As the party contemplates their way down, Zadim almost instinctively finds a narrow, but usable path down the valley. Guiding the party, Zadim notes several small, clawed footprints along with several shuffled, man-sized footprints: obviously the path the kobolds used to escort their captives. The party continues to make their way to the valley floor, the sun's rays now blocked from the canopy of verdant leaves.
As the party makes their way down, they pass by one of the large megaliths. Shasta spies some writing on its base and can tell that it's in an old form of Dwarven. It reads, 'Valley of Broken Blood, home of the city of Ashkurhall'.
The trek is surprisingly easier now as the dense foliage above limits the sunlight and thus the undergrowth, save for some small and sparse vegetation. Thick root structures and mossy rocks make up the majority of the jungle floor.
The dense forestation of the valley jungle thins eventually, opening up enough to reveal the sky through the canopy. Beneath this opening, an ancient ruin consumed by the jungle is barely visible. Vines and leafy foliage encrust toppled blocks of quarried stone, tall grass grows up between derelict paving stones, and squat statues depicting dwarves in heavy armor stand crooked or fractured entirely from the infiltration of twisting roots. Among the more notable features here are the exotic flowers - tall, pitcher-shaped, golden blooms with seven petals, the interior of each is a deep red. The soothing fragrance of the flowers fills the valley, and motes of pollen drift lazily in the air.
Hakike, Shasta, and Wyeth notes several skeletal humanoid remains tucked away in a few parts of the vegetation.
Gob identifies the flowers as heart-eater blossoms, a breed of inanimate carnivorous plants that feed on the blood and marrow of cadavers. They are typically found in northern Avistan and were most prominent within the lost nature of Sarkoris.
However, both he and Shasta also identify the pollen as sleep-inducing xtabay pollen and find several specimens up ahead. Worse, though, following the pollen leads to a collapsed human women, surrounded by the carnivorous xtabay.
Xtabays are small, fragile plants that hunt by releasing pollen in a radius around it that lulls its victims to sleep. It then slowly crawls on top of its victims and begins digging in with tiny tendrils, sapping the life out of the unconscious prey. Those that manage to resist falling asleep by one xtabay's pollen is immune to it for a day.
Finally, they can lash out in defense; the damage is minimal, but also bears a mildly caustic acid.
Init Order (bold = up)
Zadim
Marduk
Wyeth
Green xtabay
Hakime
Gob
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay
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"Careful, these plants are deadly and that woman is in trouble. If left alone they will drain the life from her." Gob looks around at the group. "Wyeth why don't you go in there to pull her free since your elven heritage will make you immune to the sleep pollen, but be careful they have other means of defending themselves."
Wyeth is correct, the sleep effect is an Extraordinary ability, so his immunity won't work. And sorry for the lack of an update, running farewell games for a local GM who is leaving for school in a couple of weeks! More soon!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Zadim moves up to try and save the woman while Wyeth moves up at another angle and Marduk prepares small throwing blades. However, before anyone else can react, what appeared to be a large bush to the north begins moving rapidly, taking the shape of a man-sized ape and swings at the kukri-armed man!
With the force of a club, Zadim's armor barely protects him from a bonecrushing strike!
This is a living topiary, an intelligent, animated plant. They are quite strong and can travel around areas by teleporting through bushes and hedges . They are, however, exceptionally weak to fire.
The topiary can repair itself by resting in thick bushes and undergrowth, healing damage it received. Also, given the pliable nature of their build, only slashing weapons can effectively damage them.
The flowery plant closet to Wyeth approaches him before showering the man in a cloud of sweet smelling dust.
Wyeth can barely keep his eyes open, but resist the xtabay's attempt to knock him out.
Init Order (bold = up)
Zadim
Marduk
Wyeth
Angry plant
Green xtabay
Hakime
Gob
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay
Hakime nearly severs the plant, but it still moves, albeit weakly.
Gob's precisely aimed bolt of fire wrecks havoc on the creature that shuffles as leaf and wood are burnt.
One xtabay approaches Wyeth while another closes in on Zadim and shakes the cloud of pollen around him.
Zadim's eyes get heavy and falls unconscious, snoring loudly.
Init Order (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (22 damage)
Green xtabay (7 damage)
Hakime
Gob
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay
|
Shasta advances until the xtabay next to the sleeping Zadim is within range , begins to sing a cheerful tune, but unexpectedly belts out an arcane word that explodes into a dissonant chord of shards that just reaches the offensive plant.
DC 14 reflex save negates.
As she moves, she draws her whip so she can be ready to either grab Zadim or the woman with it and draw him or her away from danger .
