Plant Attacks on the Garuda

Curious about the new beverage the other Freelancers had tried from Leander, Cathance went to the front of the tavern and got some koumiss.  The alcohol was weak, but she found the flavour gamey, if milk could be considered such.  Cathance returned to the back of the tavern to ask Fine Branch and Tai what were they thinking.

The three of them got to talking, and Cathance realized she hadn't been on a mission in a full eighth, so they decided to ask Damakaios for a mission.  They went upstairs to the lounge, and found his door was open, so they went in and sat down.

Damakaios' desk was clear.  They wondered what he did when they weren't there.  But he was already unlocking a drawer and pulling out papers.  He started listing missions without preamble.

First – Amabel villa – last known was some sort of horrible flying shark.

Second – Hadid needs cheshire hides, these will be in southern Commerce.  That partly ranches of various trading peoples, and also some hobgoblins.

Tai:  I imagine they pester livestock.
Damakaios:  yes, but Hadids want the pelts

Third one is - nasty vegetation near the edge of the skylith from Kavali, which is primarily home to Garuda.

Cathance:  what is this?
Damakaios:  I just said it.  It's 250gp/person.
Cathance:  get a gardener?
Tai:  maybe like awakened
Cathance:  is it mobile?
Damakaios:  not yet

Last one is – at the base of the Vathia Estia tunnels, something has been getting at people who wander away from the tunnels.  Vathis Estia Tunnel Authority wants us to root out whatever it is.  This is 250gp/person.

Fine Branch:  I'm fine with any of these
Tai:  isn't this the same as the constructs mission?
Cathance:  this third one is mysterious
Tai:  would be up for the third or fourth one
Damakaios:  sounds like the third mission.  I don't really have any further info, but head to Kavali and talk to Sokullu, who is the leader of the settlement there.

As the Freelancers filed out of Damakaios' office to go, he was putting the papers away; but one of them went into a different drawer.

The weather was damp and a bit cold as the Freelancers flew westward from Ripa Daneo to Kavali.  They'd never visited this part of the skylith, and Cathance was looking with interest at all the vegetation; she quickly lost track of where they were going.  The other two had no such issues.

They stayed to the south of the mountains and soon the Rim and crater beyond were hidden from view.  As they kept flying they realized they were noticeably "down" the curve of the skylith, although the settlement was still a bit "up" in the mountains.

Nestled in the side of a hill, they saw a fortified town, against both ground and air.  Guards were obviously watching their approach and directed the Freelancers to land in a field outside the walls.  As they did so, a garuda coloured like a golden eagle flew down to talk to them.

Guard:  what is your business here?
Tai:  Freelancers; we came from Ripa Daneo.  We hear you have some issues with vegetation.
<The Guard clacked his beak.>
Guard:  Sokullu will talk to you; we have an unsafe situation.

The guard directed the Freelancers to the town center, and described the inn for them to stay, The Benevolent Talon.  "The three of you are welcome to enter," he declared.

They all flew up to the wall, where the guard resumed his station, and the Freelancers entered the town.  The narrow streets were sometimes steeper than Ripa Daneo, but it was clear anyone from a people lacking wings could get almost anywhere.  The buildings were nicely fitted stonework, with flat roofs or domes.  The visual effect was accentuated by terraces in the near hillsides, which were possibly growing food.

The Freelancers had no problem finding The Benevolent Talon.  They did get curious glances from various garuda going about their business, and also some sagani on foot.  The inn had rooms for 8sp/night per person and stabling for flying mounts for 5sp/night.  The innkeeper had no problem giving them more precise directions to where to find Sokullu's office.

The Daystar was westering; because of the curvature of the skylith, it had come out below the clouds, and set later in the day than they would expect.  However the streets of Kavali were in shadow, because of the town walls, as the Freelancers walked to Sokullu's office in the town center.

The front office had three clerks; they had the Freelancers wait while one went in the back to talk to Sokullu.  After about 5 minutes, they were admitted.

Sokullu looked a bit like a peregrine falcon, and he sat behind a desk with much more interesting details worked in than Damakaios' or even Arnari's.  His chair had no back, and as he gestured for the Freelancers to take a seat, they realized none of the chairs had backs.  "Thanks for coming!" Sokullu started, "What can I tell you?"

