The group gets a good breath in after the spiders finally broke off and summon their wits to proceed.
The narrow corridor soon starts to descend in earnest until the sudden right-shift Astrapios already detected earlier.
After the turn, the tunnel only goes on for a couple more steps before opening up into a massive cave, its walls and ceiling covered in thorny vines, the ceiling - full twenty meters above - held up by six solid metal pillars. In-between the vines is a silky-black webbing similar yet different to those you already saw. Those you saw (and sometimes felt) earlier, clearly were the products of spiders, but these ones look - at least from afar - more like expensive cloth than anything a beast produces to hunt its prey.
To be honest, your gazes likely will not rest long (or at all) on the webbing, but be drawn to the four crystals in the midst of the cave. They mark the corners of a quadratic 'garden' and give off a pulsating glow of sickly green light. The quadratic 'garden' is an area of about 10 square feet of dead plants and other organic matter with a fist-sized, fleshy thing in the middle. Four dead tree husks stand around the crystals and the 'garden', feeling out of place in this underground world.
That fist-sized fleshy thing is Quercus seed, you remember it from the scrying.
Your guess would be that those trees are an odd mix of treant and undead lifeform.
You'd advice against the usage of any mind-affecting effects.
Slashing weapons might work well against them.
To determine anything else, you'd have to get closer or see them in action, they are just too strange that you have heard of their kind before.
Ktinos will refresh his shield and cat's grace spells before combat.
Ethana, as they prepare to rush in, raises her spear, and ignites it, ready for anything.
Buffs up:
-See Invisibility, Shield and extended Heroism still from before
-adding Haste on entering
"There it is, let's get it and get out!"
The group enters the final cave, fully prepared, strengthening magic casted and their souls steeled - for everyone knows that this is it. The cave of their enemy. Arachnias lair.
They have barely taken a few steps into the strange cave, as a heavily echo-distorted voice speaks up. The voice seems to come from all directions at once, made worse by the unnatural strong echos.
"Soo-Soo you've come-come.
To take back the rotten seed of that fool's ghoran-rotten fool.
He finally remember me then-remember.
Too late! late!
I've taken four of his oh so trusted guardians to my side-four guardians my side.
Greet them warmly! greet warmly"
A jerk runs through the four thought-dead trees at those words and they start to change in front of your eyes: distorted faces, seemingly frozen in an expression of horror and pain, form themselves on the dead, rotten bork and trunks crack and groan as they move into place where arms should be. This transformation lasts for several seconds, allowing fast thinking heroes to act!
Astrapios
Lady Zal:
Ethana:
Gosor:
Ktinos:
"Can anyone see HER?"
Astrapios, hasted, runs into the cave to get a better look.
"I'm trying! Everyone, hurry!"
Ethana vanishes, golden light cascading around her as she becomes invisible.
As she goes in, armor mind force screen up, then Defy gravity to lift of the ground and up to the roof of the space as she comes in.
"You know, you and I should talk"
Ktinos steps forward, a low growl building to a roar as he swells to tremendous size, ready for battle.
Ethana invisibly runs up to the seed and grabs it.
Your spell pings of a mind that means no good to any of you - or the whole of Iblydos to be precise. Your magical sense struggles with your natural ones, as the location your magic insist to be filled with a gruel and dangerous enemy appears to be entirely empty to your eyes.
It is a spot uncomfortably close to the only entry and exit into the room, hidden from ground-level observation by a thin layer of webbing.
As Ethana gets close to the frontmost crystals, their sickly light suddenly intensifies and you all feel the very ground beneath your feet to turn evil.
In addition a sharp, ear-piercing *bang-crack* sound echoes through the cave together with a chain lightning, linking the crystals and all four not-trees for a dazzling moment of pure light.
Ethana blinks rapidly as her eyes are overwhelmed with light, unable to shield them in time.
Now she knew the area, it was time.
"She is over there."
She says pointing
Lady Zal: hovers into the air and detects the location of HER by getting grasps of very cruel and inventive ways of killing off these 'Kelksiomedeslickers'.
Ethana: Runs forward and is nearly at grasp-range of the seed as the lightning stops her dead and leaves her seeing stars.
Gosor: Follows Ethana into the fray and shakes off the flash of light with a bellow of defiance. He reaches the seed, grabs it and ... ... rips it out the desecrated earth with a sharp jerk that seems overly brutal to anyone who did not feel the strength trying to hold it back.
TreeThing#1 Throws his trunk-hands towards Ethana and Gosor in a motion like a victim pointing at his assailant and a massive thunderbolt races towards both heroes (and the tree thing on the opposite side).
