84: Two evils are even

[Ebiris]

[13:30] <@Ebiris> The strange hallucination-inducing plant is rent asunder and left to rot on the valley floor where it will surely feed the next growth. Knowing what to look for, a few others like it are seen spread throughout the valley, though fortunately none on a direct course for the tree that has been set as goal by the foursome plus Myra. It's getting closer, at least, perhaps another ten minutes of walking through the long grass and rich flowerings before it can be reached...
[13:30] * Natsuki is now known as Rudy
[13:32] * @Henrietta decides to cast Heroism upon herself, just in case. There is no need to be conservative with her magic at this point.
[13:35] <@Lucie> "Hopefully we killed enough on the way here that she'll be favorably impressed with us already," Lucie says. But just in case, she summons a magical shield to augment her usual armor. (OOC: Shield of Faith because why not, got spells to burn)
[13:35] <@Rudy> Rudy pads through the grass quietly, no longer enamored by the pretty surroundings and on alert. "Or maybe she'll be really mad at us because of that," he mutters.
[13:36] <@Ebiris> "No, Illie did say that she liked people that could prove their right to live, and that's sure what we're doing," Liamae insists as she trails behind Rudy.
[13:36] <@Henrietta> "Yes, I have to agree with that," Henrietta voices, nodding at Liamae's words.
[13:38] * @Lucie walks up to examine the tree! Maybe this time the owner isn't sleeping through the winter since this valley is decidedly more verdant than the surrounding countryside?
[13:41] <@Ebiris> Continuing to approach the tree and getting steadily closer, the group passes through an area of grass suffused with tiny violet and red blossoms cutting a wide swath ahead and adding to the riotous colour of the valley...
[13:41] <@Ebiris> OOC: will saves, all
[13:41] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+12 at last
[13:41] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+12 at last and gets 16." [1d20=4]
[13:42] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+5 Liamae
[13:42] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+5 Liamae and gets 8." [1d20=3]
[13:43] <@Rudy> roll 1d20+10 r
[13:43] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+10 r and gets 14." [1d20=4]
[13:43] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+10
[13:43] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+10 and gets 15." [1d20=5]
[13:43] <@Rudy> roll 1d20+5 m (+2 vs. enchant)
[13:43] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+5 m (+2 vs. enchant) and gets 19." [1d20=14]
[13:45] <@Henrietta> OOC: 19 vs sleep
[13:46] <@Ebiris> Everyone starts to feel faintly drowsy after walking a few feet through these flowers, and Liamae seems to feel it most of all as she lets out a funny little moan that almost becomes a yawn before slumping face down in the foliage.
[13:46] <@Rudy> "O-oi, Liamae," stutters rudy, moving forward to catch her as she drops.
[13:48] <@Ebiris> Falling bonelessly against him, Liamae feels surprisingly heavy, slumbering blissfully. At her feet and legs the flower vines start to shift and move, slowly starting to wrap around her legs and climb up her waist.
[13:49] <@Lucie> "Good bet we don't wake up again if we all fall asleep here," Lucie says, stifling a yawn. Drawing Illie's knife, she steps forward to cut free any vines trying to claim Liamae.
[13:49] * @Henrietta taps Rudy's shoulder as she casts Fly upon him. "Get her past these flowers once Lucie's done!" Henrietta calls out to him.
[13:49] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20
[13:49] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20 and gets 11." [1d20=11]
[13:50] <@Rudy> "Yeah. Creative plants, huh?" mutters Rudy, starting to drag Liamae away. A task made easier by virtue of being able to fly, but harder on account of his slight frame!
[13:50] <@Ebiris> As soon as Lucie cuts through the first vine, a strange high pitched noise that's barely heard at all pings at everyone's ears before the vines slowly recede not just from Liamae but from the entire group, leaving a path clear but for long and uncomfortably sharp grass ahead.
[13:51] * @Henrietta casts Fly upon herself as well and then offers Lucie her hand. "I can fly the two of us across, while Rudy helps Liamae?" she offers.
[13:52] * @Lucie nods!
