Spike looks up at the bird sitting on Guaire's shoulder.
"No Spike, i know that look. I'll get you something to eat when we're out of this place, you're not getting him for lunch."
The berating tone is met with a low grunt, and Spike looks at Guaire and the bird a few seconds longer, before Spike turns to scurry around, sniffing the air.
Isuma nods to the android
Indeed Servitor. We should take the fight to the Dominion. Perhaps they have some clue there to your "Casandalee".
Isuma tells you some of what she knows of the Scar of the Spider.
The Lair of the Dominion lay in the far western portion of the Scar. Their fallen dropship lay in the waters not far from the lair. To the Southwest there is a swamp, some foul things live there. I know not what they are called. Paetyr has a Grove to the South. He is mad, but harmless. Finally, the Strange Servitors. I kept my distance from them. They were smashing bits of paneling when I observed them. I was tracking a neh-thalggu.
At Jarreck's comment..
"I am feeding the little guy properly, but this extra fighting must be making him burn his energy more quickly."
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"How'd your hunt go?" Jarreck ask amiably, once clear of the cave he sets about hiding the entrance to the cave, and the fact anyone has been here.
"I'm voting for the wreck, the swamps creatures are best left alone if they leave us alone, I've no desire to spend a few days walking round on muddy ground needlessly."
"As a person close to the ground, I prefer not to get muddy either."
In a monotone Seventeen states, "Wiping out the dominion is our ultimate objective. But a neh-thalggu can not be allowed to wander around. We should find it and slay it."
Isuma grins The Hunt went well Human. You saw my handiwork upon entering the cave I called home.
Without any emotion, Seventeen blinks once as she processes Isuma's words before suggesting, "Ah. Well then we should hunt elsewhere. The fight against the dominion will be hard, perhaps we had better salvage some weaponry first? We could investigate the fungus encrusted cave to the north."
Mort flies over to Seven and caws loudly, while nodding fervently as like he's agreeing to Seven's suggestion.
"Kraa! Kraa! RAAA!"
Isuma shrugs at Seven's suggestion
If you wish to explore every crevice of this gods forsaken place, so be it.
The Heroes head towards the Fungal Cave, as usual Mort flies top cover and Jarreck scouts ahead
The rocky wall of the valley rises abruptly, swaths of green mold clinging to the broken surfaces. A few mold-encrusted trees and tangles of brambly undergrowth decorate the region-one particularly large patch nearly obscures a single cave entrance at the cliff base.
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Walking forward of the others Jarreck is taking in the different aspects of their surroundings when something draws his eye, holding a hand up to stop the others he edges forward to determine what caught his attention.
Slowly backing away from the three piles of rotten vegetation, Jarreck meets with the others.
"We have trouble ahead, that's not just piles of rotting vegetation, although around here that wouldn't be surprising. They're called Shambling Mounds"
[ooc]Would either of those benefit Jarreck's knowledge of the creatures?{/ooc]
Seventeen fails to notice the creatures until Jarreck points them out. Apparently they where vegetation based and this out of her area of expertise. Being a logical creature she asks Mort, "Do you know how to deal with these?"
"Never heard of them."
Nobody seems to know anything about these strange creatures. Seventeen suggests, "Maybe we can fly over them, although doing that for all of you would prove taxing... Of course if the cave is narrow that may not help depending on how fast these move. Perhaps making you all invisible would work better."
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<Sigh> "Not really sure, had a team run into some during a raid during my younger years in the guild. They went in early in the morning and the wizard, whose tower they were trying to infiltrate, used them as guard dogs. Only one guy made it back from the tower and he didn't survive past the mid-day meal. Wound up burning down the tower, and learned to stay away from them."
In a monotone Seventeen summarizes the situation saying, "Ahead are three Shambling Mounds. We know almost nothing about them or how extensive the cave is, but we do know they are rather large. Tactically it would be best if I was to summon another dinosaur but I can't do that again today. Perhaps we should camp and attack at first light."
The heroes trek their way back to Paetyr's Orchard and the trip is uneventful. Soon, the same view presents itself after a few hours travel
The valley's wall rises up here in a forty-foot-high bluff. A single cave entrance sits at ground level, the opening h ung with strings of bones, twigs, bits of metal, and tiny fetishes crafted out of fiber and leaves. Before the entrance to a cave are five gardens of strangely colored vegetables and fruits. A few fruit trees grow near by, shielding the view of the garden and cave entrance save for from the east.
Paetyr himself is nowhere to be seen.
Guaire looks in whatever direction Jarreck isn't inspecting upon arrival.
If there is something the mad hatter wears that is left behind, Guaire lets Spike smell it, to try and find him.
Jarreck enters Paetyr's cave and finds the man sitting alone in the gloom, muttering to himself.
The Flayer. She hurts. Hurts so bad. Bad. The Garden is good. Good. Growing, Green.
