Quest #6.5 "Escaping Camp Water Fall"

[Urson]

Aldo

Don' waste you time, Bonnie. Dis ting is jus' a people-eatin' monster. T'row whatever it is in yer pack dat smells so bad at it an' run.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Tree Thing Attacks: Round 3
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid

Since it seems that we are down to 2 players still actively posting in this thread, I am going to push this action along as quickly as possible to get the few players still interested in playing out of this current situation.

Keilif's limp body lays on the ground right where he fell, grey matter covers his robes as well as the surrounding area. Krystal and Ferris disappear into the jungle, content to get as far away from the evil wizard as possible. Their movement is hindered even further once they hit the thick undergrowth.

Bonnie is again able to snap enough of the vines and branches for her to escape the hold of the wicked tree. She moves far enough away to be out of the things reach this time, but does not run away like the others. Brufrig also breaks free of the things nasty grasp, snapping off entire branches as he heads towards Bonnie's position, still somewhat disorientated.

Wes's voice continues moving around from behind the safety of his quickly diminishing mists. He seems to be content casting another spell, though you haven't actually seen any of their effects since the vapors appeared. The soft jungle breezes now seem to be wreaking havoc on his foggy wall as it is slowly dissipating a bit faster then he would like.

Snake-Eye continues being really creepy, ignoring Bonnie's offer completely. "One down and....... let's see.....four to go? I told the boys I wouldn't need any help with the likes of you chumps, but I didn't think you were going to make it this easy for me." With that, he points his wand towards the last spot he heard Wes's voice and is just about to release another blast when Brufrig rushes the wizard with his makeshift weapon. Snake-Eye sees the dwarf charging in and diverts his attack. Another thin stream of sizzling energy shoots out of the wand tip and hits Brufrig square in his barrel chest. 12 dam The intense blow of magical energy knocks the dwarf completely off his feet. He lands on the ground with an audible thud that makes the tree monster gurgle out some horrible sounds that might be laughter.

Snake-Eye grins wickedly at the downed dwarf and then focuses his attentions towards the druids failing mists again. His expression suddenly turns from malice to confusion as he looks down at his side. The confused look is then quickly replaced by a sour milk face as he shouts out to Wes. "You son of a bitch! What have you done?" The faintest odor of burning straw or wood hits your noses shortly after his question.

Actions!

Waesfaren Rhey D2 14/16 2/4 first 0/3 second (Obs:5)
Ferris 6/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first
Krystal 4/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Keilif C2 -4/15 0/4 first (Unconscious)
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder F2 -2/15 (Unconscious)

[Jernau35]

Wes

The druid sends a prayer: Obad-Hai! This man has destroyed the jungle for miles around! He is a monster who deserves to feel your vengence! Send me your divine grace and power! I need them as I have never needed them before!

Then Wes casts his final spell at Snake Eye.

[Monsieur Rose]

Bonnie

As Brufrig falls, Bonnie looks around and takes stock. "Shh Aldo. I'm thinking."
The result of a direct assault has been made clear. Snake-Eye is not responding to her charms. As loathe as she is to leave people behind, Bonnie is a survivor.

Without a word, Bonnie fades into the underbrush, leaving the area.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Tree Thing Attacks: Round 4
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid

Seeing another one of his friends fall does not stop the druid from continuing this seemingly one-sided battle. The evil mage seems happy to press the attack as well, still completely unscathed, as bodies drop all around him. He checks the position of Bonnie before stowing his deadly wand back inside his robes and beginning the intricate motions of a new spell.

Bonnie is no fool. She can tell that Snake-Eye is not interested in parlay, despite her attempts to calm him with her natural charm. As soon as he turns his attention back on the druid, she slips into the nearby foliage and disappears into the heavy overgrowth. She can just barely hear the chained duo of Krystal and Ferris trying to run away to her left as she backs away, but she can no longer see either of them.

Wes casts another spell over his failing mist wall that seems to end at exactly the same time as the wizards spell. The plants, roots, and vines in the area around the mage start to writhe and twist, attempting to grasp at his feet and legs in order to hold him tight. At the same time, Snake-Eye passes his hand over the broom at his side as he finishes his casting. Instantly, the living vegetation around him stops growing and resumes its normalcy back to the jungle carpet. This makes the mage grin his wicked smile again, but only for a brief moment. It becomes apparent that his spell countered the entangling vines well enough, but didn't actually succeed with what it was intended to do.