[13:52] <@Rudy> "I think this is an invitation," notes Rudy, glancing at the path ahead, and floating down it, Liamae in tow.
[13:52] <@Lucie> "Don't much like the look of that grass either," Lucie adds.
[13:53] * @Henrietta flies down that path alongside Rudy.
[13:55] <@Ebiris> Liamae remains blissfully asleep the whole time as she's carried along like a princess above the earth.
[13:58] <@Lucie> "Hey Rudy, pinch her or something, willya?" Lucie says once on the other side. "Can't be hauling her around forever."
[13:59] <@Henrietta> "Yes, it would be terrible dangerous," Henrietta agrees, before calling out, "Is anyone here?"
[13:59] <@Rudy> "It's actually taking all my strength just to hold her," grunts Rudy, shaking Liamae back and forth a little.
[14:00] <@Ebiris> A bit of shaking does the trick and Liamae blinks sleepily. "Huh? What happened?" she asks, reaching up to rub her eyes and looking up at Rudy and then down at Lucie.
[14:01] <@Henrietta> "Those flowers put you to sleep, but you are quite alright now!"
[14:01] <@Lucie> "Yeah, have to swing around those on the way back."
[14:01] <@Rudy> "Next time you fall asleep like that, I'll kiss you awake instead~"
[14:02] <@Ebiris> "Oh yeah... Gods, she's got everything here, doesn't she?" the sorceress chuckles before giving Rudy a coy look, "Just make sure it's on the lips, Mister!"
[14:04] <@Rudy> "Of course!" Rudy lifts his head, to focus on their destination. "These'd make a nice way to protect your house, huh? Have a bunch of these things in the front lawn, and anyone who comes by..."
[14:04] <@Henrietta> "I think you would stop getting visitors pretty quickly...."
[14:05] <@Lucie> "Pretty much what they are already," Lucie adds, floating onwards.
[14:05] <@Ebiris> "Unless they were really determined. Anyway, hey, can you let me down? I think I can walk, now."
[14:06] * @Henrietta glances at Lucie. "How about yourself?"
[14:06] <@Rudy> "Mmhmm." Rudy obliges, dropping Liamae on the same ground that Myra already walks upon.
[14:07] * @Lucie looks back at Henri. "What about me now?"
[14:08] <@Henrietta> "Would you like to walk the rest of the way?"
[14:08] <@Lucie> "Should I?" Lucie asks, evidently seeing no obvious reason to do so.
[14:10] * @Henrietta shrugs, and then continues to fly onwards. The dryad has to be somewhere near, so it is a matter of finding her.
[14:13] <@Ebiris> Aside from long and sharp grass scraping and scratching uncofmortably at legs and hands on the part of Liamae and Myra, the journey to the tree is uninterrupted for the remainder, and five minutes later with the twisted dark trunk covered in thick white blossoms and a few long flexible branches crowning its top lies just fifty feet ahead. Liamae takes the time to cast shield on herself.
[14:14] <@Henrietta> "We came this way, so, umm, should this not be enough?"
[14:15] <@Rudy> "Think we just go up and knock?" asks Rudy, wryly.
[14:16] * @Lucie disengages herself from her valet and casts another shield spell. Again, just in case. "Might as well," she says. "Doesn't look like the friendliest tree though, does it?"
[14:16] <@Henrietta> "Maybe Myra could knock, then?"
[14:17] <@Lucie> "Myra wasn't happy 'round the last dryad tree, was she?" Lucie recalls. She shrugs and walks up to the tree, as always watching for any inappropriately mobile flora.
[14:17] <@Rudy> "We're trying to make friends, here," points out Rudy. "Hello! Anyone home?"
[14:19] <@Ebiris> OOC: roll spot, Lucie?
[14:19] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+16
[14:19] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+16 and gets 21." [1d20=5]
[14:21] <@Ebiris> No one responds to Rudy's call, whereas Lucie gets an uncomfortably close look at some mobile flora as the tree she's approaching suddenly twists and bends towards her, its bark tearing open to reveal a massive jagged mouth while branches flail at her to drag her inside!
[14:21] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+17 flat footed AC?