Tai:  what kind of vegetation is causing problems… what are the problems?  Damakaios did not give us a lot of info.
Fine Branch:  Damakaios sent us to get weed.
Cathance:  are there plants walking around?
Sokullu:  the plants are definitely moving.  …there are a couple meadows near the edge of the skylith.  A couple medium plants have a terrible touch… They move around, and have a poisonous touch.  <pause>  This is not a Skyguard outpost.  We do not have the resources to deal with it.
Cathance:  are the plants touching you?   <gestured to emphasize>
Sokullu:  yes, and poisonous.
Cathance:  can they reach up and touch you while you're flying?
Sokullu:  not sure about reach
Tai:  best guess?
Sokullu:  farther than you expect from an attack
Fine Branch:  wonder if there's a connection between this and the Hadids
Cathance:  has anyone else from Ripa Daneo been here recently?
Sokullu:  not that I know of

The Freelancers tried to get a location for these plants, but all Sokullu would tell them was south and west from Kavali, and he could not say exactly.

Cathance:  well, is there someone who can?
Sokullu:  no, because it moves around
Tai:  huh
Cathance:  what, if anything, has been tried?
Fine Branch:  these were attacking people; has anyone survived?
Sokullu:  yes
Fine Branch:  can we talk to them?
Sokullu:  will send them to the inn
Tai:  would be good to know if they tried burning, and it did not work.

At that, the Freelancers took their leave, and returned to the inn.  The Daystar was ninety degrees from zenith, but still not set.

The tavern at The Benevolent Talon had good fare for dinner; the Freelancers noticed the food had no dairy and was solid (no soups or stews).  Seating in the tavern was benches or more backless chairs.

As the Freelancers were sampling the mead after dinner, they were approached by a Wind sagani and a couple garuda coloured like hawks.   "Are you the Freelancers here to deal with the bad plants?" the Wind sagani asked tentatively, the garuda eyeing the nekomata.  They did not introduce themselves really.

Fine Branch:  yes
Wind sagani:  we were out berry gathering, and we started getting grabbed by bad plants.  Vines reached out and grabbed us, and we were nauseous.
Fine Branch:  poison's a problem
Wind sagani:  I levitated up
Garuda1:  we flew up, grabbed our Wind sagani <gestured> and flew away!
Garuda2:  we tried to burn it, so it burns, but they weren't dried, so <shrugged>
Fine Branch:  would we be able to seek these out where you found them?
Garuda1:  we talked to others, and they seem to roam.  We can give you directions, and it will be near
Fine Branch:  did they attack as soon as you got in range, or was there a delay?
Wind sagani:  seemed very aggressive.  We got some berries first, but weren't sure if they wandered to us, or we wandered ito them.
Cathance:  what did the leaves look like?  How would we recognize them?
Garuda2:  by the time we were close enough, they were attacking.  <thought>  nothing special; maybe ivy leaves?
Cathance:  do they have thorns?
Garuda1:  yes

Unfortunately, despite Cathance's diligent work to learn herbalism, this was not enough information for her to have the slightest clue what plan these were.  The three berrypickers gave the Freelancers directions with landmarks, ending with a large tree that was near to the edge of multiple meadows, and took their leave.

The next morning, before heading out, the Freelancers searched around Kavali for any alchemical fire.  Tai wasn't really sure what he was looking for, but Cathance was, and she and Fine Branch found a shop with three vials of it they were willing to part with for 55gp each.

Thus augmented, the Freelancers returned to The Benevolent Talon, retrieved their mounts, and set off west/southwest in search of the indicated meadows.  It did not take them terribly long to find the meadows; they definitely felt like they had a westward downslope.  They circled the tree, and saw in the meadow to the west of it, three bushes – or vines? – moving, slowly but surely, through the grass.  They were almost in an equilateral triangle.  The grass… seemed pretty flammable.

Cathance:  should I ray of frost?  It will glue them to the ground
Tai:  I could swoop in and axe.
Fine Branch:  why not just get them from range?

Cathance cast ray of frost at the closest moving plant.  Frost formed on its leaves and stems, and it did seem to stay put.  However, all the vines visibly oriented at Cathance.  Alarmed, she flew over the tree and cast another ray of frost at the next closest one, crying "Guys, I'm trying to slow them down!"  The beam of cold had the same effect.