Snake-Eye looks extremely pissed as he pulls the flying broom from his side and throws it to the ground. There is a black line on his robes where the barbed wire wrapped around the bristles had started to burn them. The smell of burnt wood increases as his wondrous magic item starts to smoke even more now. He calls out loudly in frustration to anyone who is still listening.

"THAT'S IT!!! I was going to let the worst of you join us if you were tough enough, but now you are ALL dead!!! With that, his hand goes back to the inside folds of his cloak.

Actions!

Waesfaren Rhey D2 14/16 1/4 first 0/3 second (Obs:3) (HM:2nd round)
Ferris 6/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first
Krystal 4/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Keilif C2 -4/15 0/4 first (Unconscious)
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder F2 -2/15 (Unconscious)

[Scott308]

Brufrig Granitesunder

The valiant dwarf lies still, his life quickly draining away.

Sorry I haven't posted lately, Rob. Brufrig did what I would have had him do anyway.

[Jernau35]

Wes

Wes realizes that it's only Obad-Hai's grace that has kept him alive so long. He decides to get out of range out Snake Eye's terrible wand. Wes retreats into the jungle, being sure to keep the cloud of mist between himself and Snake Eye at all times.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Tree Thing Attacks: Round 5
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid

As the final 2 remaining party members slip away from the horrible onslaught, Snake-Eye goes on a wild, psychotic rant.

"Hahahaha!!! Run Away! Run away little piggies!"

"Are you seriously going to just leave your buddies laying here? Dying in the dirt? Hmmmmmm.....I'm glad you weren't interested in joining us then, if this is how you treat your comrades in battle!"

"I am going to enjoy hunting you down, druid! You have proven yourself to be a worthy adversary against me. I was a little shocked by that! Nope! Didn't see that one coming! But what you don't know.......is that you have just destroyed a cherished family heirloom of mine! So now you're going to die!"

His voice sounds rather angry and you think you can hear him slamming his still smoking broom on the ground repeatedly.

"And then what about the sweet elven maiden? Where has she run off to, I wonder? Come out, come out wherever you are! There is so much more that needs to be done here! You really should reconsider my offer!"

"And don't worry about your friends here! I will make sure they are well cared for! Especially the dwarf! And I'm sure the boys will have all sorts of fun once we find the other elf bitch! Oh yes, good times indeed!"

He doesn't appear interested in following either of you into the jungle alone.

Individule actions will now move to the private threads.

Waesfaren Rhey D2 14/16 1/4 first 0/3 second (Obs:1) (HM:3rd round)
Ferris 6/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first
Krystal 4/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Keilif C2 -2/15 0/4 first (Unconscious)
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder F2 -2/15 (Unconscious)

[Scott308]

Brufrig Granitesunder

As the valiant dwarf's life drains into the dirt, his last conscious thought is, I hope someone pays for the candy and books I ordered and gives them to the children. I'm sorry, Sally. I've failed you.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Clearing of Death: Aftermath
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid

The scene in the clearing of the unfriendly tree is a grim one. Snake-Eye the deranged ships mage stands about 10 feet away from the regenerating form of Keilif the sea priest as he slowly sits up, wiping the grey slime from his face with his dirty robes.

Snake-Eye looks completely freaked out, ready to blast the spooky cleric again with his powerful wand that is pointed directly at him. "What the.........how the........." is all mage keeps saying.

Bonnie is there as well, tending to the fallen yet still breathing dwarf with a dagger in her gloved hand. She appears to have pulled him away from the reach of the slowly advancing monstrous tree and is currently taking the rope from off of his pack.

Ferris, Krystal, and Wes are nowhere to be seen.

Actions?

Waesfaren Rhey D2 14/16 1/4 first 0/3 second (alone in the jungle?)
Ferris 6/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first (missing)
Krystal 4/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first (missing)
Keilif C2 1/15 0/4 first
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder F2 -3/15 (Unconscious)

[Hotgoblin]

Keilif sits up and coughs grey phlegm-like matter from his throat as he wipes his eyes so he can see. If you thought he smelled sour before, his weird stench has not gotten any better. When he can finally speak again, he does.

