Arc 2 - Heart of a Monster (Completed)

[Kowsauni]

Kail, who hadn't quite left the room yet, would turn to Revenge. "Very, well. We can talk in the hallway, though it will have to be quick."

Kail exits the room through a different door then Lyndon. If Revenge follows him he will find him waiting alone on the other side. "Though I vaguely feel I know where this is going, what is you wish to speak with me about?"  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would nod and follow him, turning to face the others before leaving. "I doubt I'll be gone long," he would assure him, though his face solemn.

After ensuring the door would be closed and giving a few minutes for his cohorts to leave, he would turn to the archmage. "Do you?" he would ask curtly, before clearing his throat. "This is a twofold visit, actually. I wanted to get this out of the way hours ago, but the..." He would make a face, as he thought of the best word for the trait. "... initiative, of the others waylaid my plans." With him trying to make efforts to be the first to talk to the archmage this morning, he ended up being the last.

"First thing's first, concerning last night. Mister Araethos, I apologize for my outburst and behavior last night. You seem more up-to-speed today, so I don't think you'd find it a stretch if I don't claim my actions were inexcusable. Regardless, I still find them regrettable. And I hope that's still worth something." His armor would c***k slightly as he made an open-handed gesture with his right palm.  

[Kowsauni]

Kail raised one of his eyebrows. "Oh, I guess I stand corrected. That was not what I was excepting at all. My judgment has been off twice now. Rowena might be right. I'm getting too old." The arch-wizard chuckled to himself. "Well, I humbly accept your apology. Let us try to set things off on the right foot from here. I informed the others earlier but you should know this as well, I will simply be casting a more advance version of the identify ritual on Mrs. Abby. It will be completely harmless and none invasive. I simply want to examine the magical weave around your wife's creation in hopes of glimmering some understanding from it. Vincent might have already told you the story in more detail, but I hope to use this knowledge to help someone dear to me."  

[Rain Yupa]

"He has," Revenge would respond. "Which brings me to the second matter..."

Glancing at the door, he would explain. "I've only just reunited with my wife after many years, most of which was fearing her dead but praying she was not. I don't know exactly was done to her, just that it was not pleasant. When you are casting your spells upon her, I have to insist that you ask her consent each and every time."

"I love my wife deeply, despite this hardship fate has thrown at us. The last thing I want to have to worry about is her relapsing or breaking down because of your studies, especially when I'm not going to be around. It is ultimately her body and her choice to let you study her, but I have a duty as her husband to make sure her suffering is as minimal as possible."

Revenge would exhale. "I assume you've been in love before, Mister Araethos. You hopefully can relate to the fear that can grip one's heart for the sake of the one closest to it. Is this acceptable?"  

[Kowsauni]

Kail would respond. "I have and still am. If Posey wasn't away on missionary work right now you you all would have already met my better half. You have my word that I will not do anything against Mrs. Abby's wishes. After all, this was her suggestion. However, if I notice she is having an adverse reaction to my spells I assure you I will cease the examination. I have no intention of triggering any memories of the horrors she must have experienced."


Kail would let out a sad sigh. "I have dealt before with evil wizards and the atrocities they commit in the quest of furthering their own magical power. It brings shame upon all us practitioners. I will be investigating this matter thoroughly. If I find your claim to be true I will be taking action against Aria in my own way. I will definitely not be lending them any more assistance or training until this matter is resolved."  

[Rain Yupa]

Nodding his head, his expression would soften. "Thank you. That is all I wanted. From you, at least."

Frowning, he would turn to the door. "I had wanted to speak with you privately before this meeting - I suspected you would understand my concerns and would agree to what I asked. Your son, Vincent, gave me that impression, by the way," Revenge would say. "I wanted my wife to feel that there were good people, not just bad, out there in the world - people who would mean her no harm. Now I worry she'll feel that any extra care you would take is because of my meddling. This is her endeavor, to help those people back at Gladesdale, not mine. I'm hoping that if she could help people in the same place she was taken from, it would help bring her some sort of... catharsis."

Moving to the door and placing a hand on the handle, he would finish that train of thought. "I can't always get what I want. That's life, I suppose." Turning his head back to Kail, he would tilt his head to the side. "Would you prefer us to move with haste, or to take our time?"

After that response, he would nod and once more return to the banquet hall (pending nothing interrupts him from doing so).  

[Kowsauni]

Kail would laugh. "I think she is more worried about you getting hurt fighting the dragonplant than what might have transpired in here. What speed with which you accomplish this task is entirely up to you, though it seems like sooner might be better for your plans, rather than later. News travels fast and if Aria is as concerned about this as you say, they will be quick to investigate."

Once Revenge returned to the room, Lyndon leads the group to the front entrance where guards arrive a short while later with their weapons. Abby departs to go find Petra in the massive garden and leaves without questioning Revenge about his private conversation with Kail. Lyndon has a horse with large saddlebags brought for him to ride. He leads the group out behind the manor house where the sprawling gardens eventually give way to dense forest.

