You rise up and as you get a different angle you can see a white shape hidden amid the dense foliage of the enclosure. It almost looks like an irregularly shaped bowl...
Given what Samuel said and what you see, you immediately recognize it as a Basidirond, a strange plant that consists of four spidery stalks, long green tendrils, and an inverted bell-shaped cap filled with spores. The strange fungal basidirond is a deadly plant monster that feeds on mineral-rich moisture, be it runoff from cave walls or fresh blood. It's spores are hallucinogenic and while immune to cold, cold will slow it and prevent it from using it's spores.
Oh crumbling ice, Samuel is walking into an ambush, Letitia thinks with alarm.
"Samuel! I see it now! It's a spore-thrower! If you breathe the cloud you'll start seeing things!"
She considers its weaknesses and calls to Ashling. "Use the Mantle of the Black Rider! Cold stops it from releasing spores, so your aura will hamper it, and you can kill it with ease."
She floats within 50 feet and blasts it with ray of frost to suppress the plant creature's spores.
Ashling is quick to activate the cloak and the cold aura, at command. Although steps a but away from the others Cold stops its spores? I have spells that create cold if you can point to where to aim following the ray of ice, she has her answer and charges in the direction drawing a scimitar, intent on chopping down whatever plant is hit
Drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, Llewellyn remarked "Not sure I want to get close to that... Besides I have no cold magic."
"Cold only shuts down the spores! Steel will be needed to destroy the plant!" Letitia shouts and not being very successful in keeping the impatience out of her voice.
"Copy that" Samuel halts immediately and starts to retreat "If it's stuck here and slow as Letitia says, maybe we let it root itself out of the fight. No need to waste bullets or blades, unless it moves toward us, then I'll trim it down to size"
He steps back cautiously, keeping his aim trained on the plant just in case. If the plant does not attack, he will propose to keep following the edge to the south-east then south.
Letitia rises up into the air and advises her friends as to what lies in wait in the fenced garden.
The magical ray hits a number of plants in front of the creature, frost climbing branches and leaves, but does not penetrate to affect the fungus beast!
There are a few more puff of white stuff as the creature moves slightly, but otherwise is remains in place.
retcon post coming!
Letitia's ray of coldness strikes the fungus beast squarely within it's spore-bearing cuplike surface, frost spreading it's tendril across it's mottled surface.
It thrashes about, instinctually seeking out the cause of it's distress
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 75/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 59/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 78/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 61/61 - AC: (23/19 if cold)21/15/17 Status:NPCs:
Baindirond HP: -1| AC: ?? T:15 slowed
"Ah, well, let's have this done then!" Samuel steps forward looking for a clear shot and puts his musket into work.
With practiced skill, he quickly reloads the musket with a single move.
In his stage voice Llewellyn bellowed his whole hearted agreement, "Indeed Mr Samuel! GET IT!"
Somehow, as if by magic, this stiffened everyone's resolve to take the fungus down. Llewellyn for his part trickled power into his bow causing it and the arrow he had nocked to glow softly. With practiced ease he pulled back, drawing the arrow to his ear, sighted by instinct and loosed!
Samuel's musket booms and a good half of the fungus creature's 'bowl' body disintegrates! It thrashes around as Llwellyn's magic infused arrow strikes the remaining body, scattering pieces of it to all sides!
The remaining twig like legs totter and twitch until they fall to the ground, lifeless.
The boom from Samuel's musket echoes back a number of times before fading away.
"Well, that is some fast food. Guess it really couldn't leaf well enough alone" Samuel quips, lowering his musket and surveying the remains of the fungus creature.
He wipes the barrel of his weapon with practiced skill and turns to the group "Let's not waste time. Southeast, then south, as planned. This forest's already seen enough of our fireworks for one day"
He gestures forward, stepping carefully while keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Letitia takes advantage of the remaining half a minute of her Flight hex to go higher in the sky to survey the surroundings. When the magic expires, she floats gently down to the ground.
She follows the rest of the group as they make their circuit around this strange realm.
Callix groaans at Samuel's 'humour', and takes a pull on her aleskin before turning her attention to assisting the search...
The crushed white stone path contiues to the south, gently turning westward around the herb garden. A small section of the path leads to the door of the storage hut, while the path continues back towards the gazebo.
