Leaping to the edge of the field of ivy, the nagaji brings his open hand down onto the swarm. As he does so, a halo of flames ignites around his hand. Although the impact does not seem to bother the plants overmuch, the flames char many of the individual vines around where he struck. Versey pauses in his flight and hurls a flask at the ivy swarm; it hits squarely in the middle of the ivy and bursts, splashing weed killer all over the vicious plant, which obligingly comes apart.
Off melee time. What now, folks?
Krol moves towards Ava after the battle and casts mage armour on her.
"We need more of what's in that flask if we keep getting attacked by those plants." he states, not liking these things already.
Lum takes a look at Elesandira and winces in sympathy. "I know from experience how you're feeling. Any magic healing will push those things out of your legs."
Krol looks to Ava and casts Lesser Eidolon Rejuvination on her.
"I have a wand to heal with, but nothing to help us heal back our blood-loss." he says getting his wand out if anyone requests for him to heal them.
"Thank you, Krolmnite. If you would also aid Selveshanea, I would be grateful."
Elesandira
CMW:
Selveshanea
CMW:
"Anyone else?" Krol asks as the fresh wounds appear to knit themselves back together.
"No" says Darc matter of factly.
The healing magic forces the ivy shoots out of Elesandira's and Selveshanea's limbs as the flesh closes. Versey chops them into bits with his makeshift sword. Lum replies to his fellow gnome, "I think I have one more flask. How about you, Versey?" The alien shakes his head.
The party presses on across the grasslands. For a mile or two, the only oddities are the lack of animal life and the occasional benign invasive species of plant, though it is difficult for them to make headway in the dense grass of the prairie. At length, though, the group reaches the edge of the prairie and the start of recovered forest, a low hill covered with greenery marking the border. Versey says something that Besmarial translates as, "It's close; we should be able to see it."
It is at that point that anyone with a Perception bonus over +8 can see a few metallic glints through the foliage covering the hill.
"What would 'it' look like? Because there is something metallic in the undergrowth."
"What would 'it' look like? Because there is something metallic in the undergrowth."
"Really? I see nothing?" Krol tries to peer but is unable to see anything whilst Ava tries to look as hard as she can but she can't quite make it out. "I see many plants, maybe like those that attacked us? If so we should just throw in the flasks to be sure."
"Yes, something there. I am trained and experienced in reading the landscape."
I notch an arrow to my bow.
The hill is about a mile away.
Versey replies, "It's big--about the size of that hill, in fa--oh, ***" Besmarial refused to translate that last phrase.
The hill is about a mile away.
Versey replies, "It's big--about the size of that hill, in fa--oh, ***" Besmarial refused to translate that last phrase.
"What's the matter Versey?" Krol asks getting his weapon ready and Ava stepping forward, getting her claws out ready in case. "Do you see some kind of danger or monster nearby?"
Lum interjects, "No, I think he means that his ship *is* the hill."
I sigh, "Well, we're pretty far from the river..."
Versey says (after translation), "I don't know what happened to bury it like that, but if you can see metal there's a chance one of the doors is accessible. I hope so, anyway." The party crosses the stretch of grasslands, still on high alert.
"A ship that travels in the sky? Interesting." Krol takes note of this and wonders how such a thing can exsist. "Such a vessel could help us in our travels. Imagine being able to fly up high above mountains and over land. I'd like to learn more about this ship and perhaps construct such a thing at a later date, but for now let us find a way inside, but what do we do with the large tube we've been travelling with?"
"Thank you, Eretria, so easy to forget something I can hardly believe."
"Perhaps something similar to the vampire vine has attempted to consume the ship? Or the problems have made this land especially verdant?
As we near, I study the land for signs.
Elesandira, it looks as though the ship is covered by a variety of vine you're not immediately familiar with. It seems to be blessedly immobile, however.
I carefully cut away a patch of vine and wait to see if anything happens.
