemingly lose their heads and rush at the plant as if to embrace it.
As she backs up, Astri and Prospero pass by, and Cueta stares, mouth dropping open as they go. "Oy! Behind mio, chinney!"
Eh, they were on their own. Stepping backwards, Cueta draws her laser, but fires high, the laser flying harmlessly into the jungle.
Round 2
Astriana briefly wobbles in place, her brilliant emerald eyes dilating at the sight of the flowers. Immediately breaking into a sprint, she wordlessly passes Cueta without so much as a glance.
The vlogger's sudden and complete silence is far more unnerving than the fact she was running straight towards a fercious, carnivous beast.
"Ahh! Dammit don't let the plant eat them!" Leila yells and rushes after the pair. Her gun were empty (why make a rifle holding only one bullet?!) and she believed that one of her pistols would be more effective anyhow. Plus she couldn't let the plant eat her friends. She wasn't sure how to stop it yet, but she'd figure that out!
Cueta is unable to hurt the slavering plant. It on the other hand is able to step into range and another of the serrated leaves takes a large bite out of the human soldier. The pain is even worse this time than the last as actual flesh and blood are ripped from her body. The plant is going to eat her alive if it isn't put down!
Leila rushes in as well to try and get in range of the beast so she can start shooting at it.
Beads of sweat roll into Astrianna's eyes. Blinking them away is just enough for the bizarre effects of the flowers to be broken on her and she comes back to her senses to see Prospero, unblinking rush past her to end up right next to the flowers attached to the hulking vegetation. The beast snaps out at him but its opportunistic attack misses the android. The sickening scent of the best doesn't bother him any as he isn't breathing.
Prospero-4 stares at the flowers from point blank range and suddenly wonders why exactly he was so intent on getting close to them as various mouth leaves start to slaver and snap.
Round 3
Astrianna shudders and gasps, coming to a sudden halt in her sprint towards the beast. "What in Shelyn's tits just happened?! Did I just get... mind controled?!" She yells, whipping her laser pistol up and firing off a shot. "No one takes control of me, you f%*@ing overgrown fly catcher. Kill it!"
The plant followed up quicker than Cueta had expected, and its leaves are more painful as well. Hunched over, Cueta puts as much distance between herself and the plant as she's able, a stream of curses left in her dust.
"We're trying!" Leila popped out behind her select piece of cover and squeezed away a zap! Hopefully the flower hadn't seen her (did it even have eyes? The halfling wasn't sure how plant creatures were supposed to work...). Then she retreated away to another piece of cover, careful to pick a position with no easy line of charge from the big flowery mess.
"This is very strange. My higher cerebreal functions do tell me it is very unwise to get close to this arboreal menace. Still, my body moves on its own."
And truly, there isn't much Prospero-4 can do at the moment, expect observe the Vracinea as it readies itself to kill him. That, and hope his team mates can get it killed faster that the plant kills him.
"But how does it do it? Since I am not breathing, inhaled pheromones cannot cause the effect. Some agent from skin contact, either pheromones or nerve-targeting virus? Or could the Vracinea have psionic capabilities?"
The plant instinctively lurches after Cueta before realizing she has passed out of its range to effectively follow as Leila's and Astrianna's attacks zap around the beast, missing it entirely.
Plus there's another tasty morsel that has appeard right next to it. Two of the mouth leaves lash out and easily bite deep into the befuddled Android drawing forth a large amount of synthetic flesh and bile interrupting the train of his parallel processing thought.
Leila circles the planty beast to try and get a shot at the back. Well where she thought that were at least ...
"Ah, yes. Pain receptors all firing up seems to suppress Vracinea's luring effect. Perhaps a more primal survival instinct kicks in, inducing a fight or flee reaction. It would be fascinating, were I not this close to be bitten again."
Prospero-4 grits his teeth, and almost snarls as he speaks. The pain is severe, but he is happy to have back the control over his body (or what's left of if, after that bite).
The android quickly jumps back, away from the beast's teeth. Lightning-fast and without thinking, he points his rifle towards the Vracinea and fires from his hip.
Doubled over in pain and bleeding savagely, Cueta stumbles backwards, hands clasped at her side.
Raising her laser, Cueta fires, and then fires again, hoping to punch some holes in the beast. Gritting her teeth in rage, she watches helplessly as one laser merely wings the beast.
Astrianna gets within shouting distance of Prospero-4 and yells at him until he feels better.
The rest of the team finally start to land shots at the giant plant best! Three laser shots hit and leave visible scorch marks on the writhing vines. It does *not* seem to like the burn damage.
The Vracinea lurches after the android and another one of the mouth leaves gets past his defenses to cause even more damage to his organic/synthetic body.
Again the soldier levels her gun at the plant, and again she lets loose a fusillade of fire, landing another scorching shot into the beast, grunting with satisfaction as one finds center mass!
"Hurting. Bad." Most of Prospero-4's concentration now goes to ignoring the pain, and the possibility of death. Time for analysis is over, better just focus on surviving.
The android takes another step back while pulling the trigger on his rifle. But this time he is too hasty to fire, and the laser beam hits the ground in front of the beast, merely burning off some lichen.
