Jevar whispers to the gnome. He... saw a light. I suspect he has little more to say than he avoided it and told others about it. But yes, we do need him for the return as well. I suppose the other option is we could procure our own boat.
"We might be exploring this cave," he adds as he passes the twentieth coin to the fisherman, "and it could take a little time. Are you able to fish in the surrounding waters? And then ferry us back here when everyone is done?"
Toli looks over the amnesiacs once more with a raised eyebrow. "One gold each and I drop y'all off a ways from the cave and y'all get to it yourselves; I ain't going anywhere near that place."
He speaks up to Toli.
What if we just rent your boat from you? Do you have another?
He speaks up to Toli.
What if we just rent your boat from you? Do you have another?
”No. No I don’t. And I’d be losing a day’s work, so for that we’re looking at closer to five gold. Why’re y’all even bartering? Y’all’re Lowls’ boys; this’s pocket change for y’all. Or does the count’s disappearance mean y’all’re now as ‘rich’ as the rest of us?”
Urzok groans, conveniently dodging Toli's question. "Let's just give this shmuck the handful of coins and get on with it. We all know you aren't making five gold coins a day for fishing, but just shut up and take our money," he says, adding his handful of silver to Boodiddly's. "The rest of it comes on the way back." Don't know if we want to split ourselves from Lowl's publicly yet, the reputation might be useful in a bind.
This infamy is going to continue to be problematic.
He fishes into his coin-purse for his share of the trip over. Five silver coins.
Fine. Just don't stray too far from where you leave us.
Toli visibly counts out the coins as a smirk spreads across his face. ”Pleasure doing business with y’all. Hop in.”
*
The fisherman rows to a dip in the cliffside about a mile from the Thrushmoor docks. When the boat gets to the shallower section of the water—enough to be able to walk through it—he points to the cliffside some hundred feet away. ”Should be over there. Yeah. Where that seaweed is hanging on the rocks.”
Sure enough, just where he was pointing was several lengths of seaweed on the cliffside nearest to the water—if Toli hadn’t mentioned that there was a cave behind there, you probably never would have noticed it from this distance.
”Alright, there y’all go. I’ll come back here in about an hour-and-a-half, then I’ll wait for y’all for another hour. After that, y’all’re on your own. I ain’t waiting for y’all forever if y’all get fed to the witch’s familiar. Now git. I got fishing to do.”
The amnesiacs exit the rowboat and Toli kicks off.
*
Following along the surface of the cliffside above the water, the amnesiacs eventually find the cave far below, but there is a significant issue facing them: getting down to the cave.
It takes about 15 minutes to get down the cliffside, and near the end of it, Boodiddly loses his grip and plummets the final portion of the climb, hitting his head on a rock hidden just under the sand, opening a cut in the gnome’s forehead, which Shakur quickly goes about stitching closed while the bard sits on a nearby rock.
A small strip of muddy sand choked with reeds sits at the entrance of a low cave just at the lip of the bay. Scraggly vines drape over the top of the cave and hang like tangled hair over its mouth.
Jevar rolls his eyes as the fisherman hypothesizes about their demise and shoves off.
Okay, two and a half hours to work. That should at least be time enough to get a sense of what's going on here.
He motions for Urzok to raise up his sword.
I presume you'll be taking lead?
He casts light on Urzok's blade.
"Damn right!" Urzok boasts proudly, holding his new sword up for the spell. Let's see what this baby can do!
Shield strapped on and sword in hand, the Orc takes a few swings at the vines while the others prepare. Bet there's some creep in here doing creepy stuff and nothing more. Maybe we'll find some old junk too.
________
Boodiddly gently rubs his bandaged head and squints at the vines. "We want to be careful," he says softly. "It would be easy to fall and break something important in the dark. Jevar, can you see without a light? I don't think any of us are terribly sneaky..."
No, I definitely need that light, but I wanted it on Urzok up front. Meanwhile any magical signatures will appear to me more immediately as we go along.
