[2025/08/14 14:01] Sonja Bikergrrl: /me cracks knuckles meaningfully
[2025/08/14 14:01] Sonja Bikergrrl: GGGGGGRRRRRREEEEEEEEETTTTTTIIINGGGSSS, Adventurers!
[2025/08/14 14:01] Sonja Bikergrrl: Where were we last time, Te'ala, Lahli?
[2025/08/14 14:02] Mecha: Wait, are we missing someone?
[2025/08/14 14:02] Sapphire: usually we'd also have Andreaas
[2025/08/14 14:02] Sonja Bikergrrl: No, Andreas said he can't make it.
[2025/08/14 14:02] Sapphire: aw
[2025/08/14 14:02] Mecha: Never mind, this one just went to discord
[2025/08/14 14:04] Sonja Bikergrrl: ...anyone?
[2025/08/14 14:04] Mecha: Um we were.. oh crap. Give this one a second
[2025/08/14 14:05] Mecha: We were entering a tower, and Lahli had just pushed andreas through the door.
[2025/08/14 14:05] Sapphire: .....hmmmm
[2025/08/14 14:05] Sapphire: hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
[2025/08/14 14:05] Sonja Bikergrrl: Te'ala?
[2025/08/14 14:06] Sapphire: Gonna watch how it goes for Andreas before we explore
[2025/08/14 14:07] Sonja Bikergrrl: Your current quest: Find the Dayberry bush. You found the druid Irenicus.... at least you THINK so... except he's been dead a century.... and you found his journal in which he mentioned the battle at the bog, and a necromancer starting a fued
[2025/08/14 14:08] Sapphire: does anything attack us as we go through the door?
[2025/08/14 14:09] Sonja Bikergrrl: Sidequest: Find the big guys' Suntree. You have made your way to this tower, encountering various hostile flora. Now you are at the tower itself, where the mysterious cloaked figure ran away
[2025/08/14 14:10] Sonja Bikergrrl: The tower itself is encircled by a rose bush, with many white roses; the door appears to have been smashed in by an angry bear. Everything looks.... abandoned, many, many years
[2025/08/14 14:10] Sonja Bikergrrl: What are you going to be doing?
[2025/08/14 14:11] Mecha: Look for traps as best she can wondering if that fleeing jerk set any before they left
[2025/08/14 14:11] Sonja Bikergrrl: Roll d20
[2025/08/14 14:12] Sapphire: Heading in after the more... enthusiastic members and checking out what the inside of the tower is like.
[2025/08/14 14:13] Sonja Bikergrrl: Mecha.
[2025/08/14 14:13] D20: Mecha rolls 3
[2025/08/14 14:14] Sonja Bikergrrl: A brief search reveals mud, roses, footprints and an abandoned tower... you don't see any traps.
[2025/08/14 14:14] Sonja Bikergrrl: Everyone roll d20
[2025/08/14 14:15] Sapphire: stairs?
[2025/08/14 14:15] D20: Sapphire rolls 19
[2025/08/14 14:15] D20: Mecha rolls 9
[2025/08/14 14:15] D20: Sonja Bikergrrl rolls 2
[2025/08/14 14:16] Sonja Bikergrrl: As Te'ala approaches the tower, the roses start to quiver and move in her direction, they start to attack, what does Te'ala do?
[2025/08/14 14:17] Sapphire: "Hold," she tells them, her wooden shield out. "I know it's been a long time since you've had druid here, but I have no quarrel with you. I just want to understand what's happening."
[2025/08/14 14:18] Sonja Bikergrrl: The roses pause, as if surprised, and thinking what to do.
[2025/08/14 14:18] Sonja Bikergrrl: Lahli? What do you do?
[2025/08/14 14:19] Mecha: Give Te a chance to do her druid thing
[2025/08/14 14:20] Sonja Bikergrrl: Two rose buds turn to face each other, and a pair of leaves rise and fall, as if shrugging. Then a tendril shoots out to Lahli!
[2025/08/14 14:20] D20: Sonja Bikergrrl rolls 2
[2025/08/14 14:20] Sonja Bikergrrl: ...
