Tinier Problems pt6

GAME: Razen rolls Perception: (8)+6: 14

GAME: Tamrielo rolls Perception: (17)+9: 26

GAME: Soup rolls Perception: (9)+3: 12

GAME: Elin rolls Perception: (17)+8: 25

GAME: Lorik rolls perception: (14)+10: 24

GAME: Azra rolls perception: (15)+1: 16

GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!

You've gone down the hallway aways and are staring into the wonderously verdant and overgrown garden when you hear it. The loud 'thnk', like something dropping into a slot. It's the second part of the trap you triggered previously, it seems. Something is happening...

In any case, there's a garden. That's progress, right? RIGHT!

Garden? Well thats good. Lorik lowers the crossbow slightly as he starts to smile. "This is kind of nice. I didn't expect anything like this...its impressive that someone go--" The shadow elf pauses a moment though mid sentence as his eyes grow wide.

"...something is happening. Something is coming down from the other side...I can hear something rolling..."

His crossbow snaps up again as he aims towards the noise as he takes a step or two off the path.

Elin did not fall in a pit. This is good, because pulling people out of pits is a pain in the butt.

She is back up with the group and is looking into the garden when she hears a sound. She raises her head, tilting it slightly as she listens. "Maybe we move," she suggests, looking at the path before trying to push herself off it.

Tamrielo looks startled and concerned at about the same time Lorik does. "Get out of the way!" he suggests, dropping into Bard Voice while gesturing ahead and above with a complicated gesture. A eye-catching, brightly-colored arrow appears in the air for a moment, pointing where the sound is coming from.

Razen is loathe to run into a place that he knows nothing about, but the 'something is coming' that his companions are talking about. The 'something is rolling' is bringing to mind that slippery slope he'd fallen down. It brings to mind the idea of rolling stones coming to crush them. So he follows Tamrielo's wise advice and runs as fast as he can down the hallway into the garden, heading for one of the sides which will percievably keep him out from under any boulders that are headed in his direction.

GAME: Razen rolls Reflex: (3)+3: 6

GAME: Razen rolls Athletics: (6)+6: 12

GAME: Azra rolls Reflex: (13)+4: 17

GAME: Azra rolls Athletics: (8)+6: 14

GAME: Elin rolls Reflex: (13)+2: 15

GAME: Elin rolls Athletics: (12)+6: 18

GAME: Lorik rolls reflex: (14)+5: 19

GAME: Lorik rolls athletics: (10)+4: 14

GAME: Tamrielo rolls reflex: (5)+6: 11

GAME: Tamrielo rolls athletics: (15)+0: 15

You has the right idea, really. Running into the garden does let you split up on either side of the boulder when it arrives.... if you're fast enough.

Unfortunately, Tam And Razen are not quite quick enough and are left on the other side of it when the boulder arrives, rolling right towards the door way and leaving them little choice but to run away from it. Stopping it with brute force, given its size, may be possible but risky. Given that it seems designed to roll down the tunnel you were starting to emerge from, and to fill said tunnel at the end of which is a pit and a slide....

GAME: Razen rolls Strength: (10)+4: 14

GAME: Azra rolls Strength: (13)+3: 16

GAME: Azra rolls +3: (7)++3: 10

GAME: Tamrielo rolls strength: (17)+0: 17

GAME: Lorik rolls strength: (14)+0: 14

suddenly, it becomes clear Razen isn't going to be getting out of the way of the boulder. Cursing, Azra and her bird loo kat one another. They exchange a rapid fire conversation, sharp screeing juxtaposed against swift spates of language either too accented or too foreign for most to follow. She doesh ave quite the accent. Then the two of them dash into the middle of the garden, both bracing to help catch the boulder. "...Help!"

Tamrielo sees Razen rush forward and his face breaks out into a wide grin. He rushes forward, tiny, slightly pudgy half-sil body following the much more obviously-in-shape half-orc.

Lorik is an archer at heart. He's not built for front line combat. However at the shout of help the shadow elf's eyes widen and he turns to change direction, scrambling after Azra. "Come on! We can move it to make sure it doesn't get anyone!"

Oh god this is going to smart.

Elin does indeed manage to scramble out of the way of the rolling boulder...

...but she realizes that not everybody got out of the way. Now, Elin has never let common sense get in her way before, and she's not about to start now.

Elin roars as the boulder passes her and springs out from where she'd gotten to. She practically tries to bear-hug the thing; even she's not big enough to do that, but she wraps her arms as far around it as she can and digs her heels in, the muscles in her bare arms and half-bared legs straining as she tries to brake the entire mass of the boulder without being rolled up and over it and smashed into the ceiling and then the floor.

Running... He knows he's not fast enough. And Tamrielo is right beside him. One or both of them might not make it with that thing behind them, so he stops. Steadies his feet on the ground and braces. Get's ready to push and hope that they survive this. He roars to Angoron for strength.

...well...

You throw several people at a giant rock, one fo them a frigging giantborn, and you can stop it. Eventually. It helps that it lodges in the doorway, more or less, once you've slowed it down enough rather than crashing it. That lets Razen and Tam put their backs into it and push it back into the garden proper. At least they didn't have to jump into the spike put for cover.