Shakur Searches.
As Urzok swings at the seaweed, he cuts just enough of them reveal that at the end of the cave is a wooden barricade made almost into a door. In front of this barricade is another tangle of vines and seaweed hanging from the ceiling, though there is something about this particular tangle of vines—everyone except Jevar sees that this tangle of vines seem to move as if something big were inside of it!
Round 1
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Urzok
Boodiddly
Jevar
Shakur
???
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Boodiddly spots the look of bewilderment on Jevar’s face and trots over to the human. ”Watch out - there’s something in the cave that could be dangerous!” The gnome doesn’t say “I told you so,” but sometimes an absence can be louder than any shouting or screaming. ”Now remember the triple D’s - duck, dodge, and don’t get hit!”
Jevar squints and focuses in the indicated direction to attempt to Observe the hidden creature.
"Alright beasty, come on out to die!" Urzok taunts. Keeping his shield raised, he prepares to strike... whatever it is, once it comes in close. "Wait, I thought there were seven D's?!"
________
Jevar flicks a bolt of flame at... something.
Shakur Seeks in an attempt to pinpoint the creature, but is frustrated when he can’t, so he just telekinetically hurls one of his daggers at the whatever-it-is.
A dagger goes flying, cutting through several of the hanging vines, easily cutting them to the ground!
Right at that moment, though, the plants around the area do not seem to take kindly to that, as The seaweed covering the cave’s entrance as well as some of the myriad reeds begin to writhe very strangely, as if they were attempting to get in the amnesiacs’ way.
At the same time, the tangle of vines inside the cave fall from their place on the ceiling. But rather than gravity making them fall to the ground in a pile, they seem to writhe into one massive central tangle—something wasn’t hiding in the vines, the something was the vines! And it seems like it was holding up its tentrils to touch the ceiling to give the illusion of another hanging tangle of vines.
The tangle of vines grabs at the sides of the cave with its tendrils as it very inefficiently pushes itself forward toward the cave’s mouth. It then reaches forward with one of its many constituent vines at Urzok!
Urzok, with his longsword, slices straight through the waxy carapace of the approaching tendril with surprising ease, but it is not enough to stop it from continuing what it set out to do!
The creature’s tendril hits the half-orc’s shield with a klang, but does not otherwise harm him!
The writhing reeds and vines near Urzok suddenly jerk and try to wrap themselves around the half-orc!
They wrap around Urzok’s ankles—not enough so to keep him from moving, but just enough to impair him from doing so.
Round 2
=============
Urzok
Boodiddly
Jevar
Shakur
Tangle of Vines (-28)
=============
Oh, it is the vines! Well, let's slash and burn them...
He then draws an alchemist's fire.
"I only remember three D's!" Boodiddly yells back as he dodges a stray piece of overly-excited seaweed. "I guess I forgot the other four - you'll have to remind me after you chop that thing down!" Seeing how effective the half-orc's blade is against the vines, the gnome looks around for a sharp-edged rock to throw.
"Aw geez, uh, Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and, uh, wait, maybe there were five?!" Urzok thinks out loud. Maintaining his shield's position, he struggles forward against the vines and tries to cut through their center of mass. But what's the last one?!
________
The vines manage to dodge away from the ball of fire, but is hit by Boodiddly telekinetically chucking Shakur’s dagger, which easily slices through the vines’ tangled mass!
Just as Urzok moves forward, he feels something snap at his feet, at first he thinks that it’s another plant grasping at his ankles, but then a long blade hidden in a niche in the cave’s ceiling comes flying down right at him!
And as it slices into the half-orc, he feels a slight numbing begin to occur in his limbs.
But Urzok manages to shake off the poison on the scythe as he swings right into the vines, cutting straight through much of its tangled mass!
Round 2
=============
Urzok (-17)
Boodiddly
Jevar
Shakur
Tangle of Vines (-64)
=============
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"I believe it's DODGE! Which you do seem to have forgotten. Seven SEAS, five Ds!"
