The mage winces as the flames attempt to catch his companion.
Surveen manages to avoid the centre of the intense fire, but even as he dives clear, the red and orange flame engulf him, burning his blue skin, leaving him severely injured.
More bees crisp and die in Sharadon's supernatural flames. The few remaining insects start to circle aimlessly, no longer a single guided mass of stinging rage, but now tiny harmless individuals.
You hear, suddenly, a high pitched unearthly voice echoing all around you. The rage filled voice says, "My beautiful bees! You have killed them all. Curse you meddlers, you should never have gotten involved. Well know that this petty village is doomed. For too long have they shunned my pallid condition and laughed at my losses! When Queen Rhoswen comes, all will perish, choking on mist, pierced by thorns, slain by the might of the Fellnight fey. I, Tenzekil, will have my revenge!"
The owner of the voice seems to be upset.
Tudan splits his attention, attending to his stung and burned friend, while giving the disembodied voice half of his mind. The concerned oracle crouches over the charred undine, touching him with a mystical chant, burns and stings magically fading away under his ministrations.
Muttering under his breath, Tudan commits the words to memory while preparing another casting. "Doomed village, Queen Rhoswen, mist and thorns, Fellnight fey, Tenzekil's revenge. Right." He touches the brave blue monk again, erasing his injuries and restoring him to health.
Surveen, lets Tudan's magic wash over him, soothing the pain and mending his burnt flesh, it returns to its normal blue hue. Even as he nods thanks to his fiend, he listens with dismay at the voice an anger steadily rising within. "This Tenzekil must pay reparation for the fear and disruption he has bought to Eylin's wedding celebrations. Let's find our host and his bride, we should see if anything can be salvaged of this day?"
Tudan grasps Surveen at the elbow with both hands, and hauls up the newly-hale man. "They say that the best revenge is to live well, but I'm not sure how much people will feel like celebrating after such a fright." He embraces the undine monk and pounds him on the back. "Well done by the way. Crazy, but effective." Tudan gently punches his bro on the shoulder and winks to show that he's teasing.
As Tudan tends to Surveen, you hear a low thrumm and a wash of greenish light rolls across the ground at ankle height. A deep woody scent fills the air, like the smell of an ancient forest before a thunderstorm. Around you, growing with frightening speed, thorned bushes claw their way free of the ground. Green tendrils writhe and twist together as they swiftly grow into a solid hedge encircling you.
You have scant moments to react...
"Crazy or no, Eylin's guests didn't look as though they could handle the chaos of the bee swarms. Someone had to rise to the challenge." he smiles at Tudan, before he spots the mists and the flora.
"Come Tudan, there is evil afoot here, run!" taking Tudan's hand, Surveen attempts to run away from the encircling hedge and mists, hopefully towards their friends.
Alarmed, Tudan keeps pace with the faster monk as best he can, instinctively drawing his cold iron longsword as a ward against the fae magic. "What now?!"
Still jittery from having been assaulted on such a joyous occasion, the poor mage had forgotten all about his rod that sat expectantly in his pack. "This calls for an apology", the poor mage mused to himself. But before he had even a scant moment to respond, green tendrals of vegetation were upon them! He could only watch at it created it's circle. "Uhm... fellows?"
The wall of thorns grows magically fast, and within heartbeats is taller than head height. It neatly encapsulates the four of you, in a rough square of about 30 foot to a side. It surrounds the entire area where the benches were set up, and cuts you off from the fled wedding guests.
For a heartbeat nothing more happens and the only sound is the rustling of thorn-laden branches moving in the slight breeze. The day seems suddenly gloomier.
"You know how you sometimes think you were victorious and you're wondering which two of the village girls that you just saved will crawl up to a hayloft with you and then something way worse happens and you wonder if you'll ever get to a hayloft with two village girls again? I have that feeling right now."
"Ditto. Back to back?" Tudan draws his cold iron longsword and begins summoning Pluck the water elemental.
Alarmed, Tudan begins to run hand-in-hand with Surveen back toward their comrades -- only to find them all enclosed in the same high, thorny hedge. Gideon attacks the gloominess with dark humor, and Tudan can only agree. "Ditto. Back to back? And I'll bring in Pluck, so that he can fill the formation if Sharadon levitates." The experienced oracle begins summoning his brave water elemental friend.
Three large humanoid figures step soundlessly through the thorns to the north. They take no obvious harm from the twisted brambles. Flecks of saliva drip from the corners of their mouths, and their large pointed ears twitch at every sound. Their bodies are covered with bark-like skin and wrapped in tangled, thorny vines. Yellow eyes peer out from beneath prickly brows as the newcomers inspect you with a faint sneer.
Although busy casting his spell, Tudan has enough attention to spare to consider what manner of creature these are. Unfortunately, he has no idea. Never even heard of the like in a bard's tale.
[ooc]On the off chance these are magical creatures and not plants, I'll roll Knowledge: Arcana.
With surprisingly atypical caution, Gideon casts Shield calling into being a pale glowing disk or protection. "Have another one of those fireballs?"
Surveen pulls his nunchaku out and stands defensively.
As the big and scary-looking humanoids step through the hedge, Tudan finishes summoning Pluck, placing the little water elemental next to Sharadon.
