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Scratch lays the smackdown on the bush, flattening it down into a pile of ashy burnt leaves.
The other bush noisily waddles up and extends its tendril. Then it suddenly starts to spin rapidly in a circle, lashing out in all directions. The tendril comes close to Scratch and Gillian...
... But luckily, both closely watch the vine as it spins around, and twist to avoid it.
Scratch (-6, bleed 2 vs flat DC 15)
Red Bush Green (-30, 1 persistent fire)
Celvi (-10, bleed 2 vs flat DC 15)
Ed (Shield)
Gillian (-2, bleed 2 vs flat DC 15)
Yellow Bush
Party Buffs: Bless (if within 10ft. of Celvi)
Environmental Conditions: None
"One second helping of Flaming Bush on the way!" Ed crows as he again sends some flame into the second bush.
;
Celvi focuses and concentrates, expanding the range of her Bless.
More blood. Great. Whatever! She flings another Telekinetic Projectile at the Red bush. Squishing it with a rock, heh.
As Gillian's bleeding slows and finally stops, she mixes up another vial of alchemist's fire and lobs it at Red...
...but this time her aim isn't quite as accurate. Not wanting to approach any closer, at least not yet, she then draws out her sling.
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A second bush bursts into flames thanks to Ed, and Celvi knocks off some of its mass with a telekinetically-launched stone. Gillian's aim is off, this time.
The burning plant moves slightly north, then lashes out with its tendril, seeking to strike Scratch!
The vine latches onto one of Scratch's wounds, and starts to vibrate as if it's sickeningly pumping away some of the dwarf's life to heal itself.
Scratch (-11, bleed 3 vs flat DC 15)
Red Bush (-16?)
Celvi (-10, bleed 2 vs flat DC 15)
Ed (Shield)
Gillian (-2)
Yellow Bush
Party Buffs: Bless (if within 15ft. of Celvi)
Environmental Conditions: None
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Scratch gets walloped by the other bush, just as he was starting to feel hopeful from dusting the first bush "Sonova moldy biscuit, you sure we can't just move the whole town?"
He twists away from the vine as it tries to check his vitals, gives it the evil 'you're my prey' look then steps up and tries to hammer and dagger it. "I'm goin' in, don't ferget about me!"
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Being thoroughly bloodied doesn't stop Scratch from advancing on his foe, striking and slashing with hammer and dagger at the bush.
Scratch (-23)
Red Bush (-24)
Celvi (-10, bleed 2 vs flat DC 15)
Ed (Shield)
Gillian (-2)
Yellow Bush
Party Buffs: Bless (if within 15ft. of Celvi)
Environmental Conditions: None
Gillian tries one more time, whipping up a third fiery concoction and throwing it...
...before loading up the sling in her hand.
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Ed continues to flame the bush into ash!
;
With everyone close enough to her, Celvi keeps the Bless radius to about 15 feet.
Still bleeding, Celvi pants and launches another Telekinetic Projectile at the Red bush. "Good thing these things are slow."
She pulls out her crossbow.
"I'm fine, dammit!" Celvi throws her hands about when everyone fails to stop her bleeding. "We can kill that last thing later. Let's back up for now."
"But that one's feeding off that carcass...can plants pick up this blight like those wolves that attacked us did? I'm not sure I wanna find out," Gillian grimaces, though she does back away a bit. "And even if it doesn't, it's dangerous. Let's patch up and then we can look about killing or maybe setting a trap for it or something!"
Once the group seems to have fallen a safe distance back from the remaining vine, Gillian can now take the proper time to patch up Celvi and Scratch's wounds. Maybe.
"No, you are not fine! Why can't gnomes just freakin' hold still!?"
"Maybe we can endeavor to capture it wholly, or at least a part of it," Ed ponders here, "If we can study it further then it may provide us clues as to where this blight originated from!"
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"How far can you all throw those fire things? Maybe we can bombard it to death before it gets to us eh? I've got a couple hammer left..." He lets Gillian work on his wounds, holding a bandage while she wraps.
"Ain't no catchin' somethin' like that.. best we kill it then take a look at the left over bits.. then that Elf chick can burn the last of it."
Celvi starts to protest but calms down as Gillian notices the Gnome's many scars. "Just be quick about it." She pouts and stands still as Gillian works on her.
"I'll throw every single rock and branch at it."
"Okay I suppose if we have no choice here," Ed replies doubtfully here, "I can continue to throw my own fire bombs at it."
I truly hope Noala can shed some more light on this...
"Same...I can make at least three more of those alchemist fires today," Gillian replies as she finishes the last of Celvi's bandages. "But after that my supplies will pretty well be spent for the day, so let's hope I don't have to use all three!"
"Okay here goes..." Ed replies as he prepares to send the first volley at the bush.
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With the plant unaware of everyone's presence, it becomes easy to spread out and go at the thing tactically. Ed advances and opens his palm, conjuring up a flame at the bush! As the flames die down, the bush retracts its tendril and whips it towards the wizard, clearly angered by the attack.
Gillian
Scratch
Celvi
Ed (Shield)
Bloodlash Bush (-11)
Environmental Conditions: Trees would be difficult terrain if you decide to walk into them
Party Buffs: None
Celvi fires her loaded crossbow at the plant.
Then she readies a Telekinetic Projectile at the remaining bush.
Ed follows up his flame ball with a second helping!
;
Here goes nothing...
Gillian deftly mixes together another alchemist's fire and advances a little closer before flinging it at the bloodlash bush like a Fastball Special...
