As the shriek reverberates through his body, Ankih falls to his knees and expels the contents of his stomach.
" Milady protect us. Blaarg. huff. huff. What was that?!?"
Avora and Bugsby draw their weaponry, adding to the growing pile of vomit dripping into the conservatory. The mandragora, sensing Sven behind him turns and lashes out at the massive ulfen.
All the plant thing manages to do is annoy the burly man as it clatters off his shield and armor.
Lana continues trying to calm her stomach.
Kalt is puzzled by why he's just struck the creature in front of him, when it's clear who the enemy is: it's Kalt himself. He raises his sword and attacks at his own leg, the strike blessedly awkward because he's rather unaccustomed to fighting himself.
Ankih flails about on his knees, struggling to don his shield.
" Huff. Huff. Blech, that tasted awful."
It takes the hit with a squiel of pain, but continues its defense of the gardens.
The others continue to empty their stomachs, and before long, blessed relief comes as the stomach turning feeling finally ends. The plant man continues to lash out at Sven.
One vine manages to get past the ulfens defenses, its colored barbs spreading toxin into his blood stream. Luckily for him, his years of hard training allow him to barely shrug off the mind affecting venom.
Avora, finally able to move without the content of her stomach rebelling, stabs at the vine with her spear.
Kalt looks around briefly, a clearer light in his eyes, as if he's just woken up from a strange dream. He looks down at the new cut on his leg in puzzlement, then grits his teeth and steps up next to Sven, swinging his blade hard at the mandragora and cutting it deeply.
Lana winces as her vision finally clears and she sees Kalt whipped and bitten by the monster. Moving slowly into the room, she pulls off one of her ubiquitous winter gloves. A moment later she reaches out and touches Kalt on the shoulder, wincing and biting her lip at the contact. Her hand and forearm are black and withered, covered in ugly blisters from burns, but a strange shimmer covers her hand for a moment and transfers itself to Kalt.
Kalt winces along with Lana as the harsh sting of magical healing takes him by surprise. What's going on?! his mind cries out as he turns his head quickly. His alarm grows further as he sees a withered, blackened hand resting on his shoulder, but his glance follows the arm upward and sees it is Lana, whose healing energies course through him.
"Ah, thank you, Lana, I needed that," he says, through slightly gritted teeth, before turning back to face their plant-like foe once more.
Bugsby grimaces as he wipes his mouth, spitting in disgust. Apparently throwing up is not one of the things he wishes to study. Collecting his small frame he moves into the room and tosses a protoplasm towards the creature, trying not to hit any of his friends around it.
" Blaaagg. That tasted awful!"Ankih spits as he stands, and aims a fire burst at the plant.
"Dawnflower Starburst."
The creature weathers the beating from all sides, including the goo from Bugsby. Kalt it seems, has shrugged off the creatures mind altering toxin as well.
Having no luck beating on Sven's armored shell, the creature tries another foe within easy reach. The creature leaps at Avora, flaying her with vines and attaching itself to her face with its gapping maw. It then begins sucking furiously, using its new hosts burst of adrenaline to feed on her life blood.
Bugsby gasps in horror as the monster leaps to her face, visibly recoiling in disgust, "Getitoffofher!!" he screams shrilly.
Hands trembling he scoops together a sizzling mess of magic, hurling it at the creature hurriedly.
Lana winces, knowing that if she steps behind the woman she'll be cutting off Avora's only possible escape. As she studies the woman's wounds, she imagines that she feels the pain from them as if she'd been whipped and bitten.
Avora screams as the plant takes its meal, though the sound is muffled by the flower covering her face. She struggles vainly to free herself.
Kalt's head finally feels clear of the beguiling fog the leafy creature had caused him, but he's still reeling somewhat from the effect. He attempts to strike the mandragora, but misses badly.
Sven's blade cuts deeply into the plant thing, a spray of greenish ochor erupting from the wound. It sags on Avora's face, trying desperately to cling to her and continue feeding, but the wound weakens it enough that the druid is able to pry it from her face and stomp the life from it. Blood dripping from multiple tooth marks, she seems unusually pale given the amount of blood rushing to her face.
Lana snaps out of her reverie and turns to Ankih. "Hurry; use the wand!" she urges him.
Bugsby breathes out in relief that Avora got the thing off her face. He moves to the plant things side with a small knife, poking and prodding at the creature in fascination. "It'samaneater!" he points out in disgusted fascination.
Ankih draws the wand, then pauses and looks at the others.
" Blessed be Milady." Intones Ankih as he channels energy.
Seeing that Avora is still hurt he activates the CLW wand and cures her again.
"Than you Milady. Lana if you can use the wand. perhaps you should carry it."He says as he hands it over." I seem to be having trouble reacting to, well, trouble..."
"I can try," replies Lana with a nod, reaching out to accept it with her blistered hand. Wincing, she suddenly realizes she's not wearing her glove, and withdraws her hand, causing the wand to clatter to the floor. "Sorry..." says Lana, drawing her glove on with one hand as she reaches down to retrieve the wand with the other.
Mystified that his channel had no effect on Lana's arms , Ankih stares as she pulls on her gloves.
" The Dawnflower's blessing didn't help you Lana. How so? Are you cursed? Should I try again?"
The woman shakes her head, staring down at her glove thoughtfully as she pulls it on the rest of the way. "It won't help. I'm not... I mean, I don't think I'm cursed."
She looks up and shakes her head again, her black locks thumping softly against her shoulders. "I honestly don't know."
"Well, I can't say if you're cursed, Lana," Kalt comments, "for I know little of such things. But your healing sting was quite welcome in the fight, though it - and those burned hands of yours - took me by surprise."
"Nice last shot there, Bjornson," he adds, "sorry I was a bit, uh, out of sorts during the fight. That thing did something to me, made me hit myself, which is certainly a first."
The group searches with both magical and mundane means, but beyond a few types of plants not usually found in Irrisen, there seems to be nothing of value in the room.
Kalt follows behind Sven, saying quietly, "I've learned a thing or two about quiet scouting since I was last in this tower, if it makes sense to take a look ahead without all your stomping, Bjornson."
The room beyond is a simple hallway of ice, with another teleporter and two more doors, one north, another southeast.
A bed, desk, dresser, and storage chest furnish this small bedroom. A large mirror hangs on the wall opposite the room's only door, and two small windows look down onto the tower's courtyard. Examining the chest, Bugsby finds he had pocketed a key from the giant woman the group fought some 3 weeks ago, and it fits the lock perfectly. Inside are four vials and a variety of gemstones and silver trinkets worth about 1000 gold. Examining the room with magical sight reveals only the vials are magical.
Kalt chuckles at Sven’s strategic use of stomping, but his face takes on a more serious expression at his friend’s question. ”It was white, empty. There was a wind, but not one I could feel, it wasn’t cold. I saw two bears, a mated pair – and a squirrel rode the great big male, and held a key.” He looks at his companions somewhat guardedly, realizing suddenly how strange it all must sound, then continues, ”I heard a voice, a woman’s voice, call to me. When I went to it, it was a white wolf who was speaking. I believe the wolf was Mai, the shaman who raised me from the dead. But the bears and the squirrel – perhaps friends I knew in life. The great brown bear could have been Sven, and the smaller, golden-haired female Avora. And the madly chittering squirrel...,” he casts a meaningful glance at the top of Bugsby’s head. ”But I don’t know why I would have seen some of you, and not all of you, and why you would have been in the land of the dead, except perhaps if I brought memories of you with me.”
Bugsby delights in his discovery with the key and the vials, tossing the trinkets over his shoulder in disinterest as the vials are new and exciting.