The vine doesn't cut easily, but doesn't curl away or anything like that at the touch of the blade. Now that the party is closer, it's apparent that there's something metallic under the growths. Most of the vines only have leaves on them, with only a few clusters of flowers here and there. The closest one is about ten feet off the ground and thirty feet to your left.
Closest flowers. When Elesandira cuts away a patch of vine she can see that the vines are about a foot deep on a metal shell underneath them.
Essentially what the party is looking at is one side of a partially-buried metal ellipsoid about forty feet high and 150+ feet long. It's entirely blanketed by vines that have rooted in the ground around the thing and grown up its sides. As far as Elesandira can tell, the vines have not rooted in the metal, but have tendrils hooked onto any slight bump (or onto other vines, which is why they're that deep on the metal shell). Make a bit more sense?
Krol gets down on one knee and looks close at this strange object.
"Extraordinary...I've only heard of such things in stories, epic tales and the mutterings of the unwell." Krol continues to look over the ship, bringing Ava with him as he starts tearing off the vines to get a better look at this thing.
"Fifty years, just after Starfall. I can't tell under all the vines, but it looks like the shell has finished healing. When I woke up ten years ago it was still broken in places. The inside must not have completely healed, though, or it wouldn't still be here."
Versey talks for several minutes, gesturing and pointing at various parts of the vine-covered ship. Besmarial doesn't say anything, only bobs up and down in front of the alien. When Versey finishes, Besmarial says, merely, "Magic."
"So, where do we start clearing?"
Versey points to a couple of places (where, you may notice, there are flower clusters). "There are entrances there and there. The controller is in the hold, but the hold doors are on the underside of the ship the way it's sitting so we can't get in that way."
"Strange, does it burn? We burn the plants?" Darc looks on questioningly, but with some trepidation at the thought of metal flying through the air from place to place.
The vines are succulent enough that they're unlikely to catch, but if you have other things to burn around them they're not immune (or even very resistant) to fire.
I set Selveshanea to guard, draw a knife and start cutting through fibres at the place Versey suggested.
Elesandira finds the entrance closest to the ground and cuts through one of the vines. At that moment, a flower close to her sprays a cloud of pollen at the ranger; startled, she breathes some of it in. A feeling of numbness begins to pervade her body.
Besmarial volunteers, "I do not breathe. Would you like me to try to burn off the vines around the opening?"
I back off, coughing up pollen, "Eurgh."
Next round, Elesandira, make a DC 18 Fort save.
"Yes burn through friend, or we dig under?" Darc intones, seeing the dangerous cloud of pollen. He starts to move back, "Back" as he points to safe distance from the plants as they start to burn through.
After a quick exchange with Versey, Besmarial drops to just over the entrance and lays down a line of intense cold. Clouds of pollen surround the Cassissian angel, but they affect neither it nor the rest of the party (who had cleverly moved upwind). The entrance will be cleared in six rounds.
There are two other things to resolve in that time, though: a pair of assassin vines were lurking in proximity to the flowers, and the pollen may still be affecting your ranger. The assassin vines won't present themselves until a couple of rounds have passed, so Elesandira may have shaken the poison by then.
Toxic pollen:
Type poison, inhaled; Save Fortitude DC 18
Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds
Effect 1d2 Dex damage; Cure 2 consecutive saves
Krol walks over to Elesandira with a concerned look on his face.
"Are you okey, Elesandira?" as he asks this Ava takes a step or two closer, using her scent to keep a look out along with her own sharp eye sight to make sure nothing is approching them.
Perception:
After a fierce fight, the two assassin vines lie in still-twitching fragments at the feet of the party. No one escaped without at least a scratch, though, and Lum was particularly badly wounded. It is at that point that Besmarial suddenly rose into the air. "Master Gallowsmith is trying to communicate with me! With Rashun's help, he survived the attack...the attackers were simple mercenaries, and he has not been able to discover who sent them. Darc, he says you must return as soon as possible. The exchange of material in your body with the world you are in will soon reach a point where you will sustain serious damage when you return home. He has obtained supplies to assist you and may have reinforcements for you as well. Stand ready."