Trianne paused briefly to study one of the xtabays as the party picked its way carefully through the foliage. She thought about taking a sample, but decided against it.
“There’s a lot in here I don’t recognize,” she said. “Try not to touch anything.”
Jarrek laughs and claps Haftor on the back, grinning at Trianne. "And it won't be the last! That's why we're a great team!" The big half-orc looked admiringly at all the exotic plants. "Pretty. And I'm as much a fan of a big payday as anyone else."
“Time and care to harvest, prep for travel, find a buyer,” Trianne said, looking around at all the work involved. “Let’s see what else is in store here first, before we do any cutting. Did anyone find a way out of here yet?”
A check of the doors shows no apparent traps.
Haftor nods to Jarrek. "Aye, just let me know next time you need a good kicking. I'm yer man."
The warpriest looks around the leafy room, mind boggled by the idea that anyone would pay good coin for plants. He shrugs, knowing he will be of no use assisting in the harvest, but perfectly happy to take his share of the proceeds.
Haftor gathers the group together before they leave the room, and projects positive healing energy out to all.
Jarrek laughs heartily as he follows Trianne's instructions for the harvest. Once they're done, he nods at the double doors. "Everybody ready for the next room?"
“Don’t touch that, or that!” Trianne yelped, confirming that the harvest would happen after the Vault was cleared. It would take too much time now and impose too much risk to the potential ingredients.
“Just, keep on moving,” she said, motioning to the next set of doors and in so doing, completing her spell to open them from a distance if possible.
The doors open onto a landing, with a flight of stairs leading up immediately to the right. The stairs debouch into a hallway, which eventually ends at yet another set of double doors.
After the usual routine, Trianne opens the doors with her cantrip. On the other side is a large, arched chamber whose interior presents a grim contrast to the other rooms in the Vault. Instead of lush vegetation, a massive briar patch and thick layers of humus form high mounds throughout the room. The mounds are covered with innumerable varieties of fungi, and the air is heavy with the stench of decay. The mound at the eastern end of the room is much taller than the others, so Jarrek and Haftor can see what looks like a large wooden chest on top of it.
Seamus eyeballs the plants, and begins taking mental notes about how to best harvest the lucrative plants, and where a buyer in these remote regions might exist.....
Oh right, let's see what's next... the gnome follows along with the group looking to see what's in the next chamber.
As the stench of the room hit Trianne, her head tilted backward in a groan, “Guhh! Druuiiddds!”
She leaned forward for a look, grimacing and wondering what guardians lurked in this mess.
Well that's obviously a trap," Jarrek says with a grin on his face. "Would anybody mind if I just hacked through those briars?"
"Be my guest." Haftor hefts his hammer. "I've got yer back." Haftor walks along beside Jarrek, alert for whatever is about to assault us.
Jarrek notes that apart from the fungi (and various small rodents skittering around in the room), there is apparently nothing living--the brambles look like plants of other sorts that seem to have grown thorns before dying.
The dour ranger pales. "That sounds like a brambleblight's work. They're like animated thornbushes with powerful magic over growth like this. If it is, it knows we're here. Be ready."
Jarrek grunts and peers more closely at the thorny plants everywhere. "So it could be any of these bushes?" He looks back at Trianne. "Do you have any good fire spells? We could probably burn all this dry brush out with a fire."
“Transmuter. I alter. I don’t really evoke,” Trianne replied, shaking her head and squinting into the muck filled chamber. “And fungus isn’t really my thing either, but I imagine there’s wealth to be harvested in here as well. We have alchemist’s fire if we wanted to burn it out. No idea what's good against a brambleblight though.”
Seamus pats his bomb charge strapped to his chest, If we can flush it out, I can burn it. he looks to the others for bright ideas though...
Trianne has only heard of brambleblights in passing, and knows nothing about them. She also thinks that the value of the fungi she can see from the doorway is minimal.
Jarrek laughs. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's flushing things out. Haftor, you want to charge in with me?"
Haftor shrugs. "Why not? I can't think of a better plan." He moves into the room with Jarrek.
Svarog stepped through after them but stopped just inside the door, sighting down a partially drawn arrow.
Trianne moved up behind him and tucked beside the door frame, her crossbow loaded and partially raised.
Jarrek strides into the room with his falchion drawn, ablaze with arcane energy. "Time to do some pruning!" He walks straight up to the closest briar patch and starts hacking away.