[14:21] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+17 flat footed AC? and gets 31." [1d20=14]
[14:21] <@Lucie> OOC: way lower than that
[14:22] <@Ebiris> roll 2d6+11 damage
[14:22] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 2d6+11 damage and gets 18." [2d6=5, 2]
[14:22] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+25 CMD Lucie?
[14:22] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+25 CMD Lucie? and gets 42." [1d20=17]
[14:22] <@Lucie> OOC: way lower than that!
[14:23] <@Ebiris> Lucie is grabbed and pulled into the tree's gaping maw that bites down fiercely upon her once she's captured, trunk partway sealing up around her as she's confined within, just a glimpse of her seen through the gap by her comrades!
[14:23] <@Ebiris> OOC: init
[14:23] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+7
[14:23] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+8 well shit man
[14:23] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+7 and gets 17." [1d20=10]
[14:23] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+8 well shit man and gets 23." [1d20=15]
[14:24] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+4 tree
[14:24] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+4 tree and gets 5." [1d20=1]
[14:24] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+10 ???
[14:24] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+10 ??? and gets 24." [1d20=14]
[14:24] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+3 Liamae
[14:24] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+3 Liamae and gets 20." [1d20=17]
[14:25] <@Rudy> roll 1d20+6 bad ideas?
[14:25] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+6 bad ideas? and gets 18." [1d20=12]
[14:25] <@Rudy> roll 1d20+6 bad ideas, myra version
[14:25] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+6 bad ideas, myra version and gets 10." [1d20=4]
[14:26] <@Henrietta> "Tarlari!" Henrietta calls out, aghast. "If you can hear me, please stop this! Illie really needs your help, and we do not have time for this. She might die!"
[14:27] * Ebiris changes topic to '??? > Lucie > Liamae > Rudy > Henrietta > Myra > Tree'
[14:31] <@Ebiris> Amazingly, Henrietta's call is answered! Forming out of nearby undergrowth off to the side between the remaining party and the tree, a woman appears! Unlike Illie she's not nude, this shapely maiden with skin of velvety moss and lurid green grass for hair clothes herself in lichen and sweet smelling flowers of various bright colours. Her long root-like fingers brush against the grass as all around her the growth grows more wild and blooms into vivacious life within seconds, a profusion of life to mark her step that follows her as she steps closer. But her eyes are hard, blood red and blank, they stare at Henrietta. "You have my attention, defiled one. Speak quickly and true, for I won't stay my hand long for the company you keep." Nonetheless she gestures to the tree and it stills, holding Lucie but nothing more.
[14:31] <@Ebiris> OOC: Henri since this'll be more than talking as a free action grants, you can explain shit on your turn. So can other people on theirs!
[14:31] <@Ebiris> OOC: regardless, Lucie
[14:32] * Retrieving #dunes modes...
[14:32] * Ebiris changes topic to 'Tarlari > Lucie > Liamae > Rudy > Henrietta > Myra > Tree'
[14:34] -> *Rudy* Myra wants to kill this thing so bad you can taste it. She wants to rip it to pieces and tear out its spleen and feel it die and wither under her claws.
[14:34] <@Lucie> Lucie has plenty of disdainful queries as to what precisely makes anyone in the group bad company from the perspective of a mad dryad, but at the moment it's somewhat more important to pry herself free from the tree while she has a chance!
[14:34] <@Ebiris> OOC: make a CMB check?
[14:34] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+9 CMB, not likely to work but may as well try
[14:34] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+9 CMB, not likely to work but may as well try and gets 18." [1d20=9]
[14:35] <@Ebiris> Lucie struggles and wriggles but the gap is too narrow, and the tree isn't yielding any!
[14:35] <@Ebiris> Liamae holds herself back for the moment, looking worriedly at Henrietta and then at the tree but doesn't cast anything.
[14:35] <@Ebiris> OOC: Rudy
[14:37] <@Rudy> "Hey! Hey. Okay. We come in peace! We really do!" insists Rudy. "Myra, back! Go back, away!" he demands, attempting to dismiss her. "We're don't want to fight, but we're prepared to! Just hear us out."
