Leynus draws attacks from two of the creatures as he runs past, but their claws clumsily swipe through the air.
Elion moves to attack one of the creatures, to no avail. The sap continues to sting his arm where the creature had clawed him.
Valeria moves behind another creature and stabs it with her starknife - unfortunately her blade point bounces off its bark without harming it.
Bellicus charges the same creature and makes a wide swing with his shield, barely catching the corner of the thing's head. Its head rips off and takes part of the thing's body with it. It crumples to the ground in a pile of sticks.
The two remaining creatures continue their attacks, one of them (#3) turning on Leynus while the other (#1) continues to attack Anton. Leynus takes a small cut and cringes at the sap's sting, while Anton manages to avoid the feeble attacks of the other creature.
Seeing that her starknife indeed has no effect on the creature, Val drops the weapon and draws her morningstar. She swings the heavy weapon hard, attempting to bash the animated bramble over its "head."
"Catch THAT falling star!"
Leynus cringes at the swipe of the creature. He shifts his drum to his left hand, holding it under his arm, and continues his performance with it. He draws his shortsword with his right and takes a swipe at the monster.
[ooc]Attack Roll:
Anton takes out his scythe and swipes at one of the creatures remaining, but misses as he tries to get out from in between them.
Attacking the creature at G4
(flanking)
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Frustrated by the dendrified creatures' agility and resilience to attacks, Akshara looks to be whipping herself into a hissing frenzy. When Leynus moves around behind the last one left standing, Akshara drops down on all fours like a beast and lets loose a growling howl before springing in face-first with jaws wide open. But the plant creature is ready for the feral tiefling's attacks, springing aside with a rattle of its branch-like appendages as she comes barreling in, and all Akshara catches is a face-full of dirt as she crashes to the ground beside the creature.
Ears folded back, Akshara's eyes snap wide and her pupils become narrow slits, hair begins to stand on end and her muscles look like tightly corded rope pulled to their greatest tension.
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Teral, hissing out strange words once again, pauses, as if realizing something, growls, and instead intones something in the human tongue of magic as he once again flings out a hand towards the final creature, the bolt of light flying forth to strike his foe.
Teral's bolt of energy strikes the creature square in the chest, causing it to explode in a shower of twigs and splinters. The night is now eerily silent...
Leynus laughs when the final creature falls, and then falls down onto the grass in a sitting position, coughing.
Unfortunately, it seems whatever was within those things claws is still affecting him. He shudders a little as it continues to wear on him.
"We did it! That's the last of them!" Val drops her morningstar and pulls out her lute, strumming a triumphant series of chords, and improvises...
The stars shone down upon us all
And gave us victory sweet!
Though thralls of Thrune we may remain,
Our freedom soon we'll greet!
While she sings and strums her instrument, you notice that the strangely symmetrical butterly-shaped birthmark on her left hand shines with a faint blue glow. Ghostly blue butterflies seem to fly out of Val's lute, and flutter around you for a brief moment. Although very strange, they make you feel both happy and determined to continue your journey. Some of your strength returns.
On the following round, Val says, "I think I might have something that will make you feel better..." She pulls out her healer's kit and tends to anyone still suffering the effects of the poison.
Elion sinks to the ground dramaticly, "At least I took one of them with me (cough, cough)."
*edit* "Oh, hey, that feels much better. Thank you Veleria!"
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Bellicus wheels to find where the magics came from, and is only slightly surprised to see Teral at the point of origin. "Mage, then. Guess that clears that up." He feels the kiss of wings upon his wrist, and notes a blue butterfly brushing across his skin as Valeria finishes her song. He glances at her with a furrowed brow, but makes no remark.
With the last of the creatures in shards before him, he kicks at one of the branches before leaning down to pick one up. "You seemed to know the most about these things, Anton. What are they? And if we need clubs to defeat them, I suggest everyone find a stout piece of wood before we arrive at the citadel. Where there's three, there's bound to be more."
"I know they weren't natural. Arrows or poking them would do little, but both clubs and edges would. It occurs to me that if the mayor's plant was alive and poisonous, something here could be corrupting the plantlife. If it is Belek, he is no true druid."
Val returns Bellicus' scowl with a smile. "I did say that I could work magic with my music!'
She pauses to look up at the brightening sky, as the green star Castrovel shines brightly in the east. "Some would say that butterflies are my totem creature. I do admire them-- butterflies are beautiful, and delicate, and free... but also tenacious, and some will journey thousands of miles!"
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Akshara is still frustrated by the creatures, and while the others talk she leaps atop one barky body and begins clawing at it and pounding her fists against its remains. Picking the small corpse up by one arm she hurls it aside and lets out a frustrated yowl before looking back to the group with wide eyes and ears folded back atop her head. After tossing the body aside, Akshara brings a hand down to her thigh where a gash has been cut through her breeches and into her leg, blood matting down the visible fur.
"Anton, could the walking plant the mayor told us about be the same kind of creature as these things?"
