Arc 2 - Heart of a Monster (Completed)

[Mongooseh]

Valac would angrily snap round to shout at whoever stole the killing blow of his prey and would notice that Revenge was still on the ground bleeding out.

Rushing over with each step Valac exited his rage and slightly shrunk as he reversed his transformation.

"Why is he still on the ground? I had that handled!" Roared Valac as he pointed at the dragon plant before rephrasing his question, "Why is he still bleeding out?!"
Valac as he dropped his sword and knelt down by Revenge trying to figure out a way to stop the bleeding but to no avail as there was too much blood and he couldn't find the source.

Then as he noticed Kuori tearing up he would direct his tirade at her, "Why are you standing there as if he's dead?! Help him! If he bleeds out with you standing there doing nothing I'll kill you myself! Then you can apologise to Revenge in the afterlife!"  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla stared at the creature in dumb surprise as it fell, shaking the ground with its massive body. It was over! It--it was done!

But their troubles weren't... As her companions gathered around, Valac shouting and Kuori staring, she dropped to her knees, leaning over the fallen paladin. Hands shaking, she struggled to stop the blood flowing from Revenge's wounds--but all in vain.

"I can't--I can't figure out how to help him! No matter what I do, it just won't stop!"

She grasped her lucky necklace suddenly, the little glass jar on a string that contained a single pixie wing, and tried again. "Come on, Revenge, come on..." For a moment, it almost seemed as though she had it... but her hands were too small to staunch the blood on her own. Revenge was growing paler, and, in desperation, Twyla turned to her allies.

"Kuori--please! I've almost stopped the bleeding, but I need help! I can't save him all by myself!"

((Heal check: 9, plus the 5 I got from my Lucky Charm... 14! So close!

Hey, if Kuori assists Twyla and rolls a heal check of 10 or greater, then it'll add 2 to the roll and together we'll make the check.))  

[PupSage]

Kuori dropped next to Revenge and looked at Twyla, "T-tell me what to do." She said this as the first tear escaped her eye.

(10 on the dot to assist!)  

[AlphabetFish]

"Put pressure here on this cut--I'll try to get this one--"

Twyla kneeled by Kuori, one tiny woman with one tall one, and as they worked together, Revenge's wounds stopped bleeding. His face, which had been looking ghastly and pale, began to regain some color. He wasn't awake... but he would make it.

Twyla looked up at her allies with a huge grin. "We did it! He's going to be all right!" She stood in front of Kuori and bowed low. "Thank you so much. I do believe you saved his life!"

She let out a sigh. "All I need to do is just rest a few moments, then I can heal him up for real." She plopped down on the ground next to Revenge, scanning the trees for movement, and began almost absentmindedly to hum a lilting, cheerful tune.

((Heal check total: 16!))

((I also propose a short rest. If anyone spends a healing surge during the rest, they get to add +5hp to each surge spent due to Twyla's song of rest.))  

[Kowsauni]

Lyndon Araethos

Through the combined efforts of Twyla and Kuori, Revenge is stabilized and stops bleeding out. Soon after, Lyndon comes riding out from between the trees. His outfit looks a little roughed up but otherwise calm. He looks to the dead dragon plant, with plant life still wiggling around it, and then to the adventurers. "Hmm, looks like it was a tough fight. Here, you might find these useful." Lyndon reaches into a saddle bag and pulls out a bandoleer containing four Potions of Healing and tosses it to the adventurers. "That should get your friend back to his feet. Now, I suggest we don't tarry and harvest what we came for. There are four more of those creatures lurking in this enclosure and I was only able to find and distract three of them."

Lyndon rides over to where he had thrown the rotting meat before on the ground. He pulls out his wand and shoots it with a bolt of energy, causing it to disintegrate.  

[Mongooseh]

Valac would snatch up a potion from the bandoleer and poured one down Revenge's gullet and said, "Get up you whimp."  