Shakur sighs as he tries to telekinetically throw his dagger again.
S
Shakur then cackles a bit - seemingly at his own joke - while casting Jealous Hex on the tangle of vines.
The tangle of vines narrowly dodge out of the way of Shakur’s thrown dagger.
The ends of the various vines turn a shade of autumn brown as small flakes begin peeling off.
The seaweed and reeds at the amnesiacs’ feet cease grasping at anything that moves, returning to normal plants.
The tangle of vines, despite its weakened state, raises a tendril that it brings down right onto Urzok!
The vines hit the half-orc, disorienting him enough for the tangle to thrust out several more vines to wrap around much of Urzok’s body! And with Urzok firmly in its grasp, the vines wrapped around the half-orc tighten painfully as the tangle of vines proceed to constrict him!
But Urzok’s sheer strength and muscle mass overpowers the vines’ attempts to tighten around him!
Round 3
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Urzok (-25) [grabbed]
Boodiddly
Jevar
Shakur
Tangle of Vines (-64) [enfeebled 1]
=============
Jevar moves the flames further away from Urzok, but still keeps them squarely on the shambling mass of vines.
Head's up Urzok!
The wizard walks up behind the half-orc and lobs the alchemist's fire from his hand over towards the back of the vines.
"UUURRRRGGHHH, NOW I'M ANGRY!" Urzok screams at the plants, the scythe in his side and squeezing vines leaving him entirely unable to cap his anger.
Has hard as he can, he swings his sword into the mass of vines again, spitting and shouting with anger.
________
"Urzok, chop off those vines and come be angry over here!" Boodiddly calls encouragingly, following words with another sharp rock.
Hero Points have reset
The vines dodge out of the way of the ball of fire, but Urzok comes down HARD on the central tangle, cutting deeply into the vines’ mass and slicing many of its writhing vines! The tangle of vines collapses to the ground.
Once the vines deteriorate, the Pharasmin rushes to Urzok to begin Treating his Wounds.
Jevar grimaces as Urzok falls with the vines, before being treated by Shakur.
Sorry there buddy... just trying to burn the hostile foliage.
He helps him up off of the ground.
Onward with that lighted sword?
"Ooo, what if..." As Shakur applies bandages and ointments to Urzok's cuts and bruises, Boodiddly draws his dagger and approaches the fallen greenery. "Jevar, could you help me collect these berries? They can be used to make wine, but, uh, given the aggressiveness of assassin vines - and the fact that the berries have to be harvested while the vine isn't dead - we might find a buyer for them back in town. Or, in the worst case, we could always use them ourselves?"
Urzok, still charged from his adrenaline surge slugs the wall next to him with a roar. The self-inflicted pain starts to clear the red from his vision, and his breathing starts to return to normal.
"You were trying to kill the vines, right?" he asks, genuinely confused about Jevar's apology, but accepts the help up. "...I like wine," he adds. "Good wine though, not that cheap s&+~ they sell in pubs!"
Once the others are ready, the Orc leads the way deeper.
________
I was I was. He answers, laughing nervously a bit. The alchemist's fire rolled off of the big thing in an unexpected way... But hey, the plant is all burned up now. Take a minute to rest and collect yourself and we'll continue on. We're still on the clock unless we want to swim back after. And give what we've seen come out of the water...
He shudders visibly.
As the amnesiacs approach the makeshift door, the cave passage to the west dips downward, to where the cavern beyond lies just below sea level. This dark limestone chamber smells like wet mulch and is bare aside from a scattering of animal bones and what appears to be a single, six-foot tall crimson mushroom with its cap leaning against the cavern wall, seemingly collecting the runoff in its bowl-shaped “head.”
The massive fungus seems to lurch in an unseen wind, giving the impression of it analyzing the amnesiacs. It then moves a set of woody tendrils at its base as it becomes very clear that it’s moving toward them!