Teral takes a quick look around the camp, making sure that's truly the end of it. He grunts in a satisfied manner, then tosses his spear to the ground beside his bedroll and flops down, turning over. His indifferent attitude, though, belies the disquiet in his heart. Unnatural creatures in the night, switching to Draconic without thinking... Staring out into the night, he wonders quietly at what other troubling events this mission might bring with it.
Leynus attempts to stop his shuddering. Thankfully, this time it seems he manages to rid of what's affecting him.
He picks himself up and dusts himself off. "Glad that's over." He turns to Anton and raises an eyebrow. "If it is Belak? It could be that there is some alternate source of their corruption, but I doubt it. All evidence points to the druid, and the most obvious cause is most often the correct one."
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"At least we aren't going to have to go looking for more firewood"
"I'd be more surprised if there wasn't a link, to be honest."
"That sounds like a good idea, Elion! Let's use what's left of those plant creature things to stoke up our fire. Maybe that would discourage anything else from coming too close..." Val turns again to the druid, "...unless you think that's a bad idea."
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Stalking around the outside of the group, Akshara has become completely oblivious to the conversation at hand. Instead, the feral tiefling is crawling about on all fours with her face close to the ground, ears folded back and eyes sweeping the ground in search of something. Her instincts are different from the civilized folk, and she knows where there's some predators, more are bound to come later.
Akshara intends on going to them instead.
_________
The wood from the creatures' bodies burns easily - they are quite dry, suggesting that they were not exposed to the rain earlier.
Akshara doesn't see any more of the creatures about. Then again, they did look a lot like the shrubbery in the surrounding area. She manages to find the tracks of the four twig monsters, which seem to lead in the same direction as the road - towards the Sunless Citadel!
"You found those creatures' tracks, Akshara? Good! I think we should take the offensive and see where they came from!" Looking back at the brightening eastern sky, she poses to the group, "So, should we break camp now and let Akshara lead us to where those thigs came from, or should we wait for sunrise? I'd advise leaving sooner rather than later!"
"I think we should leave now. I know I won't be getting any more rest after that." Leynus smiles ruefully.
He glances up at the rising orb in the east and winces as its light hits his eyes. "Besides, the sun is already upon us. We may as well move."
"Does anyone else think it's weird that these things are made up of dry sticks? I would think that if they were living plant creatures they'd be green branches and vines. What are they, some kind of zombie shrubs?
Teral sits up again as the others speak of moving on, a concerned expression on his face. "I, for one, could use a bit more rest. The tracks will be there in the morning, and I'd say a fresh day is a better way to start out hunting down monsters."
As he speaks, though, he picks up his spear and starts readying to leave, resigned expression indicating he expects to be voted down.
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Akshara is still frustrated by the creatures, and while the others talk she leaps atop one barky body and begins clawing at it and pounding her fists against its remains. Picking the small corpse up by one arm she hurls it aside and lets out a frustrated yowl before looking back to the group with wide eyes and ears folded back atop her head. It is only then that Akshara notices the luminous butterflies of light swarming around her. The tiefling tenses, ears folding back and eyes wide, the butterflies' luminous bodies reflected in her large, expressive eyes.
Lifting up a hand, mesmerized, Akshara allows one of the figments to land on her outstretched finger, only to have it break apart like a soap bubble and dissolve into motes of warm-colored light that swiftly dissipate. She stares, blankly, at where it was with ears perked forward. Then, remembering her frustrations, Akshara quickly loses interest in the now disappeared figments.
As she walks away from the site of her fitful display and the figment butterflies, Akshara brings a hand down to her thigh where a gash hds been cut through her breeches and into her leg, blood matting down the visible fur. Puzzled, Akshara finds neither pain nor an open wound. Her eyes narrow, ears fold back, and the bestial creature looks eminently puzzled.
"Fascinating ...it is like a sort of arboreal undead. I fear Belak is truly corrupted."
After resting long enough for Teral to recover his magic spells - which did seem quite effective at destroying the blighted twig monsters - you set out once more on the Old Road. Traveling through the afternoon, you pass through terrain that grows ever rockier. Now, there are no signs of any nearby villages. In the distance, you see what looks like a thin dark mark stretching across the ground. As you grow closer, you realize it is a narrow ravine in the earth. The Old Road turns and passes to the east of the ravine before becoming indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. At the road's closest approach to the cleft, several broken pillars jut from the earth where the ravine widens and opens into something more akin to a deep, but narrow, canyon. Two of the pillars stand straight, but most of them lean against the sloped earth. Others are broken, and several have apparently fallen into the darkness-shrouded depths. A few similar pillars are visible on the opposite side of the ravine, which at this point is about 40 feet across.
You note a sturdy, knotted rope tied expertly to two of the pillars which hangs down into the darkness below. You also easily note several old, weathered handholds roughly carved into this side of the ravine.
As the group approaches the ravine and the ancient pillars that adorn its edges, Val's expression turn to one of wonder and excitement. "Desna's wings! I've never seen anything quite like this before!" She moves to examine the pillars near the ravine. She seems to be looking for any inscriptions or sigils on the pillars.
