"That idiot that lead them here is the cause of this fate. I think he will survive, but likely as a Primal now."
"Hahahahaha," Gregor laughs heartily, somewhat in bad taste given the party's bloody surroundings. He shook his head. "What a fitting fate for such a man."
Let's check for our horses. We did have horses, didn't we?
Vivian winks and smile, despite the seriousness of the situation
You can recover your horses and gear, and Gregor summons his as well.
On the plains of Ardeal, just before you would enter the scarred, war-torn wastelands of the Furrows, you see the silhouette of a lone farmhouse stands against the stark gray sky. The house leans uneasily, its weathered planks straining to keep the fragile shell of peeling paint and cracked shingles upright. The bodies of four wolf-like humanoids hang from a large tree in the farm's yard.
Niculaie turns away from the tree, his expression grim.
“That is very disturbing. We should take it as a warning to approach this farmhouse with caution, but I do think we should investigate.”
I agree Friend Niculaie. Those arent wolflike humaoids...those are human skeletons. Theres illusuinary magic at work. have a care
Doro dismounts and picks up his shield and pulls his mace. looking around.
Hmm.
Niculaie casts detect magic and looks back at the corpses hanging from the tree for long enough to try to identify any effects.
"Are you sure there's some illusion here, Doro? I see only four skeletons on a tree. That doesn't look out of the ordinary to me." Gregor watches his horse carefully, but she doesn't seem to be overly afraid. "Hmmm, skeletons, not fresh corpses. Paint peeling, shingles cracked. It's been a long time since whoever built this house lived here." Gregor dismounts and checks his armor, making sure his straps are tied. Good thing I got rid of the visor on my helmet. Damn thing was for cowards anyway. "I will follow your lead, Niculaie."
Detect magic reveals nothing. And so far, everyone made the save, so there is no reason for you to believe anything is amiss.
Skeletons? I see werewolves hanging, in the flesh! Don't you?
Given Vivian's announcement, you all wonder if she is confused or you are, but still detect magic revealed nothing.
Who checks out what?
No. They are nothing more than human skeletons. I think someone is using illusory magic to make us approach unawares.
Doro will move slowly in a semi circular fashion to the right, around the building to see windows or cracks in the dilapidated house from a distance of say 50 feet. until he circles the building entirely
Gregor stays close to Doro, beckoning for the rest of the party to follow. "Hmm, interesting Vivian. Given that Niculaie can see that there is no illusionary magic at play here, perhaps there is some strange creature using some unusual ability." Gregor thinks for a moment, but has no idea what such a creature might be. "I am ready to walk up and knock on the door. Let's make sure our horses are secure but close by, so they don't spook but we can chase any fleeing enemies if need be."
"I think I would like to find out why Vivian sees something different than we do, gentlemen. I'm not quite convinced that she is mistaken, despite the evidence of my own eyes. Miss Deberth," Niculaie bows in her direction, "has proven her perceptiveness time and again, and in the absence of any reason to do otherwise, I would trust her eyes over all of ours combined."
He looks back at the hanging tree and shakes his head. "We will need to cut down those skeletons to examine them, and even if we lack the time to give them a proper burial before we leave this place, we can at least lay them to rest with some dignity. I agree that it would be wise to tie the horses close by and check the perimeter, but I would like to examine the skeletons before we deliberately attract the attention of whoever is inside. Perhaps our Pharasmins -" he nods to Tara and Vivian "- would care to join me?"
Niculaie would like to use the Read the Bones (Su) ability from his investigator (gravedigger) archetype (level 2).
Read the Bones (Su): At 2nd level, a gravedigger can perform object reading as an occultist (Occult Adventures 48), but only on corpses, bones, and other physical remains.