[14:38] <@Ebiris> Myra snarls viciously and for a second it feels as if she might fight Rudy's command andn try to stay, but it passes and he manages to assert his control enough to vanish the outsider.
[14:38] * Ebiris changes topic to 'Tarlari > Lucie > Liamae > Rudy > Henrietta > Tree'
[14:41] <@Henrietta> "A rock will be falling from the sky," Henrietta says hurriedly, "within the next few days. It will hit just off the side of the lake, where Illie's tree is." She gestures towards Liamae with a shaking hand. "Liamae knows all about it and has been tracking the rock's progress. She can tell you more about why it is coming and how she knows where it will hit and when. All I can say myself is that
[14:41] <@Henrietta> Illie is defenseless, but she believes that if you helped myself, Silke and Hypathiae, then she will no longer be defenseless and could, umm, protect herself! And, and, she also said that what deserves to live will live, so since we made it all the way towards you then we should count as well! Definitely!"
[14:42] <@Ebiris> OOC: diplo check, Henri
[14:42] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+17+2
[14:42] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+17+2 and gets 33." [1d20=14]
[14:48] <@Ebiris> Another gesture from the fey and the great tree opens up its maw, providing room for Lucie to escape if she wishes and otherwise remaining perfectly still. "I believe you," Tarlari nods at length. "Though why Illie trusted those who walk with an abomination I must ask her... I would have killed you all for daring to soil my kingdom with such filth, but for now I will hear you," she relents, turning her eerie gaze towards Liamae.
[14:48] <@Ebiris> "Right!" the dark-skinned sorceress nods briskly, "I've been using a thing called a telescope that lets me see far away, to better see the stars and the planets. It was months ago when a new star appeared, and moved across the sky. By determining its course, I worked it would hit Athnas, and in this particular part of the world, too. There's only a few days left before it strikes somewhere in the area just east of Illie's grove - I don't think it's huge, but it's big enough to destroy or bury her grove unless it lands as far away as possible from it."
[14:50] <@Henrietta> "And if we all work together, we could protect Illie and her grove! But we absolutely need you for that, or it will all fail! So please, help her! You are friends, are you not?"
[14:50] * @Lucie stumbles out of the tree and casts upon it a vicious glare (instead of all the violent magic she would like to cast on it from a safe distance), letting the others speak for now.
[14:51] <@Ebiris> "We are," she concedes. "Very well, I will visit Illie and attend to her safety. And I grant you all safe passage out of my valley. But in return I demand a boon from one of you," she turns her imperious glare towards Rudy.
[14:52] <@Rudy> "We have to pay? For you to help save your friends life?" asks Rudy, sounding faintly incredulous.
[14:54] <@Ebiris> "Believe me, I am doing you a great service in saving you from your own foolishness," she responds haughtily, striding closer and leaving a trail of bountiful blooming plantlife behind her. "I demand you swear to me never to summon such an abomination as you brought into my kingdom again. Your life will be longer and more blessed for it, I promise."
[15:00] <@Rudy> "Hang on. She doesn't hurt me, never has," replies Rudy, after a moment. Just agreeing unilaterally would be totally unbelievable, he thinks. "Only things I point her at. So what is the harm? I get that you and her, you aren't gonna get on, and I understand that well enough."
[15:05] <@Ebiris> "She brings a sickness into the world, whether cloaked in benevolence or mere obedience matters not," Tarlari shakes her head, "Ask yourself what sort of realm could spawn a creature such as she. And know that every time she steps forth into this world, she brings a part of hers with her. Once, twice, a dozen... it's no great thing, only perceived by those bound to the world instead of merely treading upon it. But it builds up, little by little, day by day... until one day this world is no longer one so friendly to the sort of life it originally birthed."
[15:06] * @Henrietta gives Rudy a contemplative look.
[15:08] <@Rudy> Rudy frowns. "I'm not gonna promise never to summon anything again," he says, after a moment. "'cos I'll do what I need to to survive. You understand that instinct, right? Someone comes at me, I can only use what I've got." He shrugs. "I just won't go looking for trouble, or keep her around for no reason. That's all. Deal?"