Round 1
=============
Urzok/Shakur
Jevar
Fungus
Boodiddly
=============
Ug, this cave is just full of hostile plants.
He looks back at the others.
More burning?
He moves up just enough into the chamber to aim at the giant fungus.
Urzok grunts and leaps back into action with a smile. ”We know anything about this one?” he asks, throwing the mushroom a severe look and smashing his sword against his shield.
________
"Know of any plants that glow, Boo? Or what about weird, animate, misty mushrooms?"
Shakur chants a prayer of sorts to Pharasma as he enters the room and uses another telekinetic projectile.
Urzok casts a glare at the mushroom, but it doesn’t seem to notice—or care. Both Jevar’s and Shakur’s magic flies right past the creature.
The mushroom moves forward to be in front of Urzok as it scrunches its body down toward its base, almost like it were squatting. It then stretches tall, a faint but clear wisp of smoke shoots out from its bowl-shaped “head,” dissipating just as quickly as it had arrived. A second later, though, Urzok, Shakur, and Jevar start feeling….dizzy.
Round 1/2
=============
Urzok
Shakur
Jevar
Fungus
Boodiddly
=============
Jevar coughs roughly for several moments while his lungs reject the spores, and slides further into the chamber to get around Urzok.
Urzok holds his breath and will himself through whatever it is the smoke is trying to do to him. Keeping his shield level, he tries to get a savage swing through the mushroom's midsection. Only good mushroom is the one in my food, and even then only if I trust the cook!
________
Jevar feels something shift at his feet. He looks down and finds he is waist-deep in a pool of quicksand! Almost like in a cartoon, the moment he looks down he loses his footing, falling stomach-first into the quicksand!
Jevar trips on some unseen thing, falling face-first to the ground.
Urzok swings and his sword easily slices through part of its bowl-shaped cap.
Round 1/2
=============
Urzok
Shakur
Jevar [prone]
Fungus -21
Boodiddly
=============
Boodiddly peaks around the corner to see what all the yelling is about, then up at the oversized fungal creature. "Huh..." is about all he can manage for a few seconds. "Well, uh, keep up the good work Urzok!"
Whoa... where did the quicksand come from? Look out everyone!
He begins vigorously trying to swim out of it. After realizing the futility of it he quickly reassigns his hands to the incantation to send a bolt of flame from where he lay on the ground.
Shakur throws one of his daggers at the creature.
And slices straight through the fungus! He then moves to behind Boodiddly.
Jevar awkwardly throws fire from the ground, barely managing to hit the strange beast!
One of the fungus’s fronds lash out against Urzok!
It raises a second frond against the half-orc.
As the front bashes into Urzok, he starts feeling a bit…strange.
But manages to shake it off. And the creature swings a third frond at the man!
No matter how much he tries, Jevar is still stuck in the quicksand!
Round 2/3
=============
Urzok (-14)
Shakur
Jevar [prone]
Fungus -46
Boodiddly
=============
Jevar feels the quicksand pulling him in again, and again tries to "swim" through it to become un-stuck. This time, he stands up after doing so, pausing to look around and verify if it's real. He absent-mindedly pulls one of his alchemical bombs from his belt pouch.
"Oh, good idea Jevar!" Boodiddly exclaims as he sees the bottled lightning in the wizard's hand. "But, um, why do you keep flailing around like that? Sorry, nevermind - cut it down before it flattens Urzok!" The gnome hums a song he hopes his companions find inspirational before chucking rock at the creature. Thank goodness there's almost always something around to throw! he thinks gratefully to himself.
There was quicksand here just now! I was struggling to get out of it. It might pull me in again.
He looks around at the ground again, unsure of it now that someone else is asking.
"Flatten, ME? Did you just clue in here? I'm tearing this thing up!" Urzok calls back to Boodiddly indignantly. Freaking Gnomes and their short attention spans.
Going for another slash, he throws Jevar a disapproving look. "Human, if you're done flopping like a fish, do me a favor and give me room to maneuver!"
________