Xavier puts away his scimitar.
Ho, there friend.
Sami follows Eretria out, doing his best to appear nonthreatening...not too difficult a task given his easy nature and lack of any apparent weapons. He offers a friendly smile and shows his open palms, but lets Eretria try and get to the fellow.
Rashun tries to back up Eretia's words
"Hmph. Going north? Shyeah, pull the other one. Past the camp, nothing there but death. Versey?"
The breathy voice again: "Human, armored; human, armored; human, no armor; half-orc, armored; nagaji, unarmored; small construct?."
Back to the gnome: "Whatever. Guess we don't have much choice. Mind if we take a corner inside? This weather's hell on my legs."
Darc waits for Eretia to continue her conversation with the two creatures.
The tall figure walks slowly towards the party. As it gets closer you all can see that, though of overall humanoid form, it is most definitely not human. It has large and lustrous jet-black eyes, wide-set on its otherwise fine-featured and narrow face and protruding out in hemispheres; its skin is alabaster-smooth and white; and it wears only a narrow band of dull grey fabric around its hips and a belt and pair of boots of the same color. Odd glints on its legs resolve into metal that seems to be embedded deeply into its flesh. For all that it towers over everyone in the party at nearly eight feet tall, its torso is about the same size as Xavier's; the entirety of its height advantage is in its legs. In one hand it holds a crude sword that looks to have been made from a saw, covered with rust spots and green stains that do not rinse away in the rain. Over one shoulder you see the head of a gnome, who appears to be riding in a carrier on the creature's back. If you stand aside it'll enter the shelter ahead of you; since you can see its eyes from anywhere except directly behind its back you figure it's maybe not being that trusting.
"Is anyone or anything following you? I just heard a high pitched noise.", Rashun say to both the gnome and his companion.
The gnome replies, "Nah, that was Versey checking you guys out. Only things might be on our tails move so slow we gave 'em the slip a couple of miles back." Versey adds, "Past-use me સોનાર, past-hear you."
Darc stands outside the hut in the rain scanning the horizen, not liking that the strangers only think they have lost whatever it was that was following them.
Versey gently sets the gnome down once inside. The gnome's legs are bleeding slightly, mostly around places where it looks for all the world as though vines have taken root in his flesh. "I'm Lum, by the way." He wears studded leather armor and carries a couple of kukris and a bow. "Hey, any of you folks know any healing? Can't really walk until these things come out. Anyway, Versey's not his real name. He says I can't even hear all of his name when he says it, much less make the right sounds. He's been hanging around the camp for...what's it been?" "Past-perfect-reside me camp solar cycles ten." "Um, yeah. Ten years or so. We call him Versey on account of where he says he's from."
Darc, no sign of anything yet.
Xavier likewise is not ready to relax, but his attentions are inside, not outside.
His blade remains in it's sheath but he remains standing, watching for quite a while before finally sitting down.
Xavier, perhaps it's a trick of the firelight and wind, but every now and then the vines in Lum's legs seem to twitch.
Those vine's need to come out. Rashun, do you have some healing magic for his legs?
He grimaces in pain. "Oh, hells yes. Damned vampire ivy got everyone but me and Versey, and almost got me...Versey just picked me up and ran for it. Look, regular cures'll force it out of me, but you need to be ready to chop it up or burn it once it's out."
"Sorry I don't have any healing magic, but if Darc can heal you then I can chop up whatever comes out.".
Sami nods. I can help burn them when they come out
[ooc]Assuming that elemental fist can do just that.[/b]
Darc returns at Eretria's request, he smiles. He listens as he is told of the vines, he readies himself to kill the vines once they are expelled fron the gmone. "Ready?" he looks at Rashun and Sami. He beckons the gnome over, "Fighter, seek Gorrum's blessing." as he touches the gnome on the head. A white light builds in Darc's body, before traveling down his arm and entering the little stranger.
The flesh of the gnome's legs knits, forcing the shoots out from the surrounding tissue onto the dusty flagstones of your shelter. They wriggle away slowly in all directions. All of you are ready to deal with them, though, and you're able to cut them up and burn the remaining bits. Lum is now able to walk, and he looks up at the militant half-orc with a somewhat friendlier expression. "Well, thank you very much. I owe you one. Not that you're likely to live to collect on it, if you keep going north, but it's the thought that counts, right?"