To the south, a large area of scraggly bushes and thorny brambles grow in wild profusion.
You ascend about 30ft higher than you were when your head gently bumps into what you can only assume is the proper roof of this 'room'. As with the walls, the illusion of the sky causes some disorientation this close up. You don't notice anything else of interest while up there, just what is revealed on the map linked.
When Letitia describes hitting her head, Llewellyn gives an incredulous laugh before saying, "Wait. Is this all an illusion and we're really inside a building or something? Maybe there's an exit somewhere..."
Following the eastern border, Llewellyn cautiously made his way south.
Letitia arches an eyebrow at the half-orc. "This is hardly a novel phenomenon. Remember in Artrosia, the first time we met the Warden? We were in a cave yet it appeared to be a meadow. This magic is far more powerful and appears permanent, but I do not find it surprising that Baba Yaga can accomplish such feats. We remain, after all, within the Dancing Hut."
She lets the others take the lead as they follow the circumference of these strange gardens.
Samuel Soulkeeper lowers his musket after spotting some bleached bones among the thorny brambles "Hold up" he says raising his free hand to signal caution "There are bones in the middle of that thicket. Could be a trap, or something that's been using this patch as its dinner table"
Samuel approaches searching the area more thoroughly.
If nothing else is found, he just leads on following the strange circumference as proposed by Letitia.
The moment Samuel steps into the brambles to get a closer look at the bones, a number of spiky vines whip out of the undergrowth. At the end of each of the vines is a large, mouth-like orifice.
All four of the mouths strike Samuel, each of them seemingly trying to grasp him and draw him within! . One of the mouths grasps Samuel tight . The others snap back into the undergrowth, hidden from view. However, the central stalk of the plant, now that it has caught some prey has become visible in the middle of the bramble patch, quivering in plant-like anticipation.
You are grappled and cannot move. You can attack (at -2 ) but not if it needs two hands to do so. You can try to break the vine mouth's grapple with a combat maneuver vs a CMD of 30
The Giant Flytrap. A hardy plant that grows in areas with poor soil but abundant animal life, this dangerous predator is an immense version of its more common (and much smaller) kin. Whereas the smaller flytraps supplement their growth by catching insects, the giant flytrap does the same with animals, humanoids, and anything else foolish enough to draw too near.
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 75/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 59/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP:30/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status: grappled
Ashling HP:61/61 - AC: (23/19 if cold)21/15/17 Status:NPCs:
Viney Plant HP : ?? AC: ??
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 75/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP:59/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 64/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status: grappled
Ashling HP: 61/61 - AC: (23/19 if cold)21/15/17 Status:NPCs:
Viney Plant HP : ?? AC: ??
"Samuel!" Letitia shouts and steps forward a few scant paces, bringing herself within range of her hex but hopefully outside the plant creature's reach. As a precaution, she activates her hyperboreal robe to punish the plant if it tries to grab her.
"It's a giant flytrap! It will digest him if we don't get him out of there!" she tells the others, then strips the strands of fortune from the creature.
If the creature succumbs to her hex, she cackles madly to extend the duration of its misfortune. (As a swift action, using the hag's blouse.)
Seeing his friend all tangled up by some overgrown vine twisted Llewellyn up inside. There was only one thing to do, and it wasn't reaching for his bow! Instead he pulled out his flute and started playing in a frenzy that was at once light and airy yet layered with incredibly complex arpeggios that follow so rapidly that it sounded sound jumbled and disjointed at first. But the music started to seep into your soul and there was a delightful freedom to it, one that had a supernatural effect!
Llewellyn then contrived to add an extra layer into the music, a percussive beat with his feat and his hands that grew faster and faster and faster in time with your now racing heartbeats!
Samuel trembles as the plant gets a grasp on him, only to be surprised by the music enveloping him just afterwards "That is..."
Llewellyn's soaring music envelops Samuel and he finds that he can wriggle free from the spiky prison of the flytrap's mouth!
Stepping free and stumbling back a few feet, the mouth hovers in the air snapping. It is obviously at the very end of it's reach.
If a plant's spiky mouth could emote, those watching could swear that the vine was thinking I had something...didn't I?
Though the plant can obviously sense that Samuel was still there, it cannot reach him and after a few moments futilely snapping at the air, the mouth vine slowly retreats back to the main stalk, which still juts up from the brambles, quivering in agitation.
