"Skeletons? Oh yes, they were created when the necromantic wave hit the fort. A shame really. Who is Master?!" The orc seems surprised by this question. "Why Master Plant, of course! Master Plant is in the ground, of course, where plants are. But Master Plant is special! Master Plant came from the sky, on a rock!" He seems to be getting more cheerful by the moment. "Master told me to make soup, why shouldn't I talk to you while I make it? I like talking to you, you're nice!"
"Returning?" the says in confusion to Quinn. "No, no, Master is here, down below. I will bring soup to Master myself!"
"Master arrived... um, hrmm," the orc frowns, struggling to parse the passage of time. "...some time ago. After we Ravagers slew the last of the humans squatting in our lands." He gestures at the heads frothing in the pots. "Then the earthquake, then Master Plant arrived! From the sky. At first, Krug was very bad and attacked Master Plant, and Master Plant punished him by eating his clansmen and then eating him too. But now I feel much better!" He grins and stirs the soup.
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"Master arrived... um, hrmm," the orc frowns, struggling to parse the passage of time. "...some time ago. After we Ravagers slew the last of the humans squatting in our lands." He gestures at the heads frothing in the pots. "Then the earthquake, then Master Plant arrived! From the sky. At first, Krug was very bad and attacked Master Plant, and Master Plant punished him by eating his clansmen and then eating him too. But now I feel much better!" He grins and stirs the soup.
"You are very kind! Big bowls for each of you, then?" the cook says to Omrax.
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"Tell us all you can about the Plant. We would like to speak to.... it."
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Master Plant is wonderful! Master is very large, with many tendrils. Master eats you and nurtures you in its belly. Then it spits you out and you become much happier, much better. A servant of good Master Plant, like me!"
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Obviously your call, but I specifically called out two discrete uses of the skill after two different causes. (I had no reason to suspect enchantment the first time, thinking it was hubris.) Regardless, I'm concluding yes after the last post.
"Thank you, but I just ate. I think we'll go see the Plant. I would hate to show up bloodied. Will we have to fight our way there? IF we will, against what?"
The cook considers Quinn's question. "Well, Master Plant did eat several of Krug's clansmen, but only Krug came back out. Now they are plant!"
"Tell Master that the soup is almost ready!" the orc says, bidding Sareth and company farewell.
"Up where?" the chef asks. "Oh, up there? The sky, where Master came from!"
"Oh!" remembers the chef. He reaches two long arms into the pot he'd been stirring. His skin hisses and burns, but he does not seem to mind or even notice. He draws forth a steaming wooden strongbox and plops it onto the kitchen floor. "You look like you could use these. I have no use for coins. I have Master!"
Inside the chest is 5500 gold pieces.
The Pathfinders bid the cook adieu and continue on with this floor. In the hallway is naught but a scorched, tattered, and bloodstained rug. The central room contains an intact pantry, teeming with water barrels, dried meats, grain, and other foodstuffs intended to withstand a long siege. Along the western wall is a former servant's quarters, containing several small chests that have all been opened and emptied. Shredded clothing and bedding is strewn everywhere. The next room was apparently once a stately bedchamber, but was probably ransacked and then ruined by the partial collapse of the tower. Most of the finery has not weathered well while exposed to the elements and the entire floor slopes slightly towards the darkening sky.
Once again, the party tramps upstairs and enters the Lord's Bedchamber. Like the bedchamber below it, this room is thoroughly plundered and exposed to the open. A forgotten corpse lies near the fireplace.
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Skybek quietly speaks to Mrachni, "Dae yae think this orc is like yae or mair like the beastly orcs we were battlin? He daesnae seem like the typical orcs Ahh've met, but Ahh sure dannae wantae try that soup. How dae yae think those skeletons got here? Ahh have nae doubt the meat is in the pot."
Skybek checks out the corpse near the fireplace and remarks on his findings. "Mae friends, this here is Heralt and it looks like he's been strangled tae deith!"
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Something catches Quinn's eye. He hesitantly kneels by the remains at the fireplace and respectfully removes an item. It's a wayfinder.
"Alas, we have found our wayward agent. Hopefully his notes are somewhere nearby so that his death was not in vain."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Omrax will scan for any evil while at the top.
Assuming none found, he says a silent prayer for the fallen and asks...
"Other than detecting for magic, I do not see much we can do for the fallen except pay our respects. We can come back to retrieve the body after we clear the remaining floors of this tower."
Mrachni's thoroughness pays off: on an hidden pocket of Heralt's jacket, he finds a note hastily scrawled on a scrap of parchment. It reads, Chelish know I am not one of them. I am to be murdered soon.
There are two other intact rooms on this floor, one with a single bed and another with a set of bunks. Both rooms have been pilfered. On the east side of the building is a partially collapsed room that slopes steeply to open sky and contains two orc corpses. Another set of stairs leads to the parapet up above, but it's difficult to get to on account of being partially destroyed.
The Pathfinder crew heads back down the many stairs ("Soup is almost ready!") to the lip of the crater below. A wide hole has punched through the tower's foundation into a dark cavern below.
Quinn finds no additional notes in the tower, and finds the roof above the stairs rather uninteresting. Wood crenelations give a commanding view of the valley and a delightful sunset, but no more.
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Just after we get down, Sareth gathers the party. He again takes out the rod to cast a spell.
Extended Protection from Energy, Communal.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The party descends into the black...
After scrambling down the steep slope of the crater, the Pathfinders now stand in the midst of an eerie cavern whose ceiling stretches to fifteen feet. Stalagmites and stalactites litter the floor and ceiling, that make the entire room very difficult to traverse. The only light comes from the darkening hole above . A large rock, about 7-1/2 feet in diameter, rests against the north wall of the cavern, evidence clearly indicating that it punched the hole in the fort's foundation above. The rock itself is black as night but from it stretch hideous, thick, bulbous vines several feet in diameter that stretch all about the cavern, reach up for the hole above, and wind down into the other cavern further below.
From these vines, three distinct stalks extend into gaping, carnivorous mouths. The stalks have hideous, orcish features retained in their trunks and tenrils--a pair of vestigial eyes and tusks here, some orc hair there--and their absorbed green faces leer menacingly at the party. Sensing the Pathfinders' approach, the stalks quiver to life and attack!
Round I -- bold may act!
1. Quinn
2. Plants
3. Sareth, Mrachni, Skybek, Omrax
The plant recoils in pain from Quinn's cut, although new leaf sprouts quickly form. The two nearest plants quickly chomp on Quinn and Skybek, grabbing them in their sticky wet jaws. Quinn takes a tendril to the face as well.
HIT plus
MISS
HIT
HIT plus
MISS
MISS
The last plant, in the back, arches its trunk back so that its 'head' faces the cavern ceiling. Its various bulbs begin to glow with light, a light that builds to a blinding flash!
Round I -- bold may act!
1. Quinn (49/73 hp, grappled)
2. Plants (Red @ 4 dmg, grappled; Green grappled)
3. Sareth, Mrachni, Skybek (75/86 hp, grappled), Omrax
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Omrax tries to shield his eyes from the burst using the visor of his helmet.
Alas what vile plant magic is this?"
vs blindness
"Sir Quinn and Sir Skybek, it shall be better if you stay on the outside.
He will then swiftly try to get the plant to release Quinn from its deadly maw.
Then, with a 5' step, the Paladin will full attack the plant holding Skybek.
Omrax
for
Omrax
for