[2025/08/14 14:20] Sonja Bikergrrl: yeah.
[2025/08/14 14:20] Sonja Bikergrrl: End of combat round. Te'ala?
[2025/08/14 14:21] Sapphire: Te'ala takes a few steps and kneels. "I intended to explore this tower. Is there something you want me to see?"
[2025/08/14 14:23] Sonja Bikergrrl: The rose buds turn to each other again, once again confused by this attempt to communicate. That is, if they plant was sentient and had a brain of some sort, it would be pretty confused by now. The buds "prod" at Te'ala, as if they were striking snakes, making feint attacks.
[2025/08/14 14:23] Sonja Bikergrrl: Lahli?
[2025/08/14 14:25] Mecha: As the tendril shoots out Lahli grips it and shakes it."Nice to meet you. My name is Lahli."
[2025/08/14 14:25] Sonja Bikergrrl: roll d20
[2025/08/14 14:25] D20: Mecha rolls 20
[2025/08/14 14:25] Sonja Bikergrrl: omfg
[2025/08/14 14:26] Sonja Bikergrrl: okay... end of combat round, back to Te'ala!
[2025/08/14 14:29] Sapphire: She uses her shield to catch the feint attacks. Do the thorns seem to be acting as one, or... they're more like a bunch of smaller plants only loosely cooperating with eahc other?
[2025/08/14 14:30] Sonja Bikergrrl: They're acting like a mindless plant, trying to get something from you.
[2025/08/14 14:32] Sonja Bikergrrl: So, what you doing, Te'ala?
[2025/08/14 14:33] Sapphire: Using her club to catch the vines between it and her shield so she can study them closer
[2025/08/14 14:33] Sonja Bikergrrl: Roll d20
[2025/08/14 14:35] D20: Sapphire rolls 17
[2025/08/14 14:36] Sonja Bikergrrl: They look like any other roses you've seen, just, strangely animated.
[2025/08/14 14:36] Sonja Bikergrrl: Lahli?
[2025/08/14 14:36] Mecha: how did the plant respond to the handshake?
[2025/08/14 14:36] Sonja Bikergrrl: It didn't, as far as you can tell
[2025/08/14 14:38] Mecha: After releasing the vine Lahli is going to try to get into the tower, jumping over the plants." Can we study them later
[2025/08/14 14:38] Sonja Bikergrrl: DEX check, roll d20
[2025/08/14 14:38] D20: Mecha rolls 2
[2025/08/14 14:38] Sonja Bikergrrl: Success. You're in the tower.
[2025/08/14 14:38] Sonja Bikergrrl: Back to Lahli, what do you do?
[2025/08/14 14:40] Mecha: Lahli is going to use her sling fire a stone to distract the plants so Te'ala can get into the tower as well.
[2025/08/14 14:40] Sonja Bikergrrl: dawww, I mean, Te'ala
[2025/08/14 14:40] Sonja Bikergrrl: I even started typing Te'ala and deleted it
[2025/08/14 14:40] Mecha: lol
[2025/08/14 14:41] Mecha: That happens some times
[2025/08/14 14:41] Mecha: This one will be right back. she needs to start dinner
[2025/08/14 14:41] Sapphire: also gonna move to get inside the tower, using the time when the plants are rearing back and distrated
[2025/08/14 14:41] Sonja Bikergrrl: d20, DEX check
[2025/08/14 14:43] D20: Sapphire rolls 9
[2025/08/14 14:43] D20: Sonja Bikergrrl rolls 7
[2025/08/14 14:43] Sonja Bikergrrl: As you duck into the tower, a tendril attacks, but misses by a mile.
[2025/08/14 14:44] Sonja Bikergrrl: The ground floor of the ruined tower is cloaked in an eerie twilight, the once-majestic stone walls now cracked and overgrown with twisted vines and moss, giving the impression that nature is reclaiming what was lost. In one corner, an altar, stained and moss-covered, is adorned with dried herbs and the bones of small creatures, hinting at the necromancer's ghastly experiments. Moss-covered stones line the walls of the once-grand circular room, while shattered glass and remnants of arcane scrolls lie strewn about. The air is thick with an unsettling stillness, broken only by the distant rustle of shrubs outside.