TreeThing#4 Moans and groins like crazy, sounding like a horrible mixture between a tree in a storm and a long-term tortured prisoner when his inquisitor returns... And grows even larger, to a size ....
Ktinos: ... only barely matched by Ktinos after the Catfolk-with-voices unleashed his full bestial potential! UP
Astrapios UP
TreeThing#2
TreeThing#3
Astrapios eyes the tree that just grew even larger, which makes it an even easier target. He throws a barrage of little fireballs.
Ktinos steps forward and swings a heavy blow at the nearby corrupted tree-thing, then another, then surges forward to snap at it with his teeth before finishing with a third swing of his club.
Lady Zal: hovers into the air and detects the location of HER by getting grasps of very cruel and inventive ways of killing off these 'Kelksiomedeslickers'.
Ethana: Runs forward and is nearly at grasp-range of the seed as the lightning stops her dead and leaves her seeing stars.
Gosor: Follows Ethana into the fray and shakes off the flash of light with a bellow of defiance. He reaches the seed, grabs it and ... ... rips it out the desecrated earth with a sharp jerk that seems overly brutal to anyone who did not feel the strength trying to hold it back.
TreeThing#1 Throws his trunk-hands towards Ethana and Gosor in a motion like a victim pointing at his assailant and a massive thunderbolt races towards both heroes (and the tree thing on the opposite side).
TreeThing#4 Moans and groins like crazy, sounding like a horrible mixture between a tree in a storm and a long-term tortured prisoner when his inquisitor returns... And grows even larger, to a size ....
Ktinos: ... only barely matched by Ktinos after the Catfolk-with-voices unleashed his full bestial potential! Swings his club repeatedly against the tree-thing, scoring two solid hits ... Both of which feel ... Well like hitting a tree with a club. There are some fractures in the bark, but less then you would have hoped.
Astrapios Sends a massive stream of fire-bolts against the enemy which seems to fill half of the cave by itself at this point, each and every bold connecting and scorching the bark of his target. What you are sure ought to eradicate any normal tree, seems to affect the target less so - still, the barrage leaves the tree singed to an utter coal-black!
TreeThing#2 Turns on Ktinos and brings two massive trunk-hands together with shattering force - aiming to smash Ktinos heads in between! Ktinos deflects one blow but the other connects against the side of his head - causing the voices to stop for a merciful moment that is nearly worth the pain.
TreeThing#3 Moans heart-sickeningly, then vomits forth a lightning bolt (of the same sickly green colour as emitted by the crystals) which strikes the tree-thing burned by Astrapios... And which then splits up into eight crackling lightning bolts which race towards every single combatant in the cave!
SHE: A massive, black web springs into existence, covering all of the entrance, Ktinos and his enemy and even hovering Lady Zal is in danger of being enveloped in the sticky, wringling spiderweb.
#2 took 17 (Ktinos): 131/148 healed 12 => 143/148
#4 took 8+11+12+8+9+11+11=70 (Astrapios) => 78/148 healed 12 due to chain lightning => 90/148
Ethana, blinking spots from her eyes, still manages to block the worst of the lightning with her shield, and grits through the rest, and manages to avoid the second lightning spiral.
These act like lightning treants - which are exceedingly rare - or reports of encounters with them are.
They are said to be all but immune to lightning (some sources even claim that they pull healing energies out of this most deadly element) and somewhat resistant to the heat of fire as well. They are also - like all treants - quite resistant against piercing and bludgeoning attacks.
They wield the powers of a thundercloud in them and are more than willing to unleash it on trespassers without warning.
Of course, being plant creatures, mind-affecting and sleep effects are practically useless on them.
They are also most certainly some kind of undead. From the words of HER, they are most likely Ghorans which were transformed with most fuel necromancy.
Expect undead traits and unbreakable morale as long as their master is around, as well as vulnerability to positive energy and any undead-harming spells and effects.
In spite of his great size, Ktinos proves to retain his catlike reflexes, somehow managing to avoid the worst of the webbing.
Ethana snaps her head to the sides, and curses mentally that they had to be immune to lightning. Still, she doesn't let that stop her, and she invisibly steps closer to the treant, as her familiar works to point out areas of weakness, and
Lady Zal: Unleashes a localized, powerful earthquake near the entrance, causing half of the black spiderweb to shake and jerk like mad, some of the pitch-black strings are even shredded by the crushing force!
Ethana: Ethana and her trusty familiar find cover behind the large shield which takes the brunt of the lethal energies. Ethana has to silence a cry of pain as she feels the shield getting hot to the point of burning but she does not let go for that would have opened her up for the full assault of the energies. As the crackling fades away, her shield is partially molten and deep cracks run along its edges. Angry, she whirls around and thrusts her spear into the solid bark of the treant before her with a resounding *thunk*.