Thta said, you're now ijn the garden proper. Verdant and in no way capable of growing here, honestly, given the lack of sunlight. Hell, the lack of ANY light. It looks like a rather wild collection of plants, like stepping into a forest underground, made of bushes and shrubs and mossy vines and more.

The boulder, is, thankfully, able to be rolled off to the side and placed against a wall where it';s out of the way.

Lorik breathes a long sigh as the rock slows to a stop and slowly breathes out a long sigh as he lets his back rest against the stone and slowly slides down to sit down. "Well that was exciting." The shadow elf says slowly as he glances back towards the rest of the garden. "...who put this here..." He murmurs. "...growing this much green underground takes a lot of magic. Espciially keeping it all this...green..." A longer pause. "...and we should keep an eye out for traps."

Elin seems at a loss for what to do with the boulder once it's stopped. Her surge of strength, while impressive, isn't something she can sustain; it's a lot easier to push around when it doesn't have all the momentum behind it, of course, but it took a lot out of her.

She pushes it against the wall where, if it rolls, it won't do so very quickly - and /then/ rests against the wall for a moment, catching her breath. "I thought some plants grew underground," she says. "Those are mostly mushrooms, though, aren't they?"

Razen looks around at the plants with interest but caution. "Whatever they are I doubt that they are... friendly. They could be as much a trap as anything else down here."

"Nothing is ever friendly," Azra mutters. She eyes a bottle of alchemical fire, then the plants, and back. Gauging her next move vaguely discretely.

GAME: Lorik rolls survival+1: (11)+9+1: 21

GAME: Razen rolls Survival: (8)+8: 16

GAME: Azra rolls survival: (3)+6: 9

GAME: Azra rolls 5: (20)+5: 25

Some exploration required.

It's not fun, what, exploring a bizarre underground garden full of oddities. It isn't too long before you identify that there's no obvious trail, and frankly, some of these plants look entirely too pretty to the point where it ought to be concerning! Those vibrant colors, tose prickly thorns!

Still, you can slowly make progres through it, across it, to the other side of the room. Starting to, anyway, find your way there without getting tripped up on any vines. It's not that there are 'paths' so much as natural growths that do leave routes through that don't disturb the plants too much. The air is thick with pollen, however, and should you be allergic your eyes are probably watering and we don't even wanna talk about your nose. Ugh. You're getting closer to the center of the room by nature of moving through it. It's pretty large here.

A wall of thorns and brambles seems to've cut you off.

Elin knows a fair bit about tracking and surviving in harsh terrain... but not *this* terrain, which seems largely new to her. She is careful not to step on anything that looks delicate, which occasionally leaves her looking a little like a bull in a china shop.

She steps before she runs into the wall of thorns and brambles. "I can cut it," she says, though she sounds a little doubtful. Not because she doesn't think she can cut it, but because she doesn't really want to use her sword on /vines/. C'mon, where's the glory in that?

Razen laughs and grins at Elin. "Better you than I with this." He motions toward the heavy flail on his hip. He has other weapons of course, but none which are better suited to the task than that one. "I have no idea what it is though. It might be poisonous or something. Has anyone any idea?" Razen glances around.

Iskandar walks up to the wall and rubs his bearded chin in thought. "It's at times like this that I wish I carried an axe!" he announces to no one in particular. Then he backs away. "But perhaps we should try one part. If this is another form of trap..."

"Before you do..." Lorik says towards Elin before Razen comes in and the shadow elf nods. "Yes that. If anyone knows what these are? They are obviously not natural...but...I mean the way this all sprung up. This is defintaly feeling like a trap."

Elin shrugs. "No idea," she says. "Vines. I haven't seen them before."

Well, she tried.

Razen clasps Elin on the shoulder. "If you have a spare weapon, then I will aid you in this. At least then you need not face the danger alone."

Elin reaches behind her and pulls out - a pair of hatchets. She offers one toward Razen. "Nobody uses my sword but me," she says, "but if you /really/ want to help clear it, there are axes."

Once the weapons are distributed (or not) she draws her bigger, chopping-er falchion. Gripping it with both hands, she attempts to carve into the vines, letting the hand axers clear the hole her bigger weapon opens.

Iskandar accepts a hatchet gratefully. He bounces and turns it back and forth in one hand to get an idea of the balance. Next he selects his spot, placing his glvoed hand against a vine to hold it in place so that he can chop with the hatchet, doing his best to not let it hit the wall behind for fear of chipping the blade.

...cut, cut, cut the stupid brambles!

That works well enough for the tmoment and you begin making your way through them. it works, it works.

... though some pollen does get in the air, it works. Soon, you find yourself squeezed thorugh the gap you've created with your axes and blades. Looks like it's some kind of circular bramble wall, like a fence around something in particualr, now that you think about it. Of course, now you're on the other side, and after a few steps, the brambles automatically seal up behind you.

Uh oh.