Samuel Soulkeeper brushes himself off as he steps clear of the snapping vines, giving Llewellyn a wry grin "Remind me, Llewellyn, who's your favorite composer? Because I think I owe him my life now" he chuckles, performing a greeting touching his head in gratitude "That was some inspired playing"
He turns to the others, eyeing the retreating plant with distaste "As much as I would like to return the favor to this overgrown salad, I would rather not waste good lead on it. Let's leave it to stew in its own juices and keep moving. No sense sticking around to feed it twice"
Turning with a sheepish smile, he gestures to his injuries "Speaking of salads, I am feeling a little tossed up. Think you could whip up some magical dressing for this mess?"
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Letitia falls back out of the flytrap's reach and encourages the rest of her companions to do so as well. She touches Samuel with her healing hex to repair the injuries he'd suffered.
"There. Let's stay out of the reach of carnivorous flora from now on, shall we?" she says with a slightly biting tone. Using their superior overland speed, the Jadwiga leads the group around the reach of the plant creature.
this area has a larger than normal population of intelligent plants...ones that are trying to eat us She's eyeing the carnivorous salad. hopefully it doesn't follow us... We should be cautious around plantlife... This wherever we are is proving dangerous
Callix shrugs, "I'd just as soon destroy it -- just in case we're running away from something later and don't want to end up in its maw."
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Letitia observes the plant from a safe distance, watching to see if it starts to pursue them and ready to retreat further if necessary.
"Most plant creatures are not known for their speed and tend to lay in ambush. I feel that as long as we do not retreat into that particular thicket, we will be safe. But if you must kill it, do so using your ranged weapons."
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"Favorite composer. That's a difficult one Mr Samuel, there are so many, but right now I give thanks to the the elves of Kyonin who composed the music I played just now."
As the party discussed whether to finish off the flytrap or not, Llewellyn replied to Callix, "Normally I'd agree about the dangers of leaving an enemy at your back, but now we know it's there I reckon we can just avoid it."
Leaving the thicket and the now hidden flytrap, the party follows the crushed stone path as it leads the way around the thicket. To the right lays the familiar gazebo, ahead a copse of trees.
Following the trail past the other side of the thicket, the path turns into the trees into a tunnel formed by the branches converging overhead.
From this vantage point, you can see a clearing within, a number of flat-topped tree stumps stand amid the thick grass.
You can see what looks like a cat sitting on one of the stumps, flickering faerie lights drifting around it.
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Letitia tilts her head in curiosity as she spots the cat. "Interesting. The first fauna we've come across in this place. This must be a clever feline, considering the number of predatory plants we've encountered. Clever... or something more than it appears? I would advise against rushing up to pet it."
She stays cautious and alert, looking for signs that something else lay in wait and the cat a mere decoy.
There definitely something odd about the cat....It looks like just an old grey cat, but it appears that there are tendrils or vines joining it to the stump.
As Letitia peers at the cat, it notices the party, turning it's head towards you. The faerie lights blink out one by one and a quiet voice speaks from the very air about you
"Oh, hello there! I'd hoped that that horrid noise earlier meant that someone was here. It's been so long... I've had no one to talk to. "
Letitia's eyes widen in surprise when the cat speaks. "Clever feline indeed. It appears to be afflicted with the same loneliness that the treant suffered. It also appears to have vines attaching it to the stump."
She switches to Hallit to address the cat, but only takes a single step towards it.
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"A talking cat, whatever next?" muttered Llewellyn, "Of course it's in a language I don't speak... Going to have to do something about that."
Samuel Soulkeeper squints at the cat, his musket resting casually across his shoulder "If we are making friends with this feline, I sure hope it doesn't come with another side of killer plants. I'm getting a little weary of the salad course"
With a glance at Letitia, he nods toward her and then the cat "Weird, but I can understand the cat too for some reason"
"What is this place? Are you trying to get out of here like we do?"
The inflections in the cat's voice and the occasional twitch or feline movements leads to to think that it's struggling with something
"I have been here a long time, just not as I am now. I have a name, but I wish to know who you are first...and why you're here." it says, a little warily, but there's a trace of imperiousness to it's tone as well.
