Fenna rushes to help, turning Milo onto his stomach and beating on his back until air passage clears of water and sand. When he begins coughing and breathing, she collapses onto her back until her heart rate slows down.
Lyra runs up to Milo, who is still coughing up sand. He looks to all of you and lets out a weak, gasping, "Thanks."
Then Lyra looks up and smiles, "If it was not for you, we would not have made it. Thank you so much. May Desna bless your travels." Lyra stands, wipes a tear from her cheek, and opens a sand-crusted satchel at her side. She removes some rope and uses it to create a perimeter barrier of the area. "We'll have to mark this spot to keep people out."
Right. Please be careful next time you take a walk. It's dangerous out here! Vexas admonishes, before letting his nerves return to normal.
Okay, now for those plants. They should be much less exciting...
"Well done, all!"
Brannart knows he needs to get his wilderness skills sharp again. Maybe hunting for Nymbleth's plants is a good task for now.
Survival Rolls: Result = 20 or more - +2 Circumstance Bonus on Perception Check
Survival:
Perception: DC 20
Reflex Save DC10: Fail = Brannart and Fenna fall into pit.
Malakar, Sho, Vexas, success provides cumulative +1 circumstance bonuses
Ensuring that Lyra and Milo will be fine making their way back to the colony, you all continue on deeper into the Azlanti island.
You follow the rough maps provided and plunge into an almost impenetrable jungle. The air is like wading through soup, and insects abound. Luckily many are trapped in thick spider webs coating the forest. You pick what seems like the best route possible through the dense foliage.
Suddenly Malakar, Sho, and Vexas all pause and make a signal to stop. Brannart's training and Fenna's instincts kick in and neither make a move.
Up ahead, the ground does not look right. Someone or something built, what looks like, a deadfall, pit trap.
Vexas whispers to his teammates. Trap ahead. It could be watched...
Brannart will hold up and wait while Vexas works.
Pit traps can be useful for catching game but usually they are marked. This one is intended to catch people. This island is certainly less deserted than we thought.
Fenna had done her best to shake the sand out of her clothes after her dip in the quicksand. Enough remains though to make her uncomfortable on the hike. This makes her a little grumpy since she can't really focus on the more pleasant aspects of the journey.
Fenna holds along with Brannart while the trap is dealt with, watching for watchers.
"Maybe those goblins built it?" she asks, keeping her voice quiet.
Vexas inspects the trap and notices that sticks, leaf-litter, and other forest detritus are stuck together with some type of webbing. The Halfling concludes that by adding enough weight to this top layer would cause it to collapse into the ten-foot pit below. Vexas also notices that the bottom of the pit is lined with the same web-like material, but consists of a denser coating of webbing, probably to trap the victims.
Vexas believes he has various ways he could disable this trap by either by simply collapsing the top layer with a heavy object and filling in the hole or by also keeping the trap as is, but tying the webbing ends to the ground and adding longer planks across the pit.
As Sho and Fenna look around, they both feel many, many eyes on them. Vexas's note of the pit-trap webbing, provides awareness of the countless spiderwebs in the area. Where there are spiderwebs, there must also be spiders.
Scoping the perimeter of the pit trap, Sho finds odd tracks of some type of bi-pedal creature. The tracks are sickle-shaped and appear around the trap, but there is no sign of them coming or going. It makes her think that whatever this creature is, it is intelligent enough to create this trap, and it moves along the webs above.
"Don't like the feel of this Brannart, not one bit..."
Fenna considers the ramifications of using some oil to burn webbing...
Right, fill it in. Collapse the trap door with more stuff on top. Basically cover the thick webbing with other junk so it doesn't trap anybody down there...
The halfling gets to work, brushing large swaths of foliage into the pit with his hairy feet.
He remarks as he breaks it down There are spiders somewhere near here...
"Let's remember our resources..."
Right before any of his allies set fire to the webbing, Brannart will drink his potion of Bull's Strength and ready his Ranseur.
"Not just spiders, but smart ones. We shouldn't linger"
Malakar draws his Scimitar and shield.
As Vexas breaks down the trap, collapsing the top layer and filling in the hole the best he can, the ubiquitous webbing starts to vibrate is if it is alive and unhappy with the Halfling's actions. Then a sound suddenly pervades the jungle and the forest debris seems to shake from the sound, as if frightened.
As Fenna, Malakar, and Sho look to the trees, it is what Brannart and Vexas notice from the ground that appears to be the immediate threat.
About thirty feet away along the path you just came, a purplish man-sized spider covered in black hairs drops from the trees. On its back, a carpet of smaller spiders swirl around.
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Fenna goes ahead and takes out that flask of oil.
The blanket of spiders scuttles forward, thousands of needle-like legs dancing across the forest bottom.
The giant spider scampers up a tree. Using its front legs, it collects webbing released from its abdomen and launches it at Brannart. The veteran does not react in time and the sticky substance covers him from head to toe.
Somewhere deep in the trees you hear a raspy, high-pitched voice speaking in common, "Fresh meat to eat. Fresh meat to eat. Come to feed. Come to feed."
Brannart breaks free of the web.
"Can someone hit the swarm with fire?"
I have no desire to get anywhere near that thing... Vexas mutters as he readies his crossbow.