[15:08] <@Ebiris> OOC: diplo check, Rudy
[15:08] <@Rudy> roll 1d20+12
[15:08] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+12 and gets 28." [1d20=16]
[15:12] <@Ebiris> Her smooth face wrinkles minutely into a frown, but she says, "I cannot force you, much as I would like to. And nor shall I kill you when you have brought news of such import. But should I see you in such a things company again, I will not stay my hand." Stepping backwards, she sinks into the undergrowth, her body seeming to fall apart and blow away like dust on the wind as she begins to vanish. "The way is clear, go now," she bids as her last words before disappearing, the trail of overgrown grass and flowers the only mark of her presence having been here.
[15:13] <@Ebiris> "Really should've remembered that before bringing Myra along," Liamae mutters in annoyance after the fey has departed.
[15:13] <@Henrietta> "Thank you!" Henrietta calls after her, before nodding to herself. "We should hurry back ourselves in case we get delayed along the way?"
[15:13] * @Lucie doesn't need a second request to get moving back the way they came. Anything they have to say right now can surely better be said elsewhere!
[15:14] <@Rudy> "Yes, well," replies Rudy, falling in step. "If the wilderness wasn't so damn threatening, I wouldn't need to, right?"
[15:15] <@Ebiris> It's a much quicker journey back than it was to get here, the grass seeming softer and less jaggy, and animate plants steering well clear of the foursome as they ascend out of the valley and past the screen of trees at its edge. Unfortunately this allows the cold weather to dominate once more, chilling to the bone after being in such warmth before. On the plus side, Lucie's allergies have abated without anything to inflame them anymore.
[15:16] <@Rudy> "Should I actually worry about that?" asks Rudy, as they leave the valley. "I mean... I don't know," he admits, glancing between Henri and Liamae. "It feels like she kind of has a point."
[15:17] <@Henrietta> "I am not certain I could talk myself, well, apparently being defiled and all," Henrietta says gloomily.
[15:17] <@Lucie> "Myra's grotesque," Lucie concedes. "But I don't much credit the word of someone tried to have a tree eat me alive."
[15:17] <@Ebiris> "She probably does," Liamae admits, "It's likely unnoticable to us who live in spans of decades, but she's lived centuries, perhaps she's even noticed changes in the world since people mastered the magic of summoning?"
[15:18] <@Rudy> "Wow. We're all happy little bringers of woe and misery, aren't we?" remarks Rudy, glancing back and forth from Henri to Lucie. "I always thought of myself as such a positive force, too!"
[15:18] <@Lucie> "She lives out in the middle of nowhere and doesn't get much in the way of visitors or news, I figure," Lucie says. "Don't know how much I can really credit her opinion on these things."
[15:20] <@Henrietta> "It is because, well, because adventuring can be suffering," Henrietta tells Rudy sagely.
[15:21] <@Ebiris> "Adventuring's fun and exciting!" Liamae objects, "We save other people - who don't adventure - from their suffering!"
[15:21] <@Rudy> "We get stabbed! With swords!"
[15:21] <@Lucie> "And usually get paid for it," Lucie interjects. "Makes a lot of things more worthwhile."
[15:22] <@Ebiris> "Well yeah," Liamae self-consciously rubs the glaring scar marring her pretty face, "But nothing easy's worth doing, right?"
[15:22] <@Henrietta> "Adventuring can be very rewarding, of course! But it is still filled with suffering and misery."
[15:23] <@Rudy> "There, there," says Rudy, awkwardly patting Henri on the shoulder. "From what I heard, being a farmer is also filled with suffering and misery, and they don't get scads of gold in compensation."
[15:23] <@Lucie> "Yeah, well, that's life for most folk anyway," Lucie concludes.
[15:24] <@Ebiris> "Well, at least now we know we can blame all the suffering and misery on Myra!" Liamae blurts out with a grin.
[15:26] <@Rudy> "Yes! Let's do that," agrees Rudy, with a nod. "And as long as we use our evil powers for good reasons, everything will fine in the end!"
[15:27] <@Henrietta> "So should I use my evil powers on evil people, it all evens out?"