Letitia chews on her lip briefly as she notices the cat struggling. She sets aside her bewilderment at the fact that Samuel can be confused about a language he's forgotten he knows.
"We are currently lost within the Dancing Hut. My name is Letitia. My companions and I have journeyed far, and have overcome much, only to be trapped here in this strange garden. I am hopeful that we can call you friend. You seem to be struggling with something. Can we lend you aid?"
"And I am Samuel, I am the marksman of the group. Though some might say I am also the guy who keeps us from getting lost, except, well, here we are. So maybe do not hold that against me"
Samuel chimes in, tapping his weapon lightly for emphasis.
"We have seen a lot of oddities in this place, and honestly, you are one of the more polite ones we have run into so far. So, I appreciate that"
He shifts his weight and adds with a touch of sincerity "You sound like you are carrying some weight on those furry shoulders, though. If you are stuck in some way or need help, let us know. We have gotten pretty good at solving problems. Sometimes even without making more of a mess"
The cat's disembodied voice answers...
"Hello, Letitia.. Samuel. My name is Syvet. " it pauses for a moment, a spasm running through its body, "Yes, I struggle. Against it" it says with revulsion.
After a moment, it continues, "Letitia...you appear to be a native of Irrisen. You remind me of my dear master, Yelizaveta. " it says, sadness entering it's voice.
You recognize the name Yelizaveta. She was Queen of Irrisen some 100 years ago, before being taken away by Baba Yaga.
A shocked gasp escapes Letitia and she stumbles forward, a sudden urge to bow seizing her. Her mind spins in wonder of meeting the evident familiar of Irrisen’s queen before Elvanna. She does curtsey in respect.
"This is Syvet," she translates. "It was once a familiar to former queen of Irrisen, Yelizaveta."
"I am honored to meet you, Syvet. You are correct that my home is Irrisen."
A thought comes to her, that the prior queens of Irrisen may be found as allies in their quest. At least, those who went willingly with Baba Yaga to their reward for ruling Irrisen.
She catches the sadness in Syvet's voice when it spoke of Yelizaveta which tempers her hope. "You have been separated from her long, then? I am sorry. If your relationship with your master is anything like mine with Lazlo, she deeply misses you as well." She scratches her owl's feathers where he likes it.
She longed to speak at length with this creature, but the nagging alarm in her mind could not be ignored. "What is it that you struggle with?"
Callix blinks, "Well, I don't think I expected that. So more than a cat, then."
The cat's voice becomes sadder still, "Alas, when I came here with my Queen, I snuck off to explore the hut. My Queen stayed with Baba Yaga. While I was gone....I felt my link to my mistress irrevocably ripped asunder. I never saw her again. But, I know her soul is not free, and I think that Baba Yaga has prevented my mistress from passing into the Great Beyond."
The in a more matter of fact tone, "It and I are one. It consumed me, but my power was such that I kept who I am. We constantly contest for control....for now I am ascendant. "
Letitia swallows hard. The tales always spoke of the queens going off with Baba Yaga to great rewards. But being ripped from her familiar? It sounded wrong -- maybe it was the fault of this familiar, being foolish enough not to be with its mistress when it should have stayed by her side. She sets aside those nagging doubts while she considers this it that consumed Syvet.
"Syvet... was consumed by something, and now it wrestles with it for control."
"What consumed you? Do you have a name for it? What do you need from us to stay ascendant?"
"Baba Yaga replaces the queen every hundred years doesn't she. I wonder what happens to them afterwards..." whispered Llewellyn.
It is alien...strange. It pretends to be this stump...I am part of It....a lure to tempt it's next meal. It knows of you through me. It's hunger consumes me! I am so tired of fighting It. Please , please release me! It can only reach so far...it is good that you were cautious, else It may have snared you. "
"She takes them with her, to travel and explore the mysteries of the universe with Grandmother," Letitia whispers in answer to Llewellyn.
She focuses back to Syvet. "Syvet is being used as a lure, to draw prey towards the stump it sits on to feed its hunger. Another kind of plant creature?" she wonders aloud.
"How can we release you? Death cannot be the only way. Can we cut you from the stump?"
"It and I are one. When it caught and consumed me, I used the power granted me by my mistress to stay myself ....but with the creature. We exist together...and must die together.
It does not sound like anything in nature that you've learned about.