Surraruthru's Tree (Surraruthru)

[Anastasia]

You quickly look around and fortune favors you. Not far from the riverbank is a recessed cave - perhaps 20ft deep and 10ft wide. It's not spacious for that many people, but it should keep you out of the rain mostly.

[Iron Dragoon]

"There, a cave. Should be big enough, let's go."

Surraruthru leads the way into the cave, pulling out his portable hole and sticking on the back wall to extend the space a bit more for general comfort of everyone.

[Anastasia]

Everyone gets in quickly, the winds starting to pick up.

"It should do," Pearwood stays, kneeling by the entrance and placing his hand down. Sharp, thorny vines emerge from the ground, weaving a vine lattice over the entrance. "This will keep the rain out but let air in."

"Hmph," Simmer glares balefully outside, "The only good rain is lava rain on Fire." She pointedly turns and faces the portable hole rather than the thorn wall.

"Oh, don't be like that. I'm sure the storm had no idea that you were here. It's just bad luck." Kascha smiles gamely, "If a tornado or other threat comes, we'll have to evacuate a ways back with teleportation. Does that happen with these storms?"

"Sometimes," Pearwood sits down, "Sometimes there's storm elementals lured to this plane by the storms and they make trouble as well."

[Iron Dragoon]

"It's unfortunate luck, but we've been fairly fortunate on this trip so far, I think. A bit of a nap won't hurt much."

[Anastasia]

"As you like," Kascha says, as Simmer grumbles.

Plan is to try and rest through the storm?

[Iron Dragoon]

Dunno about rest, but relax, yeah. I shouldn't need sleep yet, I guess, but if I doze I won't fight it.

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d100
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 53 > [d100=53]

Sleep sure isn't happening. The pounding of rain? That's one thing. The constant crash of thunder and flash of lightning is another. A storm rages outside, the temperature dropping rapidly as rain pours down onto the endless forests of this realm.

"What a storm," Kascha murmurs, "It really is fierce."

"No sign of hail or tornadoes yet," Pearwood says, "Keep your fingers crossed."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Hmm. Pearwood, would you be able to provide some wood for a fire? We can build it further back and get warmer."

[Anastasia]

"Not without it being more trouble than it's worth," Pearwood says, eyes ahead on the barrier of thorns, as if peering through it.

"None of should be that bothered anyway thanks to Surraruthru's energy absorption spell," Kascha chimes in, "Not even Simmer."

[Iron Dragoon]

Surraruthru nods and curls up a bit to get comfortable.

[Anastasia]

Time passes. Less than an hour you think, perhaps? It's hard to tell as you let time go by. There's little conversation thanks to the thunder and rain drowning out anything but near-shouts. Nonetheless, it eventually slows and stops.

"It's over," Pearwood says, going to the wall and tapping it thrice. It retreats back into the ground, a drenched forest now revealed. Branches litter the ground all over and you see at least one tree has been knocked aside. It would be in your path if you couldn't just fly over it.

"No sign of nearby forest fires from the lightning. Let's go." Pearwood says, already taking to the air.

Simmer follows in a hurry, "I can only hope there's some ahead."

This gets your guide to glance back and down at Simmer, "You're the queerest dryad I've ever met."

"A good burning sorts out your priorities, if you survive it," Simmer smiles slightly as she follows. "Makes you realize what's important and what isn't. Most of the things normal dryads worry about aren't that important."

[Iron Dragoon]

"At least, not as important as a good fire in the right place at the right time."

Surraruthru tosses in as he packs away the portable hole.

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d100
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 84 > [d100=84]

From here several more hours of travel pass. The party breaks for a quick meal and rest around what should be noon, but who can tell in this realm of eterntal sunset. Hours after that - one moment you're flying beneath the sunset and the next you are immersed in pure, radiant moonlight. The moon shines in the night sky, joined by hundreds of stars gleaming bright. All around is a pitch black forest, save where the light of the moon penetrates the thick canopy, little pillars of light amid absolute shadow.  The air is cooler and crisp, like a fine and cold fall day.

"Here we are," Pearwood announces, "Karasuthra."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Excellent. Thank you for getting us here. Any idea how to find the specific tree?"

[Anastasia]

"I take you to the Grove of Plenty," The druid replies, "There you'll be able to find your tree."