As Jarrek and Haftor enter the chamber and advance to the nearest briar patch, to no one's surprise the patch twitches, then begins to move purposefully!
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
BB-acted
Seamus
Haftor
Trianne
Svarog
Jarrek
Bramble
Do we ever get tired of being right?!? Why are all the plants trying to kill us? Seamus cries out, tossing a bomb at the moving bramble..
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
BB-acted
Seamus-acted
Haftor
Trianne
Svarog
Jarrek
Bramble
Flaming liquid cascades across the moving thorns, sending smoke into the air.
Haftor concentrates on his sacred hammer for a brief moment, then hefts it, watching as it bursts into flames. He then swings it at the animated brambles, "Burn, dire shrubbery, in Torag's name!"
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
BB-acted
Seamus-acted
Haftor-acted
Trianne
Svarog
Jarrek
Bramble
The impact of Haftor's hammer doesn't do much to the bramble, but the fire wreathing the weapon does.
His blow cleaves many branches, apparently more effective than Haftor's hammer.
Svarog stows his bow and steps up, drawing his sword and striking.
Trianne hastily sighted down her crossbow a couple of times, but lowered it in frustration, “Where do you even shoot this thing?!”
She fished a vial from her pack and stepped forward to throw it with a runny, aiming for the back end of the writhing mass of tendrils.
Trianne adds to the conflagration on the mobile vegetation. Then the burning mass of brambles lashes out at Jarrek, pummeling and lacerating the half-orc . It fails to entangle him, though.
Round 2 (ongoing):
Initiative order
BB-acted
Seamus-
Haftor
Trianne
Svarog
Jarrek
Bramble
Jarrek roars in pain as the vines slash him. "We've got this, everyone! It's just a plant! Come on!"
"Right. Just a plant. That looked like it hurt, though." He hefts his not-so-useful-yet-on-fire hammer and takes a swing to continue the burn.
Seamus, seeing the animated plants continue to threaten his friends, withdraws another bomb and flings it at the messy thing. Ow, that looked like it hurt! Did it hurt?
Trianne laughed a little and swiped at the polluted air as Seamus kept blasting away, smoke and fire billowing into the chamber. She didn’t know how the little Gnome hadn’t immolated himself over the years.
Slipping along the wall behind Haftor, Trianne lanced out with the thin whip of electricity she could conjure at will, adding to the crackling of the flames.
Jarrek chops, Jaftor misses, and then Seamus' bomb finally puts the animated mass of thorns to rest. Svarog pauses, looking around. "That was too easy...."
Round 3 (ongoing):
Initiative order
BB-acted
Seamus-
Haftor
Trianne
Svarog
Jarrek
Bramble
The accuracy of his words is made plain as the brambles on the next hillock heave into motion.
Seamus, sharing in Svarog's optimism steps into the room, and on seeing the next hillock coming at them, exclaims, Och! Why'd you have to say something?!? before prepping and tossing another explosive
Round 3 (ongoing):
Initiative order
BB-acted
Seamus-acted
Haftor
Trianne
Svarog
Jarrek
Bramble
Seamus starts the barbecue of the next animated mass of thorns.
Haftor stomps forward, hammer still aflame, and attacks the next bush.
Jarrek moves forward, big blade held ready to parry any incoming vines. "It's just a plant, everyone! We can do this! See if you can spot the actual brambleblight!"
Svarog strode forward with his blade arcing in time with his momentum as he stepped up beside Haftor and cut at the mass of brambles.
“Wait, so this thing has friends?!” Trianne shouted over the melee, sidling along the wall and looking for other trouble that might be brewing.
She focused back toward the melee long enough to lash out with her crackling energy again.
Svarog replies to Trianne, "We haven't seen the real one yet. These are all briars it's animating."
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Haftor, Svarog, and Trianne all hit with their attacks . Its return attack hits Haftor , but although the animated branches tug at his armor straps and skree across the steel with a disturbing sound, it fails to grab the doughty dwarf.
Round 4 (ongoing):
Where'd we think the main thing is? I canna do this all day... he says, tossing another bomb into the animated briar patch, narrowly missing Haftor, Svarog, and Jarrek...
Round 4 (ongoing):
The second bomb is enough to break whatever foul magic animated the thorns.