I wonder if any others of the faith have visited this site before? It would be wonderful to have my mark be the first!
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When the group finally decided to head out, Akshara had been eagerly attempting to follow the trail after pacing around like a caged tiger for much of the morning while Teral rested. Unfortunately, in the intervening hours, the trail had gone cold. Disturbances by wind and the fading scent of the poisoned sap prevented Akshara from being able to pick up the creatures' path again. Though with her allies seeming so content to follow the path towards the sunken citadel, Akshara's worry about the trail going cold was fleeting.
Instead, the occupied her time traveling by disappearing into the wilderness for several minutes at a time, usually returning dirtier and with more dried leaves in her hair than before. By the time the group neared the ravine, though, she'd found what she was looking for.
Perched near the edge of the ravine by one o the tall stone columns, Akshara holds a bloodied, furry mess in her mouth. The legs of a fox dangle listlessly, blood turning its gray fur red around where Akshara's vicious teeth have tore into it. She'd been carrying it for a while, yet, and when the group stops to inspect the ravine, she begins tearing into the catch readily. Clawed fingers peel back skin and fur, strip it away and cast it to the side before she begins chewing on its midsection, getting her face slathered in blood.
While Valeria is inspecting the stones for found-marks from Desnan travelers, Akshara is smashing the fox's head against the rock pillar until the skull cracks and she can get at the meat inside with her forefingers. The gruesome display goes on for several minutes until she's eaten what she can off of the fox, leaving its carcass behind for scavengers.
Covered in blood across her face, neck and hands, Akshara walks in crouched posture back to the others. Intermittently licking her fingers, she casts a brief look over the edge into the ravine, then gives a wide-eyed look to Anton expectantly, her ears perked forward in curiosity.
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"That looks like a tasty fox. Good girl, wasting nothing. The head meat is the tastiest, anyway, isn't it?" Anton looks on at Akshara like a proud father. When she looks at the ravine, his face darkens a bit. "Humanoids have been here ...and tried to make it their own."
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Bellicus sleeps fitfully for the remainder of the evening. The adrenaline from the battle with the 'arboreal undead,' as Anton called them, had worn off, but anxiety was plaguing him. The citadel was clearly corrupted, defiled by goblins, and the Hucrele children were probably dead. All of this he figured. He realizees now why someone in House Thrune chose him for this mission - who better to take down a rogue Hellknight than a rogue Hellknight? There was a perverse logic to it. Hell, if he failed, House Thrune wasn't out anything worthwhile.
When they arrived at the ravine, he gives Ashkara a wide berth, a grimace upon his face as he saw he tearing into the raw, bloody meat like a common beast. He instead inspects the rope that leads down into the ravine. "Whose are you," he asks aloud quietly. "The knight's? Or the ranger's?" He checks the knotwork before even considering climbing down it to the ravine bottom. "I wish we could see the bottom, we don't even know how far a fall this would be."
Despite his vote to continue on, when they choose to stay for a few more hours Leynus accepted without much argument and flopped back down on his bedroll. It turns out he was quite wrong about not being able to fall back asleep after their ordeal, and woke quite refreshed when they set out again.
When they reached the peculiar ravine, Leynus gives only a cursory glance into the depths. The time on the road had given him time to think, and he had become quite curious about the nature of Valeria's music. He had mostly ignored it before, being more preoccupied with the fact of his poisoning. He has heard of those who could heal through their music, but they were of legendary status. Perhaps here in Avistan it was a more common practice? Leynus was unsure.
Despite her obvious capabilities and musical talent, he couldn't see Valeria as being quite that capable. Not yet, at least. Leynus had to know her secret - and if it even was a secret. He approaches her casually, making a show of also examining the pillars. He speaks up when he nears her.
"Valeria! I wanted to thank you for earlier. Those butterflies - they were astounding. I've not seen the like in all my years. I've known those who heal, but never one who could do so with their music. Where in the world did you learn to do that?"
Arriving at the crevice, Elion will peer about suspiciously for goblins, walking trees or anything else that might bite, scratch or poison him. Once he's satisfied that nothing is going to jump out at the party he'll check the area of descent for traps.
"I never thought we'd be climbing down into a cave to look for a druid. Hey Anton, don't you plant guys normally work above ground? Or are there druid who specialize in mushrooms?"
Teral's head turns slightly when Leynus questions Valeria about her display of healing magics.
Something had seemed odd about the bard's explanation, but Teral had determined to let it go. Everyone has their secrets or idiosyncracies, as he well knew. He remained interested, though, so when Leynus brought it up, he found himself drifting a bit closer to their conversation, though he said nothing.
"If it is natural, it is our domain. I suppose some ...'specialize' but at its core, druidism is the devotion to the natural."
Valeria finds what first appear to be scratches in some of the pillars, but they actually look more like some form of crude writing. She can't read them, but others in the group might be able to if she points them out.
There are also what look like drawings of over-sized goblin-heads, older than the other markings, which have been scratched out.
The area around these pillars is littered with the remains of what appear to be countless small campfires, and some of the pillars appear slightly scorched in places.