Fenna splashes the oil all around in front of Brannart and lights it up with a tinder twig.
"How about we back up some?"
Sho cannot see her target through the thick jungle, but the sickening voice speaks again. It is hard to tell, but the speaker seems a bit away. " Fire, Fire; Meat Burns, Meat Burns; Strangers, Strangers; They Learns, They Learns."
Malakar will Draw and than cast from his wand flaming sphere with the point of origin being the swarm.
The sphere moves as long as you actively direct it (a move action for you); otherwise, it merely stays at rest and burns. It can be extinguished by any means that would put out a normal fire of its size. The surface of the sphere has a spongy, yielding consistency and so does not cause damage except by its flame. It cannot push aside unwilling creatures or batter down large obstacles. A flaming sphere winks out if it exceeds the spell’s range.
Hey guys, I think I have those alchemist's fires...
Malakar's Flaming Sphere bursts into the swarm. Spiders burn and die while a few leave the swarm and scuttle away. The giant spider also disappears into the jungle after avoiding Sho's arrow.
The eerie voice screams. Then it speaks. The sound of its voice decreasing until it is no more than an echo, seemingly moving away from you. "Strangers and Fire, Strangers and Fire; Will Return, Will Return; Your Life Dire, Your Life Dire."
You feel alone in the jungle again, except for the countless spiderwebs and the chittering sound vibrating the forest detritus.
Fenna's fire slowly winks out, offering rising smoke and glowing ash.
Up ahead past the filled-in pit trap, you notice the path splits. One way follows the map provided by Nymbleth to where he believes his plants will be. The other leads in the direction that you believe the voice went.
Well... that sounds ominous. At least they've let us be, for now.
Perusing the map, the plants sound like the much better prospect.
Let's just gather what Nymbleth requested for now. There's no end to the trouble we can find on this island. If we chase it incessantly, we'll get what we ask for.
"I think we'll have to deal with it sooner or later. But we can warn others before they go into this part of the island, and we can come back prepared to track it."
Brannart is fine to follow Vexas for now and gather Nymbleth's plants.
Fenna relaxes a little as the voice recedes but not much.
"Yeah, I like the idea of getting the plants. Maybe we can try blazing a new trail that avoids the area on the way back? It would be best if nobody had to come through here at all."
As they move onward, Fenna continues to share her thoughts on the subject.
"What kind of spider talks anyway? And have y'all not noticed that almost everything here is both dangerous and not quite right? Sure, there are some regular animals around, like the boars. But, most of the stuff we're finding is weird. I think there's some sort of magical pollution warping things that live here. Kind of like the Mana Wastes in Garund. You've heard of the Mana Wastes right?"
Malakar is fine not following the voice for now. However he does wonder how close the trail the voice took is to the trail he and sho found with the strange tracks.
"Indeed everything here is strange. I am not the greatest historian but everyone knows Azlant was destroyed by the starstone. I wonder if its effects linger all these millennia later?"
Or perhaps leftover traces of things the Ancient Azlantis were doing... That would be a very strong holdover though. We have seen bits of evidence of it already though. Vexas muses.
Malakar, using his skill of nature and tracking, believes that the trail he and Sho found is at least a mile southwest from where they encountered the voice. Also, while the trail was closer to the bay, the voice was moving inland.
Following the map, the dark jungle clears modestly of undergrowth and the thick layer of spiderwebs is absent. Tall trees block out the sun, keeping the ground vegetation manageable and allowing easier movement. A small creek trickles to the southeast, moistening the ground and alerting you to a slight gradient in the land. Huge moss-covered boulders cover the area, as if thrown by gods eons ago while engaged in a competition of strength.
Up ahead, the forest brightens. There is a gap in the trees where the forest floor rises up a small hill. Various bushes and shrubs, many sporting a type of blackberry, form a ring around the hill, creating a natural wall. Beyond this barrier, near the top of the hill, appears to be the flora you seek.
"Noted Sho."
Fenna is disappointed. Those berries looked pretty good. She starts looking around for creeping vine tendrils.
"Nice catch Sho!." Malakar readies his sword. "Maybe there is still time to back away. I would hate to get tangled up if we don't need to."
Brannart sets aside his ranseur and draws his longsword.
"Good eyes, Sho. Malakar, do you know if this plant can move, or is it rooted to the ground?"
"They can move very slowly, but they can reach as far as your polearm and their roots can snare from almost 10 yards. We may be too close as it is if they are hungry."
"Well THAT's terrible news."
Fenna moves back away some.
Initiative Rolls:
Sho slows her companions before they get to close. The Ranger practically holding Fenna back as she eyes the juicy berries. Then Fenna sees it. Through the bramble and thickets and surrounding most of the hill is a thick, gnarled vine with many offshoots. Hand-shaped leaves sprout from the many vines and convulse as the vines begin to slither forward.
Malakar continues with his knowledge of Assassin Vines and explains that electricity, cold, and fire does not really harm them and they can bid other plants to come alive and attack.
If I didn't know better, I'd say the island is alive and trying to kill us... or at least the jungle is.
Fenna isn't so sure how exactly she would use a spear on a plant. She encourages the others to use their better weapons for the job well.
Inspired by Fenna, Brannart takes a mighty swing with his longsword.