[2025/08/14 14:44] Sonja Bikergrrl: Dessicated corpses and bones lie scattered about the room; there are two skeletons to one side, the mummified husk of a huge bear, and a skeleton sprawled to one side, wrapped in the mildewed and mouldy remains of an ornate robe.
[2025/08/14 14:44] Sapphire: Te'ala inspects the moss to check what variety it might be
[2025/08/14 14:45] Sonja Bikergrrl: A mossy kind.
[2025/08/14 14:45] Sapphire: rather than anything lichinous?
[2025/08/14 14:45] Sonja Bikergrrl: definitely no undead skeletal mages, as far as you can tell
[2025/08/14 14:46] Sapphire: >.>
[2025/08/14 14:46] Sapphire: Right, so from there, checking out the alter
[2025/08/14 14:46] Mecha: Lahli is also looking around. Are there stairs? A trap door?
[2025/08/14 14:46] Sonja Bikergrrl: There's nothing else of note or use in the room; at the other side of the tower, a staircase spirals upwards.
[2025/08/14 14:47] Mecha: *went to cook and got distracted by something. now starting dinner*
[2025/08/14 14:47] Mecha: Lahli heads to look at the stairs
[2025/08/14 14:47] Sonja Bikergrrl: The altar has been so long exposed to the elements that any clue of anything is now long gone.
[2025/08/14 14:47] Sonja Bikergrrl: Roll d20, both of you
[2025/08/14 14:49] D20: Sapphire rolls 7
[2025/08/14 14:50] Sonja Bikergrrl: Te'ala notices: It looks as if a bear broke in and killed a wizard and two guardians before dying itself.
[2025/08/14 14:51] Sapphire: Can I tell what killed the bear?/
[2025/08/14 14:51] Sonja Bikergrrl: Hard to say, it's been dead... many decades
[2025/08/14 14:52] Sapphire: and not much haas cleaned it up... though any wolves would have to brave the thorns
[2025/08/14 14:52] D20: Mecha rolls 10
[2025/08/14 14:53] Sonja Bikergrrl: it's just skin and bone now.
[2025/08/14 14:53] Sonja Bikergrrl: Going up the stairs?
[2025/08/14 14:53] Mecha: /me nods
[2025/08/14 14:53] Sonja Bikergrrl: The upper floor of the ruined tower, its stone walls cracked and entwined with creeping vines, offers a haunting spectacle under the crumbling ceiling. Dust motes dance like lost souls in the air, illuminated by the eerie glow emanating from a bush nestled against the far wall. This bush, vibrant with dark green leaves, is laden with clusters of brightly glowing berries that pulse softly, casting a faint, ethereal light across ancient, tattered tomes and scattered arcane symbols etched into the floor. The air is thick with a sense of foreboding, carrying the scent of damp earth and decay, while the remnants of dark magic linger, hinting of the necromancer who once wielded power here, casting shadows deeper than night itself.
[2025/08/14 14:54] Sapphire: "It's really beautiful up here," she comments, watching all the nature reclaiming the broken tower
[2025/08/14 14:55] Sonja Bikergrrl: roll D20
[2025/08/14 14:55] D20: Sapphire rolls 3
[2025/08/14 14:56] Mecha: Lahli just stands at the top of the stairs and pauses."Nope." as she just waits there
[2025/08/14 14:56] Sonja Bikergrrl: it is indeed beautiful to see nature reclaiming the tower, but... The bush looks a little out of place, there's very little dust on it and the soil is quite moist... someone watered it recently!
[2025/08/14 14:57] Sonja Bikergrrl: what now?
[2025/08/14 14:58] Sapphire: does this look like the sunberry bush or has it been alterted into some sort of moonberry cultivar?
[2025/08/14 14:59] Sonja Bikergrrl: It looks like .... well, like a bush with glowing berries.
[2025/08/14 14:59] Sapphire: Te'ala approaches carefully
[2025/08/14 14:59] Sonja Bikergrrl: The bush doesn't seem to notice.