Amazingly, the small plant's profile is completely in a small pocket of space from the sharp-tongued words, avoiding any damage.
A nearby xtabay moves on top of the woman and starts sliding its roots over her, slowly draining the life out of her.
Her body begins to slowly shrivel up as the plant feeds on her, still asleep.
Init Order (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (22 damage)
Green xtabay (7 damage)
Hakime
Gob
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay (feeding on miner)
And with that, Marduk clips the head off of the wounded xtabay!
Init Order (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (22 damage)
Hakime
Gob
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay (feeding on miner)
Wyeth expertly prunes the plant, cutting their numbers down.
I'll post monster stuff tomorrow!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Zadim snores loudly as the topiary switches targets, charging Gob!
The half-orc is swiped by the bush, taking the blow to his stomach.
Init Order (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (22 damage, charged)
Hakime
Gob (9 damage)
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay (feeding on miner)
The intelligent plant, now aware of Gob's abilities, neatly dodges the worst of the fire.
Init Order: Round 2 (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (24 damage, charged)
Hakime
Gob (9 damage)
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Red xtabay (feeding on miner)
Hakime's arrow goes wide as she tries to avoid Zadim and the miner.
The xtabay moves towards the party and tries to put the majority of the group to slumber in a blast of pollen.
Hakime and Marduk are both fine, but Shasta hums a short lullaby as she falls to the ground asleep.
Init Order: Round 3 (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (24 damage, charged)
Hakime
Gob (9 damage)
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Wyeth swings at the aggressive flower, but misses. Marduk, on the other hand, draws his blade and expertly trims the head off of xtabay!
The topiary continues its assault on Gob, hoping to turn the fiery sorceror into plant food!
The half-orc feels a rib crack as thick bushy stumps bash him!
Init Order: Round 3 (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (26 damage)
Hakime
Gob (22 damage)
Blue xtabay
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
@Hakime: Blue is down already, want to switch to another target?
Gob wounds the topiary some more while Hakime nearly fells the last xtabay.
It moves up closer and pollinates Wyeth.
The half-elf is steadfast in the battle and stays awake!
Init Order: Round 3 (bold = up)
Zadim (sleep, unconscious)
Marduk
Wyeth
Living Topiary (32 damage)
Hakime
Gob (22 damage)
Yellow xtabay
Shasta
Wyeth finishes off the last xtabay!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Marduk trims more of the topiary.
Now surrounded and badly injured, it moves into some brush, fleeing the party.
The miner is still unconscious, although alive.
The miner is suffering from exhaustion, probably from rough forced march conditions and lack of food. Magical healing and some rations should be enough to make her conscious.
Looking around the area, several bits of glinting metal and other materials can be found. Rounding the gear up, the group finds:
- a suit of blackened studded leather armor
DC 18 Spellcraft:
It's actually +1 shadow studded leather
- two vials with light blue liquid
DC 15 Spellcraft:
They are both potions of cure light wounds
- a masterwork scimitar
Also among the remains of the carnivorous plants are several rare and useful medicinal herbs worth 100 gp.
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"Thanks, clearly you've done some weeding yourself!" he retorts through a sniffle as he evaluates the situation.
Immediate threat dismantled and not being a candidate for the chase, Wyeth moves over to the miner to examine her...
... but can't really tell much other than that she's alive. He pulls out a wand and touches it to her shoulder...
... and then watches her to see if she responds.
Wyeth casts a curative aid and the miner's eyes slowly open, a slight moan escaping her lips. "Go awa.... wait, you aren't kobolds."
The woman slowly sits up, her clothing staying loose on her, a sign of malnutrition. "Thank you. I am in your debt. The name's Coranna."
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Wyeth gives the woman a lopsided smile. "I've been called a lot of things in my time," he remarks with a chuckle as he shrugs out of his pack, "but never a kobold."
"Hello, Coranna. I'm Wyeth," he says as he pulls a pint of ale and some provisions from his backpack. "You look famished. Here, have something to eat and drink, it'll help restore your strength. I'm sorry the food's not that great; it has to stay edible on the road. The ale on the other hand is excellent, but go easy on that until you get some food in you."
He looks her over again. "How do you feel, are you still hurt?"
"Much thanks, love!", the woman weakly flashing a grateful smile at the Rahadoumi man as she accepts the jerky, dried fruit, and biscuits. She hungrily gulps the food down before answering the next question. "I don't think I can make it back to camp or Fort Bandu right now, especially on my own... I don't suppose if I make it to the ridge that you'd protect me when you come back?"