The pale mage nods apprehensively, glaring at the opponents, all lined in a row. "S..sha..should I use it? The last one nearly..." he muttered to Gideon, as he glanced down at the rod he'd neglected to use before. Wincing as the elemental appeared beside him, Sharadon took a moment to ready himself, before nodding his inclination to use the spell desired. "Hope this one works as intended..."
Clutching the hilt of his blade, Sharadon began a familiar chant of power, summoning up the strongest of his evocation magics. At the height of the chant, Sharadon hurls his hands outward, slinging a ball of roaring fire at the creatures.
From the primal flare of invisible arcane energy through the newcomers' bodies, Gideon decides that the creatures are related to the First World. They are some sort of Fey.
Each of the three large creatures pulls a single large thorn from its own body - leaving plenty more on their bramble-skinned forms - and hurls it a different member of the group. The thorns glisten with a greenish fluid.
Surveen staggers back from the forcefully thrown thorn which pierces his shoulder. He rips the thorn from his flesh, but a green residue begins to eat at his raw flesh, there is something more his body is failing to fight, more than just a wound.
Round 1, Init 13
Tudan scowls as a thorn pings off of his mithral breastplate, leaving a green smear on its silvery perfection. Mindful of the likelihood of Surveen ending up face-to-face with the bramble beasts, Tudan calls upon the powers of life to protect the brave monk. Then, the well-prepared woodsman draws his cold iron longsword.
"I hope these Fey like it cold!" Gideon charges his scimitar with magical energy. It steams in the warm air as he moves to one of the creatures.
Edit: Paizo is formating these dice rolls weird. The attack is a 33 for 14 damage and 17 from Frigid Touch. The confirmation is 21 for 12 damage and 18 more from Frigid Touch.
Edit 2: Just realized that they're large and I probably need an acrobatics roll to avoid an AoO
The two remaining creatures stare in shock for a brief moment, before Sharadon's incantation engulfs them in flame. One thorn-beast successfully shields itself from the worst of the fire, while the other two shriek in pain as their woody bodies scorch and warp in the fierce magical heat. They die hard, rent asunder by superheated sap escaping in sticky evil-smelling gouts of fluid.
Gideon tumbles forward, narrowly evading the grasp of the last thorn giant. He comes to his feet, blade flaring with arctic power as it carves ruin through the plant-like hide of his target. Frost patterns crackle over the creature's still smoking thorns and film its eyes as jagged crystals of frozen sap jut from its chest and limbs. It collapses in death.
Behind you, two more of the creatures step through the seemingly impenetrable wall of thorns.
Surveen nimbly jumps the fallen thorn creates as his nanchaku is raised and sweeps in an arch, thrashing towards the monster, before in a whirlwind of speed, turning and defly move back to his original position.
Surveen moves smoothly towards his chosen target, ignoring the burned and frozen corpses of the fallen. His nunchuk strikes solidly, and he dances back out of reach before the bramble beast can retaliate.
Spriggan 4: -7
Spriggan 5: 0
In seeming reply, each creature detaches a long thorny tendril of bramble from its own body. Whiplike, they snap the tendrils towards ... Gideon and Sharadon. With their long gangly limbs and the cruelly barbed whips they only need to take a single step forward to lash at their targets.
Tudan raises his eyebrows at the impressive reach of the bramble beasts' viny whips. "Sharadon, let me bless you before you go anywhere."
Round 2?, Init 13?
Tudan repeats the words and gestures of the spell that he just cast on Surveen, drawing another parchment from his spell component pouch and touching Sharadon this time. "Now if they'd rather stand back, then I'd rather they didn't." He adds in Aquan, "Pluck, come with me."
The fierce oracle boldly marches forward and to one side, strapping on his well-crafted steel shield as he goes, until he is just a few yards away from the monster that Surveen hit. The little water elemental follows along slowly, clearly out of his element.
The poor mage slams hard onto the ground, groaning at the physical discomfort. Quickly sprawling backward, the mage tries his best to flee the creatures wrath.
"Little ha..elp!
Gideon once again charges his sword with magical energies, this time necromantic, and hacks at the nearest vine creature.
Surveen moves forward to attack with his weapon once more, this time he doesn't retreat but stays ready to battle the tree creatures.
Gideon and Surveen both miss their targets, and the giant bramble creatures take their chance to counter attack. They swing their long gangling limbs and grab with viciously barbed thorns.
Their attacks are ineffective.
Gideon attacks again.
Round 3, Init 13
Tudan extends his left arm to point just a few yards over, toward one side of the big bramble beast. "Pluck, over there. And hinder it." The nature-loving aasimar carefully shifts in the opposite direction, while nurturing his anger. Children and women stung. Innocents injured. All for pride. I will not have this! With a roar, the formerly-placid plane-touched oracle swings his anti-fey weapon in a deadly arc.
This time Gideon's sword connects, dealing significant damage and trailing jagged barbs of frost. Tudan advances and strikes; the fey creature's flesh blackens and parts before the bane of cold iron weaponry.
One creature is wounded near to death, the other is unhurt.
Surveen uses his monk's weapon to inflict more damage.
The injured fey drops under Surveen's rapid blows, falling in a shower of woody splinters and spurting sap.
As for tactics, I'm simple. I float up above, and rain firey death below. Pretty simple stuff really.