Object Reading (Su): At 2nd level, an occultist learns how to read information from items he examines. Examining an item in this way requires him to spend 1 minute handling the item. If the item is a magic item, the occultist learns its properties and command word as if he had successfully examined the item using detect magic and succeeded at a Spellcraft check. This ability does not reveal whether the item is cursed unless the occultist’s class level is equal to or greater than the caster level of the item. If the item has any historical significance, the occultist learns one piece of information about its past (as determined by the GM). Finally, if the item was last used no longer than 1 day ago per the occultist’s class level, the occultist learns one piece of information about the last creature to use the item. This information might be a glimpse of the creature’s appearance, a brief vision of what it saw while using the item, or perhaps its emotional state when it last used the item. The GM determines what information is gained in this way. This functions like the psychometry occult skill unlock (see page 196), but doesn’t require a skill check and can be used at will.
"Doesn't seem like the polite thing to do, but fine. As long as you're not leaving yourselves vulnerable while you do your examining." Gregor hefts his fauchard. He will stay between the house and the skeletons while the examination takes place.
As Niculae approaches the tree, vines shoot out at him from many directions.
Tara moves a bit faster, and may get to act before the tree attacks Niculae.
"That is odd...perhaps it's an inherent property of the area, rather than a mystical effect."
Pontia tries to recall anything relevant to this particular effect.
"Is someone out there? Help! "
You hear a call from the house
Pontia starts. "That almost sounds like...but it couldn't be her, could it?"
As you hear a familiar voice from coming from the house, the tree starts to move, whipping vines to and fro.
Gregor is shocked to find that the real danger is the tree itself, not inside the house. The voice calling from inside the house also surprises him. "Is there a danger inside?" He asks, hesitating for a moment. Niculaie is my friend, and he's in pressing and immediate danger. That voice could be another trick for the senses.
Gregor charges the tree.
While trying to recognize the strenghts and weaknesses of their foe, Vivian tries to find a way to cut the branches before getting caught, hoping both her sharp blade and quick wit will be up to the task
Gregor charges the tree, but gets snatched by a vine in the process!
Round 1: (Bold may act)
Tree
Gregor (grappled, 26 dmg)
Vivian
Pontia
Niculaie (22 dmg)
Doro
Sophie
Pontia draws on the magical power stored in her amulet and casts a spell, opening a gate to Elsewhere at the base of the plant.
Senses blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +11
AC 20, touch 7, flat-footed 20 (–1 Dex, +13 natural, –2 size)
hp 84 (8d8+48)
Fort +12, Ref +3, Will +5
Immune plant traits; SR 18
Weaknesses vulnerable to electricity
Hallucinatory Spores (Ex) Once per day as a standard action, a hangman tree can release a cloud of spores in a 50-foot-radius spread. Creatures in the area must make a DC 20 Will save or believe the hangman tree to be a perfectly ordinary tree—or at worst, a treant or some other friendly tree-like creature. An affected creature becomes passive for 2d6 minutes and refuses to attack the hangman tree during this time. An affected creature can attempt a new Will save each round that the tree attacks an ally—if a hallucinating creature is attacked by the tree, it gains a +4 bonus on its Will save to see through the hallucination. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Vines (Ex) A hangman tree’s vines are primary attacks that deal bludgeoning damage. When a hangman tree grapples a foe with its vines, the tree does not gain the grappled condition. A hangman tree that uses swallow whole transfers a pinned creature from a vine to inside its trunk.
Doro looked at how far out the vines could reach, and moved til he was just out of reach and adjusted his shield and readied his mace as he narrowed his eyes and called upon his God given powers to ascertain if something was inherently evil. while waiting for Pontia or Vivian to share its vulnerabilities.
"It's a hangman tree, a giant plant that can swallow people whole and make people see it as a normal tree. It's vulnerable to lightning, though. Watch yourselves." The wizard begins to cast a lengthy spell, chanted syllables echoing into the void between the worlds.
Sophie opens the door and casts spiritual ally. The misty form of her grandfather appears, wielding his naginata, and strikes at the tree!
for
for
Doro gets out 20 feet and does detect evil emanating from the tree.