[2025/08/14 15:00] Mecha: Lahli keeps an eye out in case someone tries coming up behind them
[2025/08/14 15:00] Sonja Bikergrrl: roll d20
[2025/08/14 15:01] D20: Sapphire rolls 5
[2025/08/14 15:01] Sapphire: She'll inspect the health of the bush. is it getting enough light in here?
[2025/08/14 15:01] Sonja Bikergrrl: I meant Mecha, but, I'll take the roll... Lahli doesn't notice anyone sneaking up
[2025/08/14 15:01] Sonja Bikergrrl: d20, Sapphire
[2025/08/14 15:03] D20: Mecha rolls 19
[2025/08/14 15:03] Sonja Bikergrrl: Sapphire
[2025/08/14 15:03] D20: Sapphire rolls 15
[2025/08/14 15:03] Mecha: *Sorry, could not resist*
[2025/08/14 15:04] Sonja Bikergrrl: *GIGGLES*
[2025/08/14 15:04] Sonja Bikergrrl: Te'ala notices the plant pot has only recently been placed. It seems a trifle dim for plants to thrive here, and clearly, it came from elsewhere.
[2025/08/14 15:06] Sapphire: "A cutting, from somewhere else and brought for study." She moves to pet the leaves of the bush. "Would you prefer to be on the roof, with full sunlight, or down by the earth to drink deep of the water?
[2025/08/14 15:07] Sonja Bikergrrl: It's not a cutting; it's a complete bush. Interestingly... recently potted.
[2025/08/14 15:08] Sonja Bikergrrl: Anyone want to search the room?
[2025/08/14 15:08] Mecha: Lahli will since Te is making friends with the salad
[2025/08/14 15:08] Sonja Bikergrrl: d20
[2025/08/14 15:08] D20: Mecha rolls 3
[2025/08/14 15:08] Sonja Bikergrrl: A search of the room reveals: 1. A dusty, mouldy diary 2. A bizarre device which seems to be a tube fashioned into a night stick, with a handle and a crossbow trigger attached, the long end has a creatures' head in cast metal attached, so the tube looks like it's the mouth.
[2025/08/14 15:09] Mecha: Lahli will bring the diary to te but investigate the tube thing
[2025/08/14 15:10] Sapphire: "Hmmm?"
[2025/08/14 15:10] Sonja Bikergrrl: How do you plan investigating it?
[2025/08/14 15:10] Sapphire: does it seem intact enough to read?
[2025/08/14 15:10] Sonja Bikergrrl: A quick glance reveals the diary is mouldy, fragile, but, definitely legible still.
[2025/08/14 15:10] Mecha: looking it over, keeping her fingers the smeg away from the trigger
[2025/08/14 15:11] Sonja Bikergrrl: Lahli: it looks as described, a nightstick with a trigger attached.
[2025/08/14 15:12] Mecha: Lali points the end of the tube at a blank wall and pull the trigger
[2025/08/14 15:12] Sonja Bikergrrl: Roll d20
[2025/08/14 15:12] D20: Mecha rolls 15
[2025/08/14 15:15] Sonja Bikergrrl: You aim at the wall and pull the trigger. For a moment there is nothing, then, a click, a hum, and a KABOOM! as a bolt of lightining is flung at the wall. It rebounds, narrowly missing Te'alas' head, and rebounds again, whizzing right by Lahlis' head and making her hair stand on end like she is a giant dandelion, and then the bolt hurtles out of the window in a streak of white and blue light. The room now smells slightly of ozone.
[2025/08/14 15:15] Sapphire: Te'ala focuses on the reading rather than the strange creations of the destructive Humans
[2025/08/14 15:15] Sonja Bikergrrl: As for the diary....
[2025/08/14 15:16] Sapphire: "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" She ducks, lifting one hand up to put out the smoulder in her hair!
[2025/08/14 15:16] Mecha: *theres a bed in the room?*
[2025/08/14 15:16] Sonja Bikergrrl: Some notes about troop movements and: "It looks like the battle between the two armies took place, by the sounds of it it was quite a slaughter. There should be many bodies I can harvest."