[AlphabetFish]

"Mr. Lyndon! There you are!" Twyla grinned up at him. He seemed impossibly tall up on his horse and Twyla really had to crane her neck. She shaded her eyes against the lofty sun and realized how long they'd been out there already.

"Okay," she said, "let's get to harvesting! What do I do?" She brandished Tinsel, trying to ignore the pain in her own body. She was hurt badly herself... but once they harvested this thing they could get back to the manor.  

[Mongooseh]

Raising an eyebrow at Twyla, Valac interjected by drawing a dagger (one of three) and flipping it round so the handle was presented to Twyla. It was a crude looking dagger possibly not even of human make.

"Here. Use this it'd be a waste to use such a sword for butchery. Plus it'll be easier with a smaller blade." Valac offered gesturing the entire time with the dagger while still force feeding the potion down Revenge's throat.  

[PupSage]

Kuori stood, she hadn't even gotten touched during the fight. "You two rest. I'll cut the thing out." She took out her own dagger and placed it below where the ribs would be on a normal dragon, not that she knew firsthand, but you could normally spot that kind of thing. She shoved the knife into the beast and cut a hand sized hole, then she worked with the "skin" of the Beast to cut up to the throat, revealing bits of what passedan for skeletal structure. Two cuts across to make an accessible area. At which point, if this thing was it's heart, she should see it.  

[Rain Yupa]

"Kof kof!" Revenge would sputter as he regained consciousness with a throat full of liquid. Was he drowning?

Pushing Valac away, he would sit up to spit out some of the liquid, though the sudden movement refreshed his memory quite quickly, as he held his sides and faceplanted into the ground.

"..... ah." The Dragon Plant. How much time has passed? Where was he? His forehead felt like it was touching earth... it was probably still at the clearing... his head ached, and piecing it together wasn't easy.

"Did anyone..." he started to ask, but trailed off. "Is everyone okay?"  

[Kowsauni]

Lyndon Araethos

From the back of his tall horse, Lyndon would respond to Twyla's question. "It is a large, spherical organ towards the center of the creature. It will look like sort of like a gnarled ball of roots with a faint glow to it. Those with the aptitude will sense a strong magical aura radiating from it." Lyndon would go to muse on a little further. "It's quite fascinating, really. The magical life energy is so concentrated in that organ that it warps and animates the plant life around it. Even now after the creature's death, the grass around it is still reacting to it. These dragon plants are only found in one place in the world--an ancient forest grown up around the ruins of a civilization. Perhaps they created them, but for what purpose no one knows."

As Kuori cuts open the dragon plant, she realizes it is unlike any other terrestrial creature she had butchered before. However, after some searching, she does find an organ in the creature that matches Lyndon's description. It was quite large and looked to weigh around ten pounds.  

[Mongooseh]

"Their purpose seems to be to to try and kill Revenge here." Valac snarkily retorted as he kept an eye on the surrounding tree line for the unaccounted dragon plant.  

[PupSage]

Kuori would set to removing the organ before saying, "Lets get out of here."  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla sheathed Tinsel gratefully and stood up. She felt a bit lightheaded and tried not to think about what blood she'd lost--but she hadn't lost any friends today, and that was what mattered. Still, she wasn't looking forward to the walk back to the manor; it was hard to keep up with the others with her short legs, and she was exhausted from the fight on top of that. Nevertheless, no good bard ever let his or her own troubles weigh heavy on the party.

"All right," Twyla sang, "let's head on out! That was some really amazing work you all did, with the shooting and the slashing and the shielding! And now that we've done it, we get to go back home!"

She put on her best cheery smile, and set to follow Lyndon's horse as best she could.  

[Kowsauni]

Lyndon Araethos

Once Kuori removed the organ and everyone seemed ready to leave Lyndon leads the group out of the forest back into the gardens surrounding the Manor. He comes to stop at a gazebo surrounded by flowers. "We may rest here if you would like to recover a bit before returning to the manor. Otherwise, we can continue on, its about a ten minute walk from here."

((Please state whether you are taking a short rest or not. If no one wishes to take a short rest Lyndon will continue on to the manor house))