Leila takes carful aim and zaps at the back of the plant. She must have hit something important because the usually timid gun created a great sec of electricity. ZAP!!!
"Woah!"
Prospero-4 and the plant continue to do their staggered dance which leads them closer and closer to Leila. The plant continues to take large bites of the android though while Prospero misses this time.
Leila and Cueta however manage to land damaging shots while Astrianna moves towards Cueta and yells at her.
The two shots leave the plant beast looking incredibly ragged. Burn marks show were some of the plant's ravenous leaves have fallen off while the central mouth looks almost ready to fall apart. Not... quite.. though.
"Prospero!" Cueta yells, "Get tuyo ass back here rightnow, chinney?"
Taking aim, Cueta let loose another volley, cursing again as her first shot went just high and wide.
"Pukking now, Prospero! Now!"
"Just keep shooting!" Leila called out and took her own advice. Maybe there were more bolts of lightning waiting to be unleashed from her gun?
Leila's bolt of electricity slams into the Vracineia and it spasms as blue and white arcs of lightning spread over it before collapsing into a mush of green matter that looks more like a giant serving of particularly unappetizing salad than anything else.
There is silence for a moment before the Kakurikis let out howls of dismay and scatter into the surrounding trees. It is obviously not an outcome that they expected.
"Well done, Leila! For a moment, I was ... slightly concerned for my well-being."
"And by the tone of your voice, I gather you were concerned too, Cueta. I thank you for for this kind emotinal gesture."
Prospero-4 turns, and nods approvingly towards the halfling who finished off the beast. Massive chunks of biomechanoid flesh have been ripped out, and large amount of fluids are pumping out from the android. All in all, he looks like he is keeping together purely by the power of his will.
"I think I am in great need for our healing serum reserves."
"I uh yeah!" It took the halfling a moment or two to be sure the vicious plant was really down. But then she hopped forwards triumphantly. Her mood was dampened a little by seeing the sad state of her companions. "Yeah. Let's rest for a bit. I'm glad you and Cueta are still whole. Well mostly at least! More then the plant. Hmhm. Let's move up to the monolith first though - then we can rest and look at it!"
Approaching the Obelisk, much more cautiously this time, the group finds at the base of it is a ripped up estex suit. It's completely worthless but near it is a forstbite-class zero rifle and a credstick (290 credits). The rifle has a battery but it has teeth marks on it and chemicals are leaking out of it.
The obelisk itself is an immense pillar of stone, approximately three metrons wide with an X shaped cross section. There are still some climbing vines draped over it.
At the base are an ancient Elven inscription. Honestly it's not much different from modern Elven. Much of it is faded away but some is legible.
Cueta shrugs, wincing as the movement sends a jolt of pain shooting up her side. "What can Eh say, Prospero? Nostro've been nearly killed together what three times now? Tends to make a bond, yeah?"
Taking a seat by a nearby tree, Cueta listens to Leila's advice and closes her eyes, holding her wounded side gingerly. Then, the light, the same one that visited her 75 years ago, at once dark and bright, yellow and black, came again. Crowding her vision, it was like a low hum of voices, at once speaking but not any language Cueta knew, and rose to a crescendo, tickling at the back of Cueta's mind.
Gasping, the soldier opened her eyes, to find her wounds staunched, and knit shut, if still tender.
Music...
Rising with a grunt, Cueta walked over to Prospero and closed her eyes again, and this time reached her mind out to the light, and for a second, it responded, like gibbering waves crashing on a beach. Opening them, Cueta looked down to find also, if not near death, just slightly worse for the wear.
"Pukking Music! And no, Eh dunno how or why!"
"PHEW!" Astrianna exclaims as the plant-beast finally dies in a twitching mass of salad that would probably be hailed as a "masterful dish" on the food network.
"Wow Prospero, maybe you should start carrying some of these healing serums. Here, ta-" The half-elf stops as Cueta suddenly lays a hand on Prospero, closing his cyborg wounds with but a gesture.
A beat passes before he yells "You can cast magic?!" with an incredulous expression. "Why didn't you say so before?!"
The lack of explanation does not seem to impress Astrianna, and she shrugs before walking away. "Well don't think this sudden revealation gives you a bigger share! I'm still paying you the same rate as before! We hired you as a pilot, not a medic."
Sitting down roughly next to the obelisk, she takes a rest with the group, chin held casually in her hand. "Wow, some really old Elvish on this monument. Uhhh... Loskialua, monastery of starsong.... embassy of the spheres, and Temple of the Twelve.... respect.... from beyond stars... interpreters of the beacon." Her head scans over the runes as she reads them, capturing a sweeping shot for thir upcoming galatic hit: The Real Pyramid People of Ukulam.
"I don't remember this being mentioned in Zan's notes. Could he or his guides not read Elvish?" She spectulates, lifting her wrist to punch a few buttons on her comm. Astrianna simutaneously turns off her lifecorder system to save battery and memory and brings up a holographic projection of Zan's notes. "He just called it the Rune Obelisk and that was it. Nothing about Loskialua, or whatever."