[2025/08/14 15:17] Sonja Bikergrrl: (No bed.)
[2025/08/14 15:18] Mecha: Then Lahli does the normal thing, dropping the tube and screaming in shock as she finds a place to hide.
[2025/08/14 15:18] Sonja Bikergrrl: Some notes about going in the swamp and seeing bodies lying everywhere. "A druid is being annoying, whining about his badgers and bears or whatever. I could do without these petty interruptions! I really need to get that banshee, the spirit of Kelly An Daerg, but I'll need protection against her. Vengeful spirits can be so troublesome."
[2025/08/14 15:18] Sonja Bikergrrl: A few notes about a growing fued with a druid, and: "That druid is getting annoying. I'll fix him - he might be able to deal with my undead, but let's see how he likes the rather nasty plants I got for him, ha!"
[2025/08/14 15:19] Sonja Bikergrrl: Some smudged notes about how to deal with a banshee, it seems to note that banshees are vengeful spirits, that only pass to the afterlife when their desire for revenge on a whoever wronged them is satisfied, then: "Think I got that druid good. Haven't heard from him, although there's a bear snuffling about outside... damn thing is coming to the tower..." (No more entries.)
[2025/08/14 15:21] Sapphire: "The writer even wrote about banshees and paid no head to the options a druid, even a dead one, has within their own terrain." she sighs, and looks over the notes about the plants. "So, he sought to create a weapon against nature made out of nature itself? How foolish. Even mutated, plant and flesh knows their own connection to the soil, sky and sun."
[2025/08/14 15:22] Sonja Bikergrrl: Roll d20
[2025/08/14 15:23] Sonja Bikergrrl: (Te'ala, while Lahli hides)
[2025/08/14 15:23] Mecha: Meanwhile, Lahli is coming out from hiding and checking out the weapon again
[2025/08/14 15:23] Sonja Bikergrrl: The weapon is where Lahli dropped it, a faint trail of smoke rising from the open mouth
[2025/08/14 15:23] D20: Sapphire rolls 1
[2025/08/14 15:24] Sonja Bikergrrl: *GIGGLES* critical success
[2025/08/14 15:24] Sonja Bikergrrl: you read the notes, and know for a fact this bush isn't in the notes, at all. Other plants are, but this thing? Not even a mention.
[2025/08/14 15:25] Mecha: Lahli pokes the weapon before picking it up."The traveler works in mysterious ways."
[2025/08/14 15:25] Sapphire: She suddenly smiles. "Could this be? He knows enough about how to alter a plant... and also reanimate the dead.... this... death and life mage might have the skills to solve my peoples problem! If we can get him to stop obsessing over banshees enough to deal with it."
[2025/08/14 15:25] Sonja Bikergrrl: roll d20
[2025/08/14 15:25] Sapphire: She also looks to the bush. "And he probably kept his -recent- notes with him, didn't he?
[2025/08/14 15:26] D20: Sapphire rolls 13
[2025/08/14 15:26] Sonja Bikergrrl: You have a thought. If that dead wizard down below is the necromancer... then he's long, long, LONG past obsessing over anything
[2025/08/14 15:27] Sonja Bikergrrl: As for the "recent" notes... hard to say, he'd have to have survived a bear attack, and.... Oh.
[2025/08/14 15:28] Sapphire: "....unless the necromancer is dead and didn't have a way to bind himself to undeath." she looks around at the state of the tower. "If he'd done that I'd expect him to have hired or kidnapped a maid at the least."
[2025/08/14 15:29] Sonja Bikergrrl: ...Eh... you want to make a roll to see if you can find a kidnapped maid...?
[2025/08/14 15:30] Sapphire: if such a person were here, I imagine the tower would look cleaner
[2025/08/14 15:30] Sonja Bikergrrl: assuming they weren't locked in a cage....