Ok, ok! You win Snakeye! I have learned my lesson! I will join up with you if you stop shooting us with that damn wand!
I noticed that your crew is without a spiritual leader, am I right? Well, if you spare our lives, and the lives of our fleeing friends, I will join up with you as your crews new healer. I know you can’t so no to an offer like That! You guys do a lot of dirty work, right? I bet you could use a good healer on your crew. What would the captain say if he finds out you turned down an offer as good as this?

[Monsieur Rose]

Bonnie

"Ummm...nope. Just nope." Bonnie exclaims as she sees Keilif sit up and rejoin the headed. "What the hells is going on!"

She takes stock of the situation for a moment and comes to a decision. "I don't know about you, Snake Eye, but I'd like to get out of here. This...she gestures to Keilif,is not right."

"If that is you, Keilif, maybe you could try and heal Brufrig here? Just as a sign of good faith."

Bonnie starts backing away from Brufrig, the tree, Keilif, and the entire scene.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Clearing of Death: Aftermath
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid

Bonnie is slightly freaked out when she sees that Keilif is not only alive again, but somehow talking from a mouth that wasn't there just a short while ago. She stops attending to the downed dwarf and warns Snake-Eye that he better beware. She starts backing away from the entire strange scene, leaving Brufrig right where he is.

Snake-Eye begins to oblige her, still slowly backing away from the now reformed priest with his wand pointed straight at him. He looks like he is thinking about something when he finally speaks again.

"Does he have a magic ring on that allows him to regenerate? I could have sworn his head was just half blown off, but he seems fine now. I have seen this before, but the effect was never so sudden. How is this.....even....." He seems to think about it a bit longer before finishing.

"He does make a good point, though." He exclaims, to nobody in particular. "We could really use a good healer in our group, since I don't think Gurrim is ever really going to be one of us."

He speaks directly to the sour priest. "Can you function yet, priest? Can you stand? Walk? And what in the nine hells is that grey shit all over you, man?"

Actions?

Waesfaren Rhey D2 14/16 1/4 first 0/3 second (alone in the jungle?)
Ferris 6/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first (missing)
Krystal 4/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first (missing)
Keilif C2 1/15 0/4 first
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder F2 -3/15 (Unconscious)

[Hotgoblin]

Kelif looks down at the grey oil all over his robes and wipes himself off, although he licks the oil off his lips. I am fine, you both must be seeing things, if what you say happened, I’d be dead! He looks to the ground where the dwarf lays badly wounded... Kelif walks over to Brufrig, kneeling down next to him, bending his head down almost touching the dwarf’s ear, he cups his hand over Brufrig’s ear, quietly speaking to him as he shakes slightly.

[Monsieur Rose]

Bonnie

Stares in shock as Keilif gets up and walks over to Brufrig. Then he does that same creepy whispering thing Frannymonkey did to Keilif.

"I don't know who or what you are, but you're not Keilif. I don't even think you are Franny." She turns to Snake Eye. "That thing did that before, right before the monkey fell over dead." She urges Snake Eye to back away. "That isn't one of my friends, I think it's some kind of parasite. Even that tree didn't want any part of it."

Bonnie, still backing away, tries to call for help. "WES! KRYSTAL! FERRIS! ANYONE! WE NEED HELP!"

[OGRE MAGE]

The Clearing of Death: Aftermath
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid

With no response from the surrounding jungle to Bonnie's loud pleas, Snake-Eye seems confused at the elf's words initially.

"Hey! Hey! Stop your damn shouting out here! That is the best way to find something you don't want to find in this jungle."

The mage walks calmly over to Keilif and Brufrig, his wand still out and trained on the white faced sea priest. He watches the odd whispering from a few feet away, not risking getting any closer. He sees the obvious approach of the demented tree as well, now creeping rather close to the action. He points his wand in its direction and it suddenly stops its painfully slow approach again.