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Scratch and Celvi crush the bush under the weight of their hammers and thrown projectiles, with Celvi finding a particularly soft area in the whip-like appendage. All it takes after that is some more flames from Ed's palm to finish off the bloodlash bush.
While there's no treasure to be had where the bushes were, a better look at the dead wolf reveals its indeed as rotten as the ones Noala had set fire to just yesterday.
But at least with the nasty plants killed, you're able to travel further into the area. Just ahead is large old, rotten tree, under which is an opening. There's an overpowering smell of wet and rotten fur coming from the hole, and it looks as though the hole is not quite big enough for you to enter without first getting on your hands and knees.
"Oh NO - we have to crawl into that, head first? That's just asking to get your face gnawed off if there's anything in there!" Gillian exclaims, balking at the idea. "Why not just burn the tree? It's already dead and there's not been any rain in the last couple of days so surely it'd burn well enough."
"Yeah, whatever." Celvi loads her crossbow. "You have to check."
She casts Dancing Lights and directs them under the tree.
"Yeah, whatever." Celvi loads her crossbow. "You have to check."
She casts Dancing Lights and directs them under the tree.
She then heads towards the rotting trunk...
"Burning the tree won't tell us where this blight is originating from Gillian," Ed cautions her as he slowly approaches the tree, his Arcane Senses reaching out...
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Scratch makes his way towards the dead bush, doubling checking that it doesn't do anything weird like regrow itself. Then he collects his five thrown hammers, brushing off the dirt and muck and hanging them back on his belt for another time. "Woah now ladies. Let's not just go stickin' our heads in a dark hole, been there, done that earlier at that old house. Let's take a good look 'round this place before we do anything risky."
Scratch searches the area and the exterior of the tree to get a better idea about what could be going on.
"That's exactly my point! And if this is the den of those diseased wolves then burning it makes perfect sense. Fire is a cleanser - you know that, right?"
Still, she can see that the others are determined to have a better look around the tree at the very least.
"But okay, fine. I guess it can't hurt to give the perimeter a good sweep...there might be more than one pocket of disease close by, like another den or bits of old meals or something..."
And with that, Gillian joins the others in looking around the area.
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The area surrounding the den is thick with more rotten trees, the bark stripping away unnaturally. Scratch and Gillian take a closer look at the mud around the den, and as they likely suspect, find lots of prints. Gillian knows they're clearly paw prints, but they're odd in that they seem to contain... extra toes?! Ed tries to spot any magical auras, but doesn't find any.
Peeking under the tree with the aid of dancing lights, Celvi can see that the tunnel is short and opens up to a room with a shimmering pool of oily water. She also notices movement inside, but it's hard to make out what's moving from here. Whatever it is doesn't seem to respond to the sudden burst of light. The movement on the inside seems to follow Scratch's movement outside as he examines the perimeter of the rotten tree.
"Huh...paw prints, that ain't a big surprise. But it looks like these have, uh...extra toes? Pretty sure wolves don't have this many toes normally."
She glances around, scowling. "Might be a side effect of this blight or something..."
"Something's in there. And a pool of gunk is inside, too." Celvi peers inside. "So, ready to take a look in there? We'll get all of our answers about the multi footed friend here."
"I would not be surprised if that pool was the source of, or at least one of the sources of that mutation. But I will need to get a closer look..."
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Scratch wanders the perimeter before making it back to the entrance to discuss the plan. "Huh, sounds like somethin' in there is ready to snap us up, or impregnate us with the blight of unholy blights... I got an idea if ya can give me a few minutes..."
He waves the others away from the entrance to discuss, just in case. "Any of ya ever had wood chucks in yer garden?" He looks at the group and quickly decides that was a poor example. "How about a nest of ants or bees ya wanted to 'deal with'?" That one may be a bit better.
"What I'm thinkin' is we try smokin' it out, whatevers in there. If we build a small smudge just inside the tunnel, then put some damp wood or leaves or whatever, then block up the entrance... BAM! Smokey DOOOOOM! Or at very least it runs on out right?" He looks around for some support as he draws out his well used flint and steel.
"Gotta gather up stuff to block airholes.. wads of wet leaves work good. I can use my blanket here at the entrance, its got a s@!* ton of singe holes already and a smoke bath might kill off a few pests anyhow."
"Seems like that plan may just work here," Ed responds uncertainly here, his lack of familiarity with the wilderness plain on his face.
Celvi jumps up at the idea. "Sure, sounds exciting." She looks for some leaves.
"Huh...that's actually a pretty good idea," Gillian nods. "And if it turns out we need to burn the thing down after all then we'll already be halfway there. Let's do it!"
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Celvi considers getting down and crawling in to check out what's inside a little more closely, but Scratch insists on a more careful approach. He and Celvi work to gather any dead leaves from the bloodlash bushes, many of them rotten and soggy, and add in some twigs for good measure. Then the party looks around the tree for any gaps or broken roots where smoke might leak out, and pads them with the wet leaves. Finally, Scratch unfurls his sacrificial blanket at the entrance to the tunnel.
Ed goes over every inch of his area assigned to him, making sure the bush leaves are plugging every nook and crevasse....
...of course Ed forgot to look down at his feet.
Despite not being particularly skilled in the art of woodcraft or fire-building or anything of that nature, Gillian is, at the very least, observant when it comes to making sure all visible openings are plugged.
"If you're going to do something, may as well take the time to do it right if you can," she remarks as the group works.
"There's something about a bonfire that gets the blood flowin'." Celvi is quite excited to do something, anything.