[2025/08/14 15:31] Sapphire: hmmmm, true. We can keep an eye out for such
[2025/08/14 15:31] Sonja Bikergrrl: So, you have another diary, you have some magickal weapon, and, a bush with glowing berries
[2025/08/14 15:31] Sonja Bikergrrl: also, a slight mystery, since everyone died a century ago
[2025/08/14 15:32] Sonja Bikergrrl: but what are you planning on now?
[2025/08/14 15:33] Sapphire: Anything preventing us picking the bush up?
[2025/08/14 15:33] Mecha: Lahli looks at te. Any plans, maybe leaving or something?
[2025/08/14 15:34] Sonja Bikergrrl: As far as you can tell, it's a typical potted bush, weighing a pound or two in total. You might have to set it down again for combat/spellcasting
[2025/08/14 15:35] Mecha: why don't we pick the berries. You can study it more at your leisure.
[2025/08/14 15:35] Sapphire: "I want to ensure it will grow well. Pots only have so much soil in them, and this seems... like not quite enough for a plant of power."
[2025/08/14 15:35] Sonja Bikergrrl: and... *slap* the sound of palm meeting face
[2025/08/14 15:36] Sapphire: "And also, to plant several seeds where they might grow well."
[2025/08/14 15:37] Sonja Bikergrrl: so, what's the plan?
[2025/08/14 15:37] Sapphire: Picking up the potted day berry bush for now. How much of the tower have we explored?
[2025/08/14 15:37] Mecha: *Wait who just got slapped?*
[2025/08/14 15:38] Sonja Bikergrrl: <-- slapped
[2025/08/14 15:38] Sonja Bikergrrl: Te'ala takes up the bush. There doesn't seem to be much more to explore.
[2025/08/14 15:40] Mecha: Lahli: Then let's get going. I gotta say, I feel even more lost then when we entered.
[2025/08/14 15:40] Sonja Bikergrrl: so, heading back to town and the tavern?
[2025/08/14 15:42] Sapphire: And as we head back, any place that seems like a good spot for a day berry bush, she'll take a berry and press it into the soil so it can take root.
[2025/08/14 15:42] Mecha: Sounds good.*Lahli looks at Te as she holds the weapon. "Can we not tell Andreas about this thing?"
[2025/08/14 15:43] Sonja Bikergrrl: okay... you head back to th Hook, Line & Sinker
[2025/08/14 15:43] Sonja Bikergrrl: but!
[2025/08/14 15:43] Sonja Bikergrrl: half way there, just as you are about to leave the more wooded area....
[2025/08/14 15:43] Sonja Bikergrrl: The leprechaun appears with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous grin, tipping his tiny hat playfully. "Ah, well met again, my adventurous friends! What delightful mischief do ye seek this time? If ye could spare a wee bit o’ tobacco or a drop of the good stuff, I’d be more than happy to share a tale or two of hidden treasures and elusive rainbows! What say ye?"
[2025/08/14 15:44] Sonja Bikergrrl: (And that'll be our cliffhanger. We might pick this up again Sunday, to wrap things up before the holiday)
[2025/08/14 15:46] Mecha: only issue with that mistress is this one wont be here Sunday
[2025/08/14 15:46] Sonja Bikergrrl: Next Thursday, then. Should be time enough.
[2025/08/14 15:46] Mecha: /me nods
[2025/08/14 15:47] Sonja Bikergrrl: /me has Reasons to Not Rush this.
[2025/08/14 15:47] Sonja Bikergrrl: who had fun?
[2025/08/14 15:47] Mecha: /me nods
[2025/08/14 15:47] Mecha: This one did
[2025/08/14 15:48] Sonja Bikergrrl: ecks-sell-ent.
[2025/08/14 15:48] Sapphire: /me enjoyed it!
[2025/08/14 15:48] Mecha: Now Lahli just needs to figure out what to do with that weapon
[2025/08/14 15:48] Sonja Bikergrrl: I'm surprised you don't look down the mouth to see what there is when you pull the trigger
[2025/08/14 15:49] Sonja Bikergrrl: and hopefully you enjoyed it and this mysterious mystery made sense... perhaps not ultimately, but you know what took place
[2025/08/14 15:49] Sonja Bikergrrl: But, who watered the bush?