Gosor: Is singed by both lightning attacks and looks quite worse for the wear but throws a roaring challenge followed by two quick slashes with his fauchard against #3 and steps back carefully to keep his back covered by Ethana. He leaves a badly mauled treant behind, which has a arm-deep cut running across half its body. Clearly, the adamantine fauchard is the weapon of choice for woodworking!
TreeThing#1 Retaliates against Ethana with a double punch of his trunk-hands. The first punch is easily evaded but the follow up smashes against her shield and the battered shield is unable to stop the damage as it's wielder is used to and a jolt of pain rushes through Ethanas arm!
TreeThing#4 Closes with Astrapios, origin of the severe pain that threatens to end it's unnatural existence - or maybe it longs for it to end and embraces his attacks? Attempts a wild Swing with truly enormous trunk-fists but the tightly layered defences of Astrapios stand firm - barely.
Ktinos: up
Astrapios up
TreeThing#2 -
TreeThing#3 -
SHE:
#1 20 tmp-hp took 19 (Ethana) => 1 tmp left
#3 12 tmp hp took 91 (Gosor) => 69/148
#2 took 17 (Ktinos): 131/148 healed 12 => 143/148
#4 took 8+11+12+8+9+11+11=70 (Astrapios) => 78/148 healed 12 due to chain lightning => 90/148
Wary of the tree closing on him, Astrapios throws a 2nd barrage of little fireballs.
Snarling, Ktinos drops his club and slashes at the nearby tree-beings with his claws, then snaps at them with his teeth.
Lady Zal: Unleashes a localized, powerful earthquake near the entrance, causing half of the black spiderweb to shake and jerk like mad, some of the pitch-black strings are even shredded by the crushing force!
Ethana: Ethana and her trusty familiar find cover behind the large shield which takes the brunt of the lethal energies. Ethana has to silence a cry of pain as she feels the shield getting hot to the point of burning but she does not let go for that would have opened her up for the full assault of the energies. As the crackling fades away, the surface of her shield steaming hot but had resisted the elemental rage if the thunderbolt otherwise. Angry, she whirls around and thrusts her spear into the solid bark of the treant before her with a resounding *thunk*.
Gosor: Is singed by both lightning attacks and looks quite worse for the wear but throws a roaring challenge followed by two quick slashes with his fauchard against #3 and steps back carefully to keep his back covered by Ethana.
TreeThing#1 Retaliates against Ethana with a double punch of his trunk-hands. The first punch is easily evaded but the follow up smashes against her shield and the battered shield is unable to stop the damage as it's wielder is used to and a jolt of pain rushes through Ethanas arm! - still, she is barely able to block the blow!
TreeThing#4 Closes with Astrapios, origin of the severe pain that threatens to end it's unnatural existence - or maybe it longs for it to end and embraces his attacks? Attempts a wild Swing with truly enormous trunk-fists but the tightly layered defences of Astrapios stand firm - barely.
Ktinos: Falls upon the giant tree-thing with bestial fury, sinking both massive claws in its central mass and rips it apart with a huge effort! Masses of disgusting larvae burst out of the long dead, desecrated ghoran body, falling to the ground in a meaty splash.
Astrapios With his direct enemy disabled by Ktinos intervention, he redirects his stream of fire onto #1. His stream of fire hits the tree-thing again and again, burning away the left side of the creature with furious power. It remains standing, but clearly cannot take another suck salvo - or even half of it.
TreeThing#2 Moans loudly, large hands raised hight into the air and chants words of power.
TreeThing#3 Flings a cracked finger at the slowly retreating Gosor and sends another crackling lightning bolt at the minotaur, as it reaches him, the arc once again splits up into a myriad of off-branch lightning bolts, arcing for every single combatant!
SHE: An agonized hiss comes from the centre of Lady Zals havoc. Arcane words filled with most vile and terrible meaning can be heart from somewhere halfway between ground and ceiling.
You can see HER climbing the side of the walls thanks to the ability to see what is invisible. SHE is horrible. An amalgam of woman and spider, bloated in size and reverberating pure evil. Her many, many eyes are fixed on Gosor as a once-delicate mouth worked a spell...
#1 54/148-> lightning healed => 70/148
#3 69/148-> lightning healed => 87/148
#2 143/148-> lightning healed => 161/148
#4 0/148 => killed by Ktinos
Ktinos continues to dodge the worst of the lightning.
"Ktinos, DUCK. She's right behind you!"
Astrapios unleashes the Hail Mary of fireballs at, well, apparently the wall.
Blast. Ah well, I'll just fix it later. Ethana thinks to herself as she looks at her shield, invisibly stabbing the nearer tree-creature as it unknowingly leaves itself open.