Razen offers the hand-axe back to its proper owner and readies himself for what at this point feels like an inevitable attack. "Anyone see anything give a shout." His gray eyes slip around the area they've been let inside.

"...well...that is unfortunate. Not /unexpected/ but unfortunate..." Lorik mutters as the hedgerows close behind them. "But at least we know they can be cut though!" He calls out as he moves forwards again. "Lets keep looking for a trail though. We need to find our way though this mess so we can get to the bottom of all this. And /stop/ it." A longer pause. "Or turn off the traps at least."

Elin cleans off her falchion on a scrap of cloth before she puts it away. The axes too, though she doesn't spend as much time on them; they're not /her/ weapon the way the sword is.

Elin is not worried about the barrier closing up. They opened it once; they can do it again. "Both," she says, to Lorik. "Definitely both."

Iskandar returns his borrowed axe as well. Once his hands are free, he dusts them off. "Hard to believe that a farm overrun by a plague of insects, could lead us to this." He shrugs and then continues brightly. "Well, nothing for it I suppose. I'll go first!"

Fabris forms up, brushing off his sleeves. "Let's go, then." He also seems unconcerned with the hedgerow. "Forward." He steps to Iskandar's shoulder and gets ready to match actions to words.

...and then you go!

Forward.

You've entered an area that's.... somewhat free of brambles, actually, but that's because the floor here is mossy and spongey and uncomforable to walk on. It feels like at any moment you cal just fall through it. Squish squish squish squish squish.

And then you see it, a rather thick stock that stretches up towards the ceiling, spiderwebbing its way across the stone above you. It's pulsing rythmically with a life of its own. This fungal pillar seems to be breathing spores into the air. Spores yu've probably been unknowingly breathing in.

Iskandar tilts his head up, slowly. Just as slowly he slips his bow off of where it's slung over his back and brings it down, nocking an arrow. "Does anyone..." he begins, "...have any idea what that is?"

"I'm going to guess 'bad' is what it is." Lorik says as he frowns at the spire of fungus. "I have a distinct feeling that we are going to need to see a healer after this too. Just to make sure." A longer pause. "This might be what has been keeping this area alive?"

Fabris starts wrapping a scarf around his face. "I have no idea what that is, but I agree," he nods to Lorik. "It seems like a likely candidate."

Razen stares up at the thing, totally disconcerned. It's entirely unnerving this thing. Unnatural in a way that speaks to the very heart of his instincts. He'd have bet good money that it was magical in some way. "Whatever it is... Shooting it might be a bad idea. What if it spills more of that... stuff on us?" He follows Fabris's lead and lifts the arm of his bear fur to cover his mouth.

GAME: Lorik rolls Knowledge/Dungeoneering+1: (14)+6+1: 21

GAME: Azra rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (3)+6: 9

Lorik pauses as he glowers at the spire before he breathes a deep sigh. Well. He /would/ breathe a deep sigh if he wasn't wrapping part of his tunic around his mouth and nose as a makeshift filter.

"I've heard of these things. Something like it was making duplicates of people. What its doing here I don't know...but...chooping it down would work. Though the spores are a danger. Fire is also an option but..." He gestures to the setup. "...the clearing around it seems almost like its /asking/ to be set on fire with how the place is laid out. Its a natural clearing to stop the fire spreading. And that seems pretty coincidental. Which...I don't really like."

A frown again.

"We can get someone to chop a hole in the thorn wall, and /then/ chop this down. Anyone have a way to do that from range though?"

Razen pauses and then grins broadly beneath his bear fur. "Actually. I do." He pulls out a long spiked chain from beneath his heavy talbard and lets it clink to the ground. "We can wrap this around the base and pull it taunt with some rope. Then when we're ready we just give it a jerk... And down comes the plant."

Fabris holds up two flasks, speaking through his scarf. "I brought some alchemist's fire." He tries not to sound too eager.

Tamrielo worriedly pulls his hood up and undoes some piece of the outside, which folds neatly over his mouth. It's meant to conceal his face, but does a pretty good job of becoming a makeshift filter. "I also have some alchemist's fire left, should we need it." he comments absently, hands already sketching the room, the stalk, and really anything that hadn't already been sketched. He's added quite a few new sketches over the past couple of days.

With some time spent tying the ropes, knotting it, wrapping the chain and more, you eventually pull back to the brambles and begin hacking back through them. This takes time as well, but you're ready to throw the alchemist's fire.

You do.

WHOOOSH!

The pillar is now on fire! That's greast! There's definitely a satisfying feeling as you observe the fire crawl up the side of the fungal pillar and make the thing go ablaze in its own right. With thatr, you start your escape.

...but then there's a sound. A rather hideous growl and a crashing sound as something seems to've sensed what you did.

As you make your run for it (go go go!) the ground around you shakes once and you get the distinct sense something is chasing you.

Oh, hi. That's a a big old thing, isn't it? It comes into view.

The shape is definitely something that would chill any adventurer to the bone. With great wings and a lengthy, powerful looking body, the sillouhette is that of a dragon.

Except its... made of fungus. And it's coming straight for you.