Session 4: What the Fuuuuuuu
Notable this session:New party member!
A stray paladin walks down the road from the northeast, and comes across a wall of vines blocking the path. He claws through the vines and continues into the village.
(Bry describing some leaves that the paladin is seeing)
He notices a tree with perculiarly shaped leaves, a group of six unnaturally grouped together and cloned across the tree. The trunk is fleshy in lieu of bark. It wriggles, writhes, then bursts and a plant homunculus bursts out. While the plant beast is still getting its bearings, the paladin wisely skirts around it and ventures further into the village. He inspects the various buildings, finding no living beings, and soon spots a group of people walk into a schoolhouse. He quickly makes his way to the schoolhouse and is welcomed inside by Gniss.
The sprite immediately pokes his tail. Twice.
The party questions the paladin to ensure he's not infected, and Sartorii teaches a child the word jizz.
Rutana sends her bat Cortez to Niala with a message, so the story of Greenwall survives in case the party doesn't.
Meanwhile, the sprite crafts a mask for the paladin with a cute little kitty cat face stitched on the front.
The party leaves the schoolyard and heads for the merchant district. As they walk they notice the fountain at the center of town is running yellow, choked with pollen. It appears similar to the pollen-choked river, from which fish sprouting vine legs walk onto land and die ashore.
Several buildings are covered in vines, but the mayor's home is oddly clean. The party--minus the sprite, who flapped too hard and bonked into the window--looks into the windows of the mayor's house. Against one wall is a large flower akin to that which the sylpheum sprouted into.
The party enters the mayor's manor with the paladin taking lead. The room feels humid and cloying. Rutana immediately shifts into fox form. The sprite picks the most inopportune time to ask the paladin what his name is. He introduces himself as Clarence of the Front Yard.
As they speak, a cough sounds from a corner, and a voice asks who is there. In a rocking chair sits a wide man, dressed in nightclothes and bearing a walrus mustache. Vines rise from the floor, coiling around the rocking chair and merging into the man. A vine pierces into his ear, and one of his eyes is entirely green.
The man introduces himself as Algernon.
Algernon provides exposition! Willum had gone out on expedition, and returned with a book raving about a panacea, miracle cure it contained. He was stark-raving mad about it! Happy! Then he showed up less and less over the next couple weeks. The mayor's son, a Willow-ranked apothecary, assisted Willum, but eventually came home ill. The next morning, the son was vines. The mayor never opened the door. Hise wife went in, though.
Willum arrived four days later and allowed mayor Algernon to join with his family, their minds conjoined. They can feel as far as their roots go, which is not too far past their own house.
Algernon's son believes everything is connected to one source sapling. If the sapling is destroyed, the rest of the plants should wither.
The sprite asks mayor Algernon if he has any last requests. The mayor requests cheese. Mayor Algernon also states there may be willow saplings in the apothecary's yard. He also offers his home as refuge should the party need rest.
The party leaves the manor to continue toward the merchant district.
Nothing happens on the way, but the sounds of combat emanate from a loose circle of mercantile tents.
The party finds another paladin, presumably Glory, in the midst of a group of plant monsters, hacking away at the beasts with a machete.
Sartorii clambers up a building and shoots at one of the plant monsters! The sprite eagerly shoots a gout of flame, but comes up short. It does get Glory's attention, however. Bolstered by the sight of other survivors, she hacks straight through the beast before her and breaks past the crowd. The plants beasts follow her, a couple getting some hits in and one grabbing her. The other half the crowd shambles toward Clarence, grabbing him too.
In stunning defiance of fate, really sticking it to the gods of luck, Rutana lights her sword on fire and stabs the beast clinging it to Clarence. The plant bursts into flame, the limbs wrapped around Clarence withering and falling away.
Sartorii and the sprite do not have such luck. Sartorii's next attempt at using her bow breaks it in half. The sprite still can't aim a flame for shit. Three for three for bad luck, Glory hits a hard piece of bark with her machete and the blade bounces right off and out of her grip. The plant beasts close in, making failed grabs at the party and moving into flanking positions.
Clarence and Rutana each take out one of the plant beasts around them. Sartorii leaps from her perch and lands rapier-first on a plant beast, nearly hacking it to pieces.
The sprite finally lands a hit, making up for all his misses by entirely incinerating the beast that had tried to grab him. Glory shoots down one more.
Despite the deaths, another plant beast fills the vacant spot and grabs the sprite. Clarence also gets clobbered and grabbed.
Sartorii chops up one of the two beasts grabbing the sprite. The sprite holds his hand directly in the remaining plant beast's face and burns it off, free of all grabs.
The beasts swarm over Clarence, but Rutana holds up an amulent and shields him from much of the damage. Clarence then swings at the beast holding him, slicing it cleanly in half. Rutana follows suit, bisecting the next nearest plant. Sartorii flanks the furthest plant, doing a little stabby stabby. The sprite sets the remaining plant on fire, and Glory finishes them both off.
Glory thanks the party and heals them, relieved that the outside world has at last sent help.
Unfortunately, there's no help coming.
Glory leads the party into a building where two dozen adults hide, six of whom are confined to cots with fever.
Gniss's husband is here and alive!
Sadie is here and alive, too!
Bertrandd is alive too!
Sadie is going to draw a map of the apothecary's offices.
With a new goal in mind, the session ends...
By the way the husband, Armin O'Duggin, is a baker.