"Enough of them, yeah. Also assassin vines, and other things the dwarves told us about, time they came through here a few years back. Had some idiot idea about getting help from the druids...guess that didn't work. Now, Versey supposedly had some kind of thing that had 'em under control while they were on his flying ship, but after the crash they got out. 'Least, that's what he says."
"Past-escape me ખતરનાક છોડ, yes. Past-have me બેટરી, ah, fountain? well? source make controller work, but past-lose me to ખતરનાક છોડ. Past-lose me friends, too."
"OK, I think that's what he calls the assassin vines and vampire ivy. Why can't you talk normal, Versey?"
I confess, I am lost. Are we fighting plants next?
Besmarial floats down to the group. "Speak in your normal language, Versey. I can understand you." Everyone present hears him in their native languages "Are there any question you wish me to relay?"
Sami looks back and forth between the members of the group, appearing truly perplexed. He's glad to hear that Xavier seemed as lost as he, but the thought was also slightly troubling. With a slight shake of his head, Sami simply watches the exchange in hopes that he would soon understand.
Besmarial does as requested and listens to Versey's reply, which is...interesting. There are points where the odd creature's mouth moves without sound, but your ears all hurt. The angel then reports, "He says the ship is west and south of here about fifty miles, near the Dragonfly River. He says that the controller won't work without its source of power, though, and that was taken by a large and dangerous plant creature as he was fleeing the crash."
Sami turns his head slightly to the side, finally hearing something that he can focus on. This plant creature - does he have an idea of where it may be now?
"He says that he thinks the source of power is being held by something that moves a little bit but doesn't get too far from the place where it was taken from him."
.Would he be willing to take us where we need to go? If we got his power source back? I think this trip would be a lot quicker and safer if we could simply fly to where we need to be.
Oh...
"I still think fighting one monster is easier than fighting and avoiding surprise attacks from all the other ones."
"No general, no army." says Darc as he cleans his flail of the green pulp of the now dead plants.
"When that last bunch of dwarves came through, there were five, every one wounded. They'd started with ten, they said. I didn't talk to 'em much, on account of they were in a hurry--Brother Windle healed them up and they were on their way. He did most of the talking with 'em."
Wait, there were dwarves when you were attacked by the plant.or when the ship thing crashed?
Xavier was thoroughly confused...
Lum rolls his eyes. "I'll talk slow. After Starfall...you do remember hearing about that, right?...a bunch of us refugees got together in a camp, waiting to be rescued. That didn't happen. We had the akata to deal with, of course, but we also had these killer plants showed up around the same time. Didn't know where they came from until Versey here walked into camp around ten years ago. He told us about how the flying ship he was on had crashed because of Starfall, or something, and let all these things out. We were too busy trying to survive to go look at the thing, though.
"Maybe two years ago, a bunch of dwarves came through here on their way south. They'd survived Starfall, but the killer plants were giving them fits, so they were going to try to go south to this island that was supposedly full of druids. You know, seems like a good fit...plant troubles? Call a druid, right? Well, nothing ever came of that, so I guess there weren't any druids left there, or something. If they even made it that far.
"Anyway, things are getting worse and worse for us, too. We're not exactly a bustling metropolis, right? I mean, who wants to have kids in a wasteland like this? So the humans are all getting old and dying, more and more killer plants around, and Versey finally manages to convince us that it's time to go for his ship, 'cause he really, truly can fix the whole plant problem once he gets there. If he can get his little power source, anyway. You might have guessed, though, that this great plan didn't work. Too many of the damned things out there, and none of us were what you'd call fearless adventurers. If Versey hadn't been able to run like the wind, I'd be dead with the rest of my friends.
"Make more sense now?"
"I guess we get to be the fearless adventurers then. Do you(the group) want to make a run for the power source, or do you have another idea?
Xavier shrugs.
I am here to keep you all alive. Decide which direction and I will ensure you live.to get there.
He felt the fool. Basic combat moves and bare tactics he knew but PLANNING something like this ...
Sami nods with Xavier, his expression showing resolve. I will of course follow where you would go; no matter what, it's imperative that we finish what task we were set upon, and we can hardly do that with this...er, plant problem. He looks to Lum. Will you rest the night and mend? We can leave upon the dawn.
"I will take a watch, but it will delays us since I also need rest to regain my spells".
Well I can take the one watch you need a break for, but I can't see in the dark. Not that that's a problem in this building I guess