The ghostly grandfather wades right in, but does not manage to hit the tree.
Niculaie lets out a startled yell and scrambles back, trying to get out of reach of the swinging vines and grabbing his bow off his shoulder. Once he is far enough back, he starts singing a lament for a small village on the edge of dark forest in the northern River Kingdoms, overrun and wiped out by malicious fey and bloodthirsty corrupted treants.
As Niculaie scrambles, the tree flails at him, smacking him hard in the back of the head. Nic stumbles the rest of the way to a safe distance.
The tree then attempts to swallow Gregor into its trunk, and succeeds.
Pontia completes her summoning spell. A familiar peal of high-pitched bells heralds the arrival of a quartet of lantern archons, flashing into being over the hangman tree. The wizard points at the tree and speaks words that blend into the fading echoes of the bells. Then the area is illuminated by a veritable storm of blazing light beams, searing into the tree.
Then Pontia looses an acid dart at the enemy.
It is quite the light show, as beam after beam hits the tree. It almost looks like the tree is reeling from the damage.
Vivian quickly gets near the trunk, hoping to dodge any incoming attack, but probably too focused on helping Gregor for her own safety
She tries to uses her sword to open the tree's maws so Gregor can get out before too late
Doro points at the tree and stats simply, You are evil. Iomedae grant me the power to end its existence.
The Doro rushes forward to swing his mace at the tree.
smite Evil-+2 hit +8 damage bypass dr. +2 to AC
Niculaie manages to stay upright and continue his lamentations, if only barely. Gingerly, he places a hand over the worst of his wounds and calls forth negative energy to heal himself.
Gregory’s scream abruptly ends as he is thrust headfirst into the maw of the tree. He struggles against the iron grip of the vine, trying to free himself before he’s crushed to death. Sounds like the others are still fighting, at least.
Sophie casts another spell... and an ethereal nodachi composed of pure force appears in the air opposite the tree from her grandfather, striking at the tree.
Her grandfather also strikes the tree twice.
for
for
for
Gregor is out of the interior of the tree, but still in its "mouth".
Doro wades in and cuts off a few limbs, and then Sophie follows up with a weapon of force, which is enough to kill the strange plant-beast.
Gregor pushes himself up and away from the center of the tree, flailing a bit before finally managing to drop to the ground. He coughs a few times. "Thanks," He says, wincing slightly and feeling at his armor to see if it's dented.
Turning to Sophie, he asks "Who are you?"
Pontia gives the oracle a small smile. "It's good to see you up and around, Sophie. I trust that you're feeling better?"
Then she waves to the lantern archons, addressing them in Celestial.
Niculaie groans and collapses onto the ground.
"Delightful to see you looking so well, Sophie. And your appearance was exquisitely timed, to boot. I'm afraid my curiosity got the better of me."
He casts inflict light wounds on himself twice more before switching to his wand.
Gregor eyes Niculaie's healing wand for a moment. "Would you mind helping me out with that?" He asks politely.
Niculaie looks uncomfortable. He glances from Gregor to the wand and back.
"I would be happy to do so, my friend, but I do not believe the magic in this wand will heal your wounds the way it does mine. I have ... unusual needs, and the wand is tailored to meet them. If I were to cast its spell on you, it would do you no good, and would most likely injure you further. Perhaps Vivian or Sophie could be of more assistance?"
Doro watched as the sentient predator tree's vines stopped flailing and Gregor was disgorged from its gullet. He shook his head, and wipes his mace on the grass beneath it. The turning he said as he bowed.
Ms Sophie. It was my pleasure to meet you at Liepstadt. It is good to know you are still bringing your wisdom to this world. What adventures have you been on since you left this group. I joined officially not long ago on the hunt for those who stole a werewolves heart for their nefarious plot.
I am Dorotian Andalar. Holy Warrior of Lastwall. I am called Doro by most.