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"Partyr,,Paetyr, hey are you alright?" Jarreck ask gently approaching the man and shaking his shoulder.
Looking around he spots what he thinks may have been a shrine once upon a time. "Omo, anything you can do for him, he seems pretty out of it."
As Omo moves to check on Paetyr, Jarreck moves to investigate the shrine closer.
Omo examines the man, trying to determine what if anything can be done for him.
Seventeen watches Partyr and ignores any evidence of pagan worship in the cave. She glances at the various exotic plants and fungi and wonders if any of them are toxic or perhaps even enchanted...
Whispering several spidery phrases she attunes her senses and checks!
Jarreck touches the man, but Paetyr seems not to notice. Jarreck then proceeds to the rear of the cavern in a new chamber.
This chamber features a small, personal altar of Gozreh fashioned from a large and beautiful set of geodes embedded in the wall.
Omo can tell the man has obviously suffered mental trauma. There are many spells that assist with this...
Seven being the consummate paranoid detects no poison in the cave. Paetyr's armor and ring detect as slightly magic with a small abjuration effect.
Isuma says in Androffan The human is not right, his utterances. He's been driven mad by the Dominion.
Seventeen regards Isuma with a thoughtful look and after a while she states, "He was more lucid last time we saw him. We'd best be on our guard in case one of their agents is around."
"Hrmhm, he was more sane last time. As far as he was anyway."
The night passes with not much in the way of action. Paetyr talks about his garden, or he gibbers about nothing in particular. You get the sense he enjoys the company and hasn't had much of it in a long time. He pointedly avoids talking about his time in the Scar or his experience with the Dominion. He'll answer questions but that's all.
Omo will prepare some infusions of lesser restoration for Paetyr.
1. Silent Image, Magic Missiles, Shield, Mage Armor, Obscuring Mist
2. Web, Mirror Image, Invisibility, Glitter Dust
3. Ablative Sphere, Aqueous Orb, Slow
4. Persistent Create Pit, Greater Invisibility, Stoneskin
Seventeen prepares her spells in the morning, before suggesting, "He is damaged. We should try to help him before we depart."
Mort, having changed back into his normal form, sits by the remains as well and looks at Paetyr. Then shakes his head replying to Jarreck.
"I reckon if anything he found helped to restore his mind, he would have eaten it some time ago. I can help Omo administer some healing, I can ask the land to help me with that. It's not my forte, but I can help."
Paetyr trusts you and would do whatever you said to do. (IE if you said, "Eat this it might help" he would do that, or if you said "This injection will make you feel better" he'd let you...etc.)
Just waiting on actions from you guys.
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"Not really sure he's in any shape to eat anything on his own."
Jarreck replies offhandedly studying Paetyr, rising he makes a pass through the odd-fellow's garden gathering items,
Hmm, carrots? they helped Mort's eyes but who knows that might only be because he was a gnome, and a strange one at that. Beets? never liked them much, but he must have he was growing them, odd shade of pink though. Cucumbers? made good sandwiches growing up during the summer, and oh the pickles momma made using grape leafs he thinks to himself with a wistful smile. Continuing through the garden he collects a few more vegetables, snow peas - they actually look normal, that is probably not a good thing, blue radishes and some leafy greens that were actually red, a cross between lettuce and cabbage maybe?
Using the campsite's spring, he cleans the vegetables cutting them up to make a salad but saving some bite-sized pieces of each to have Paetyr try as he goes. "Mmm try this" he says over and over handing off a small piece each time.
Finally setting the salad in front of him, "You must be famished, eat this and then we can see about setting things right again within your little part of the world."
Seventeen generally dismissed such things as folk tales but she noted absently, "They say 'fish is good for the brain.' Of course statistical basis of such assertions is generally based on a sample of size one..."
Mort will offer two Lesser Restorations to cure Paetyr's worst affected stats.
Paetyr eats the fruits and vegetables that Jarreck prepares (Is anyone else partaking in the mutant fruit salad?) They don't seem to "cure" Paetyr. However, Mortimer's spells do wonders for the man. He begins to look around a little more clearly and his rocking motions cease.
Wow. Your magic. It has really helped me.
Paetyr now fully understands what's happened to him, and tells his story. He was a Druid, a worshipper of Gozreh who came to the Scar from his former home in the River Kingdoms. He had planned on forming a Grove here and tending it, but he was captured by the Dominion and forced to endure terrible experimentations. He isn't sure how long he stayed, but he remembers running and coming back here. He's sure the Dominion doesn't consider him a threat but he thinks he might leave the Scar for good now.
Replying to Seven, Paetyr tells what he remembers of Shambling Mounds.
They're plants. You'll not want to use electricity against them, nor fire. But I haven't been to that part of the Scar.
Seventeen replies, "Thank you, we shall be sure not to use either. Perhaps acid or simple brute force would work best."