• Fine Branch cast spiritual weapon in the form of hedge clippers next to this second frosted vine.  Some of the leaves withered from the force of its attack.  Fine Branch tried to followup with toll the dead, but the bell tones fell flat in the grassy meadow and it had no effect.  Concerned about the vines' reach, Fine Branch had Nighthawk prepare to dodge.
• Tai raged, and from some trick of wild magic gained the ability to bamph 30', so he was suddenly on the ground next to the vine Cathance initially frosted.  He slashed at it a couple times with his magical greataxe.  While he sent bits flying, that wasn't very satisfying and he growled, "Almost weed-whacking!"
• The vine lashed at Tai, grabbing him and squeezing.  He briefly felt itchy and nauseous but shook it off.
  • Cathance cried out, "Guys, lookit the vine!  It grabbed Tai!" She peered at the Silver dragonborn.  "Tai, are you okay?"  Tai, wrapped in the vine, just growled "Arrarrrrgh!"

• The other frosted vine moved towards Jigsaw, but didn't get very far.
• The untouched vine moved towards Nighthawk, surprisingly fast.
• A lithesome humanoid woman with green leafy afro hair stepped out of the tree and moved towards Tai.  Cathance was too surprised to call it out.  She did something, and Tai was poisoned.  Then she swiped out with an arm, and it elongated in order to hit Tai; but she missed.
  • Tai's eyes started to glaze over as he tried to fight some hallucination or charm, and Cathance used her sorcerous abilities to bend his luck allowing him to fight it off.

Cathance, wondering in horror how the Tortoise would react to this newfound ability to affect luck, unthinkingly shot a smoky black bolt of pure chaos at the green lady that settled on cold before it hit, frosting the leaves in her hair.  She swooped down to the first vine and Jigsaw killed it with his beak, freeing Tai.

• Fine Branch pivoted the spiritual weapon at the green lady, whacking her with force.
  • Nighthawk flew down next to her, and Fine Branch touched her, attempting to bestow curse, but the green lady shook that off.
  • Nighthawk then attacked the green lady, piercing her with his beak and slashing her with his claws.
• Tai stepped up to the green lady, magical greataxe swinging.  The first swing connected with her shoulder, and bark sprang forth, deflecting the axe.  The second swing slashed her side.
  • Tai bamph'd 30' away, then stepped back a few feet further to be 40' away.
• With Jigsaw still in the air and Tai far away, the unhurt vine tried to wrap around Fine Branch, but failed.

• The no-longer-frosted second vine also moved towards Nighthawk, much faster now.
• The green lady spoke, her words incomprehensible and sounding like leaves in the wind.  Fine Branch closed his eyes, letting whatever magic it was wash over and past him.  
  • She again swiped out with her arm, and it lengthened into a long thorny vine, which smacked Fine Branch and pierced his arm.  He felt the poison from the thorns spread, but he managed to shake that off, in part by hawking up a hairball on the green lady's head.

Cathance cast ray of frost on the same vine again, and it withered, as if caught unexpectedly in a frost of the upper reaches.  She flew southward.  Meanwhile, the green lady was starting to look the worse for wear; sap was running down her face.

• Fine Branch had not enjoyed getting hit with her viney arm.  He had Nighthawk disengage and fly up while the spiritual weapon whacked the green lady with force again.  He followed up with a cast of guiding bolt, burning her with holy radiance.  The sap on her face turned to amber.
• Tai moved back over to the green lady and slashed her with his magical greataxe, and she fell prone.  He peered at her body and realized she was made of the vines, wrapped together to look like a person.
  • The vines were unravelling, but still moving.  Suspicious, Tai slashed at them again; they were cut, but were still moving.
  • Tai bamph'd back to where he'd been.
• The remaining moving vine moved to the tree.  It extended its vines, not to attack, but to wrap around the green lady.  It pressed her against the tree, and she seemed to be merging into it.

Cathance cried out, "Guys, look at what's happening to the lady!  She's being absorbed into the tree!"  She cast ray of frost at the vine holding the green lady, but she missed; Cathance was now wondering if they were actually intruders on this green lady's territory.

• Fine Branch had no such thoughts, and moved his spiritual weapon to whack the partially absorbed green lady with force.
  • Cathance called out, "We should ask the garuda about this tree."
  • Fine Branch ignored her and cast guiding bolt on the vine holding the green lady.  The holy radiance scorched it badly, but did not kill it.  So, Nighthawk flew down and struck the vine with his beak, killing it.
  • The vine dying did not affect the process of the tree absorbing the green lady, so Nighthawk clawed her.  She looked very tattered, but was still getting absorbed.