"I don't know, I think you're trying to tell me a bullshit story here. He seems ok to me. And we really could use a healer on our crew, even if he is a little weird. And we could definitely use some regeneration magic with the shit we get into!" The mage scratches his ugly stubbly chin for a few moments before making some commands.

"Lets get everyone out of here and away from that big leafy bastard so we can figure all of this out before we are eaten by insects. We can sort these oddities out once we get back to the safety of camp."

"Wighty! As the newest member of our crew, you get to drag the dwarf back for the boys to play with. Since it doesn't look like any of your other friends are going to come back, I will have the ogres find and recover them. Those big dumb bastards are so good at tracking after dark."

With that, the evil mage steers the group back towards the clearing, wanting to get back before it gets any later in the day.

Actions?

Waesfaren Rhey D2 14/16 1/4 first 0/3 second (alone in the jungle?)
Ferris 6/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first (missing)
Krystal 4/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first (missing)
Keilif C2 2/15 0/4 first
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder F2 -3/15 (Unconscious)

[Hotgoblin]

Kelif sneers at Snake-Eye, before doing what was instructed. He bends down and reaches behind his back, grabbing the dwarf by the feet. Ready......Bonnie it’s no use, the others have deserted us, just do as he says. He starts dragging the dwarf towards camp.

[Monsieur Rose]

Bonnie

Bonnie takes stock of her situation:

She's in a clearing with a sentient murderous tree, miles from anything.
One party member is down, three are missing.
She's alone with an evil wand toting mage and a creepy keilif monster.

Did I miss anything?

She could run into the jungle and take her chances there, or go along with the flow.

"Ok! Ok. Let's get the hell out of here. Any kind of civilization is better than here." She gathers up the rope and any other packs scattered about, including the ruined broom (if not already picked up).
"I'll guard the rear."

[OGRE MAGE]

The Clearing of Death: Aftermath
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Sundown, Hot, Humid, Buggy

Snake-Eye nods comfortably once all of his little piggy's fall in line again. He says nothing for the first hour of the trek back to camp, completely lost in his own thoughts. Once the group gets about half way back through the massive farmlands, he waves over two of his charmed ogres who keep the slaves in line. He speaks to them in their own guttural language, mostly for effect, before one of them quickly heads off in the direction you just came from. Watching him schmooze with the remaining jungle brute as if they were longtime friends is more than a little disturbing to see.

Dragging the mighty dwarf and all of his gear behind him, Keilif quickly tires from the laborious task. The sea priest stops with the others to see if there is any way to make the trip a little easier. He finds that the dwarf's condition has not improved, in fact, it appears that he has stopped breathing all together now. Keilif hangs his head when he sees this latest development, wondering if he will still need to keep dragging him back. The ogre eventually sidles over to Brufrig and grabs his lifeless form, tossing the dwarf over his shoulder like a big sack of potatoes.

Together the whole group continues with their march back to the slowly darkening waterfall camp just up ahead in the distance. Snake-Eye lets you know how things will work from here on.

"You will sleep in the cave under guard one more night. Then tomorrow, if the captain ever shows up, you will both be initiated into the gang. There isn't much in the way of fanfare, I'm afraid, but don't let things like that get you down. With this group, it is better to not raise too much attention to yourself. Boisterous behavior and vibrato usually doesn't go real far with these guys." He looks to the body of the dwarf again and just smiles when he remembers back to when your group first barged into the camp.

"There should be a lot more recruits coming in with the captain, so at least you two wont be all alone at the bottom, if you follow me. If you want some good advice, mind yourselves! The less attention you bring upon yourselves, the better. Once you have made a name for yourselves, you will feel better about fitting in."

"The captain will speak to you at length about how he likes things done. You will either obey........or you will end up like your dwarf buddy here."

Since there are no wandering monsters to deal with here, the rest of the journey will go by uneventfully. I wanted to pause anyway, in case either of you wanted to interject before getting back to camp.

Actions?

Keilif C2 2/15 0/4 first
Bonnie T2 4/9
Brufrig Granitesunder (Dead)

[Hotgoblin]

Kelif looks closely at Bonnie...You don’t want to end up like the dwarf, do you? So, go along with the Captain says, this is going to be our new way of life. Just try to fit in!