Then, she takes to the sky, stabbing down at the creature as she does, and directing her allies on the best way to attack these creatures.
Now she knows where the queen spider is she its her hard.
A jet of fire shoots out at the mind controlling this attack
Lady Zal: Lashes out at HER mind with a blazing spear of mental fire! The bolt finds HER unerringly and singes the evil mind. HER frighting frame appears halfway up the wall, clinging to the webbed wall with four arms, the remaining four pointing at the intruders in anguish. HER many, many red eyeballs radiates physical hate and every single one of you feels directly looked at.
Ethana: Delivers a punishing series of stabs on the tree-thing attempting a long spell. The spell fizzles as the treant recoils from the stabs!
Gosor: The minotaur is struck mid-run by a chaining lightning bolt and crashes to the ground with a moan, the Quercus seed still clutched in his hands.
TreeThing#1 Ignores all threats to its unantural existence, it grasps for Gosors limb body and starts dragging it towards the unholy 'garden'!
TreeThing#4
Ktinos: UP
Astrapios Flings a flurry of lightning bolts at HER, causing arms - raised in defense - to smoke and burn. HER screams are horrible to behold, an unholy mix of beast, woman and otherworldly being screaming in unison.
TreeThing#2 -
TreeThing#3 -
SHE: -
#1 54/148-> lightning healed => 70/148
#3 69/148-> lightning healed => 87/148
#2 143/148-> lightning healed => 161/148 took 44 (Ethana) = 117/148
#4 0/148 => killed by Ktinos
Ktinos slashes at the tree-thing as it tries to take Gosor.
He follows it as it goes, keeping up his assault.
Her psionic voice boomed out to those who had minds to hear.
::::
And there is a mental shockwave out from Lady Zal as she shows her full psionic force. Her Elan body made from raw psionic force itself blazed green with psionic power, as she lashes out a mind blast so strong it can be felt by those around her, but her target is the spider witch now blazing from her last hit of psionic fire. Lady Zal was not just attacking the evils flesh but also its very ego.
Lady Zal: Lashes out at HER mind with a blazing spear of mental fire! The bolt finds HER unerringly and singes the evil mind. HER frighting frame appears halfway up the wall, clinging to the webbed wall with four arms, the remaining four pointing at the intruders in anguish. HER many, many red eyeballs radiates physical hate and every single one of you feels directly looked at.
Ethana: Delivers a punishing series of stabs on the tree-thing attempting a long spell. The spell fizzles as the treant recoils from the stabs!
Gosor: The minotaur is struck mid-run by a chaining lightning bolt and crashes to the ground with a moan, the Quercus seed still clutched in his hands.
TreeThing#1 Ignores all threats to its unantural existence, it grasps for Gosors limb body and starts dragging it towards the unholy 'garden!
Ktinos: Claws at the undead tree dragging Gosor away, ripping huge chunks of bark and rotten matter away - but the things just labours on!
Astrapios Flings a flurry of lightning bolts at HER, causing arms - raised in defense - to smoke and burn. HER screams are horrible to behold, an unholy mix of beast, woman and otherworldly being screaming in unison.
TreeThing#2 With a sickening crunching sound, the things 'head' turns round to lock on Astrapios the moment the scream of its master echoes through the cave. Soon, the paladin is faced with the charge of a three-meter tall monster, heedless of any danger between! The thing smatters the floating Ethana out of its path with ease but then crashes against the bolder that is Ktinos and stops dead.
TreeThing#3 With a sickening crunching sound, the things 'head' turns round to lock on Astrapios the moment the scream of its master echoes through the cave. It charges Astrapios as well! This one has no obstacles in its path and brings two massive club-like branches down on the dangerous ranged fighter. They really 'hit like a trunk' and actually manage to penetrate Astrapios multi-layered defenses!
SHE: SHE does look burned and ... there is no other word: furious beyond reason. Screaming in a voice that pierces right into ones marrow, she gestures at the fallen Ghoran:
'''Death is too good an end for you!
'''
Splash: With a truly horribly sound, the body of the fallen treants entirely dissolves into a myriad of wiggling worms the size of a normal humans thumb. The heaving mass immediately splits into three swarms, one approaching Astrapios, the other two wiggle towards Ethana and Ktinos. The only mercy ther is, is the fact that these things are very slow and will need another few moments to get close to you.
#1 30/148
#3 87/148
#2 117/148
#Swarms: 60/60
As the tree charges through the space beneath her, Ethana steps to the side, allowing it to pass, but not without trying to stab it along the way.
It completely misses, but does keep her airborne. She keeps her invisible influence present, helping everyone attack, but tries to attack the treant below her (#2), completely failing in her attempt.