"This place does not look like any fun," the sprite squeaks before flinging another tongue of fire off of his sword.
Sinan's fire engulfs the three vines, which hiss and twist as the fire takes them! . With the plants twisting around, Gamble's arrow misses as he keeps encouraging you all to fight.
The fae summoned to this world strikes at the red vine lasher, increasing the damage it has taken. The plant looks more charred and brittle than anything else. Taking advantage of this, Simon's blade cuts the red vine lasher and it falls limply on the ground.
The remaining plants redouble their attacks with the green tinged one once again uproots itself and attacks Simon, the vine missing it's mark by a longshot! It pulls itself away and crawls back away from the novice priest. As the pink tinged one tries to also give a painful blow to both clerics of the Dawnflower. Both attacks miss, the vine hitting nothing but air as it remains in place, the tendril snaking in the wind.
Gamble moves down the path towards the melee and calls out, "Well done, Valor. Keep pressing these mutated vines!"
The sprite flies over the path and flings at tongue of flame off of his sword. "You are naughty, nasty plants! Bad!"
With the combined efforts of Gamble's sprite and Simon, they manage to take the pink tinged vine lasher out!
Clearly the goddess is favoring the young man indeed!
...however, as the sprite approaches one of the strangely colored plants, the plant shakes, as do the others in the area. They immediately unleash a cloud of purplish gas that spreads out to a range of 20 feet covering a large swathe of the field!
"Achoo!"
The sprite sneezes, but is otherwise all right for now. Sarenrae's chosen isn't doing quite as well as his thoughts and instincts become clouded.
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Gracie eyes the purple cloud wearily, but at Deerslicer's urging moves up to attack the plant creature.
Unfortunately, she whacks a nearby normal shrub instead, due to confusion in the purple haze.
Deerslicer watches as she approaches, eyeing the plant creature and designating it as his enemy. He advances, hoping the purple cloud will dissipate, trying to see what he can figure out about the creature.
Sinan moves around towards the remaining plant. "Vile things! Why does the very land rise up against us? Is this normal in this part of the inner sea?"
Vine Lasher
Tremorsense (imprecise) 30 feet
AC 16; HP 15
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] vine +7 (agile, finesse, reach 10 feet), Damage 1d8+2 plus Grab
Light Hold A creature grabbed by a vine lasher is not immobilized, but the grabbed creature’s space and every adjacent square use the rules for difficult terrain. If the creature moves, the vine lasher moves with it, always keeping the grabbed creature within 10 feet of itself. If two or more vine lashers have a creature grabbed in this way, then the target’s space and adjacent square instead use the rules for greater difficult terrain.
In the thickness of the purple mist visibility has made it difficult for Sinan, Gracie and the others to distinguish where their enemies are.
The remaining green tinged plant coils itself as it springs an attack on a stupefied Simon. It swings twice, yet misses as it begins to move thicker into the purple mist. Regardless as Simon's mind feels more befuddled...
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"Watchout!" Deerslicer shouts, pointing toward the one Gracie is fighting. "If it snags ya with its vines, it won't let go, an' if you move, you'll drag it around. Not too tough, though!"
When you critically succeed at identifying your hunted prey with Recall Knowledge, you note a weakness in the creature’s defenses. You and allies you tell gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your next attack roll against that prey. You can give bonuses from Monster Hunter only once per day against a particular creature.
He points. "I t'ink if you aim low, d'ere's an opening under da vines. Get it, Gracie!"
Gracie hangs her head in shame.
As Gracie struggles despite the huge advantages she has, she misses in the mist, perhaps growling softly as her attacks fail to hit her target.
Simon, on the other hand... feels rather unwell in the head right now.
"Alright, my fey friend, keep your wits about you and finish off that fearsome vine!" Gamble says. "The others have fallen swiftly, if we press our attack, this one shouldn't last much longer!"
He draws his bow and fires once more at the carnivorous vine.
"Achoo!" the sprite sneezes as he hovers and flicks another tuft of fire at the vine. "Oh so very naughty plants here! I do not like it!"
"Times like this, I miss our tree friend for some perspective. She could have probably talked the flora of this cursed place down!"
Sinan draws from within to shoot Sarenrae's cleansing flame from his holy symbol and follows it up with a strike at the vine with his scimitar.
Gamble's arrow almost hits his own fey ally, as the little sprite dodges, she sneezes and misses her attack. Yet all this moving around allows Sinan to concentrate... and burn the green tinged vine to the ground!
As the creature dies you can all see Simon is not doing too good. The mist is slowly receding, but is still thick.
This time loud enough for all of you to hear, comes the neighing of a horse beyond the iris.
"I'm going to try to make my way around this corrupted pollen," Gamble says as he releases his magical hold on the sprite. He starts forging his way through the underbrush. "Be careful that what ever is back there isn't some giant stag."
Up ahead is one final obstacle: the thorn iris. Up close, this doorway, made up of thorny branches winding clockwise in a broad circle, does not have a handle or keyhole. Meanwhile, the purple haze is starting to dissipate.
"Before we inevitably find more in this forest to hate us, does anyone need healing?"
"How green do those vines look?" Gamble asks as they approach the hedge. "May need to chop them out of the way, even though I'm expecting them to fight back. If they're dry, I could dose them with oil and set it on fire."
Simon eyes the thorn iris. It doesn't move at all. On close inspection, this doorway is made up of thorny branches winding clockwise in a broad circle. It does not have a handle or keyhole, but it must obviously open up somehow.
Tanking position, aye
Sinan would hear the sound of animals beyond the iris as Gamble works it open.
As Gamble activates the iris opening mechanism, the thorny branches slither and scrape against each other, the aperture slowly opening to reveal what lies on the other side of the wall of brambles.
In front of you is a yard dominated by three large, wooden cages and a pool of bubbling sludge. A wretched-looking horse stands in one of the cages, while another cage is filled with a swarm of gigantic rats covered in white blisters. The third pen looks empty, but it appears to be built around a small cave located in the hillside. There is another cave entrance on the north side, near one of the pens.
You catch two orcs tending to the animals in the yard. One of them is dumping a bucket of sludge into the pool as is revealed through the open iris, while the other is in front of the horse’s cage, apparently feeding it.
"I'm not sure they'd fall for that," Gamble says. "Though I'm not sure I want to be surrounded. Can we stop them before they let out those beasts? Deerslicer, do you think you can lead us in without them noticing us?"
"I speak Orcish, if it helps. Think they worked with Hallod? I can always say he sent us."