Tai bamph'd towards the tree and ran up to it, then struck the bits of the green lady still visible with his magical greataxe.  The blade embedded into the tree, and the vines withered and died.

The sap bleeding from the tree was far more than the Freelancers would expect from Tai's axeblade, magical or no.  As Jigsaw flew up to the others and landed, Tai yanked out his greataxe and swung again at the tree.  It shuddered like a creature with awareness, and even more sap poured out.

Upon seeing this reaction from the tree, Fine Branch called upon his spirit guardians, asking them not to attack the mounts, or Tai, or Cathance.  The cats immediately started to eat the tree.  It looked like it was going to take a while.

Cathance and Tai examined the tree without touching it, trying to determine if there had been any recent changes to the tree.  Fine Branch did too, but he and Cathance pretty much concluded that Nature was weird.  Tai however, considered how old the tree was.

Tai:  sometimes, a plant that's been around a long time… it gains of function.
Fine Branch:  so, we murdered a sentient.
Tai:  yeah.
Fine Branch:  it was not friendly.  <looked again at the slowly-getting-eaten-tree>  I cannot tell if it was triggered by another entity.

At that, Tai evoked his instant detect magic, and beyond the Freelancers lighting up, and the conjuration from Fine Branch's cats cats cats cats cats, he did see weird magic on the tree itself, which was of no particular class of magic.

After about 5 minutes, the tree was entirely gone; the spirit guardian cats were in the ground eating the roots.  As they did so, metal gleamed, and Tai started pulling items out of the dirt:  gold, silver, and platinum coins; a quiver; goggles; and a gem which was very sparkly, with an internal light inside.  Everything was entirely filthy and (other than the coins) would need careful cleaning if it were to be useful.

It was mid morning, and the Freelancers decided a rest was in order.  Tai cleaned off his greataxe, and they all had a bite to eat; they examined the items carefully, and determined they had eyes of the eagle, a quiver of ehlonna, and a gem of brightness.  They talked about whether or not these items were enough to alter the tree, and decided it probably would have been.  The filth indicated the items had been there a long time, and the magic would have had time to seep into the environment.  Cathance looked at her vial of rainbow effluent thoughtfully.

The items were stowed away, and for completeness, the Freelancers decided to check the surrounding meadows before returning to Kavali.  They found nothing, and at noon headed back to the garuda settlement.

The Freelancers reported their findings to Sokullu, who was amazed to hear about the green lady and intrigued about the cache of magic items.  He paid the three of them 250gp each.

Sokullu:  I'm happy that Freelancers took care of it; will keep an eye on that area.
Cathance <sadly>:  we did destroy a landmark
Sokullu:  I'm sad about that.  The tree had been there a while; I climbed on it.  But, the world changes

It was too late to leave for Ripa Daneo, so the Freelancers decided to stay another night at The Benevolent Talon.  Remembering the delicious mead from the night before, they asked around to discover it was produced in town.  They found the meadery, and after considering the carrying weight of their mounts, bought 5 small casks for 50gp each to bring back to Freelancers Tavern.  The meadhers cautioned them not to keep it too long in the casks, let it become over-oaked, and the adventurers nodded solemnly.

Back at The Benevolent the three Freelancers indulged in even more mead, which was very delicious, and even managed not to get plastered.  Somewhere in there, they also determined that Fine Branch would get the eyes of the eagle, Tai the quiver of ehlonna, and Cathance the gem of brightness.

The following day, the Freelancers took care to balance the casks on their mounts, and flew back to Ripa Daneo through the wind and under the scudding clouds.  The unhappy mounts were even subjected to small hail, when they flew over the ridge.  Between the actual headwinds, and ascent, and laden with casks, they did not arrive back until early evening.

Of course when they arrived in the tavern with casks of mead, Naranjos immediately and joyfully tapped one.  They shared a toast and then the Fine Branch, Tai, and Cathance went upstairs to report to Damakaios.

Fine Branch:  seems all sort of trees here have problems!  This was not a fine branch!
Damakaios:  not happy to hear about more tree problems, but glad you handled it just fine.  I expected no less.
Cathance:  also it turns out they brew a good mead.
Damakaios:  oh?  Did you bring some back?
Cathance:  Naranjos is already drinking it!
Damakaios <concerned>:  let's finish here before he drinks it all!  …how much did you bring back?  Can he drink it all?
Tai:  5 casks
Damakaios <relieved>:  okay, he can't drink them all in this time.  That would be three times his weight.