After about half an hour of traveling, Lyndon motions for everyone to stop. His eyes narrow. "We are now in their enclosure. One is nearby." Lyndon reaches into his saddlebags and pulls out a large cut of strong smelling meat, then throws it to the ground. "That should attract its attention. Now I must ride off and make sure the you do not attract the attention of the other four that are in here. Good luck. Watch out for its breath attack--it's poisonous."

Lyndon rides off and disappears down a narrow path snaking between the trees. The adventurers are now left in a small clearing with a large piece of foul smelling meat on the ground. What does everyone do?  

[PupSage]

Kuori seeks cover from the direction they entered from. Wanting to stay within weapon range of the meat and about 15 ft past it if possible.

[Stealth=29]  

[Rain Yupa]

Events transpired, time passed, and after a bit of a hike (because in plate mail, everywhere is a hike), Revenge would be standing in the clearing with some bait.

Though... hell, he was the defender here, he was pretty much the bait when you stopped to think about it.

"Thank you for bringing us this far, Lyndon," Revenge would say to the young man. "Please, take care of yourself."

Standing in close proximity to the meat, and facing the general direction it was thrown in as a general indicator of the beast's direction, he would hold his halberd in one hand with the haft planted on the ground. He would turn his head towards Valac, and ask "Ready to meet it, like Tieflings?"

He would then look over his shoulder at the others. "Twyla, Shayne, Kuo-

...

"Twyla, Shayne, please keep back."

He would let out a sigh, assuming Kuori was hidden but not sure if she simply wandered off again. The way the day was turning out, he gave it 50/50 odds. It would be nice if she communicated her intentions to them once in a while.  

[AlphabetFish]

Once Twyla was in the clearing, she began to hum to herself, quietly, but loud enough that her friends could hear. She pulled Tinsel out and looked warily around her.

A dragonplant! She'd never heard or read of such a thing, but she was super excited. Her humming got faster and her eyes darted around as she wondered what direction it would come from.

"I'll stay back as well as I can, Mister Revenge," she said, "but I'm a lot better with my sword than with my bow, so once it's got its teeth firmly planted in you, I'm gonna be running up to stabbity-stab it!" She brandished Tinsel at him with a wide grin, then continued to hum.

((Twyla activates her Skald's Aura and draws her short sword.))  

[Mongooseh]

Stepping forward so he was shoulder to shoulder with Revenge brandishing his full blade cockily, Valac asked, "How do tieflings meet it?"

Valac then with a flex and a grunt he transformed slightly, his muscles grew larger and his horns grew longer.

"Now I'm ready."

(Used Diabolic Transformation.)  

[Kowsauni]

Dragon Plant

Kuori disappears from sight behind a dense bush. For a little while there was silence. Then some rustling could be heard among the trees. There was coming towards the party and whatever it was it was huge. A large leafy head suddenly protrudes into the clearing. It had no eyes yet could be heard sniffing the air. The creatures head suddenly snaps toward the adventures. The leaves on its head stand up on edge as it lets out a loud raspy roar from its serrated maw. It seems to detect the parties presence and doesn't seem happy about it.

((Everyone Roll Initiative!))  

[Kowsauni]

Plant Food

Map Details: The brown dots are tree trunks and they are blocking terrain but are not hard corners. The dark green patches represent thick patches of underbrush and are difficult terrain and provide partial cover where they take up an entire square. Rocks taking up more then one square provide blocking terrain but are not hard corners. The rocks in a single square to provide partial cover to small creatures or prone medium creatures.

Initiative order
Dragon Plant:
Kuori: HP 43/43
Twyla: HP 25/42 slowed, save ends
Valac: HP 40/57 Regen 2 +2 Saving throws, slowed, save ends
Revenge: HP 53/53
Animated Plants:
Shayne: HP 41/41

The Dragon Plant charges forth and as he does so the very ground beneath him seems to come to life. Wiggling vines sprout out of the ground around his feet with each step it takes. (an Aura of 1 around the Dragon Plant counts as difficult terrain.) Five animated plants sprout of the the ground with wicked looking barbed vines and serrated mouth like orifices. They shamble towards the adventures.

The Dragon Plants stops in front of Valac and Revenge. It rears back and lets fourth a cloud of toxic gas from out of its mouth. Revenge manages to shield himself from the breath attack but both Valac and Tawny are caught up in the cloud and take 17 poison damage. The poison seems to linger in their system, making their movements sluggish.

((Kuori is up!)  

[PupSage]

As the Beast attacked her allies, Kuori let loose a shot.
Disruptive shot: immediate interrupt
19 to hit, 12 dmg
If hit, it's attack roll is reduced by 7!

Then she runs from her cover to get closer to the Beast (T2 cool And fires a splintering shot at the dragon, designating it as he quarry.
25 to hit for 15 damage plus 3 for quarry. (I rolled super low sad )
Also, it takes a -2 to all attack rolls for this encounter.  

[Kowsauni]

Kuori tries to disrupt the Dragon Plant breath attack with a shot but the Arrow bounces his thick wooden skull without having any affect. However, the goliath's next shot was much better aimed and she buries an arrow deep into the monsters front leg. The wound seems to hinder the use of that limb.

(Twyla up!)