Session 6: Wheedwhacking Wonderland
We're going to level up before actually starting the boss fight!
Rutana starts the battle off by setting her sword on fire and hacking away at the boss for 11 damage.
Clarence follows up by clawing at it then raising his shield.
The pitcher plant screeched, summoned three plant zombies, then started spraying pollen at Clarence and the Sprite. They both find themselves Fascinated with the yellow musk creeper. One of the zombies sidles up to Clarence's flank and punches him right in the noggin. The zombie grabs Clarence, breaking him free of his Fascination.
Another zombie tries to go after Sartorii, but trips and falls into the rosebush behind her instead.
The Sprite fires Magic Missiles at everything in sight; 2 damage for a zombie, 4 damage for another zombie, and 5 for the boss.
Clarence claws straight through the zombie that was grabbing him. One zombie down! With that weight lifted from his shoulder, he turns to face the yellow musk creeper. Its eye stalks all swivel toward Clarence, who leaps onto the plant and shreds it to ribbons.
(Crystal: "To shreds, you say?")
The zombies that were attacking the party all flump over and swiftly decompose.
Throughout all of Greenwall a ubiquitous cry of agony resounds and dust rises into the air like a wall of flame.
In the distance, the vines enshrouding the buildings and blocking the exits all begin to rot. The only house still in any way green is the mayor's house.
Clarence even coughs up the seed that was inside him, which crumbles to dust the moment it hits the air!
The party decides to start with the school, check on the kids and Sadie, then make their rounds counter-clockwise. Rutana and the Sprite both knock on the door, because it's funny.
Gniss opens the door, wary. Rutana informs her that we killed the source, all the plants should be dead, and also her husband is a live and we're lying liars. Gniss is trying very hard not to cry.
One of the kids grabs Clarence's tail and exclaims, "Kitty!"
The party moves on to visit that first lady they'd encountered. A surprising amount of people are peeking out their doors, coughing and wrapped in blankets.
The woman who they'd seen ill too is venturing outside.
Rutana starts asking for names, taking a census of who survived. A man in a duvet is rather alarmed at this.
The Sprite writes down the one name they get, but Rutana decides nevermind there's a lot more people who survived than we expected.
Only a couple houses collapsed, and those seem to be the only real casualties.
Onwards to Glory's Hole!
By the time the party arrives, the bar is plenty lively with tearful reunions. Gniss latched onto her husband and Glory, kids with their families, impatient kids still alone.
Glory frees herself from Gniss and scoots over to the party.
Sartorii brings up that the party doesn't actually know where Willum got off to. Glory wonders if he might not be their problem anymore, but the party states they can alert the apothecary guild back in New Stetman.
The Sprite then whips out his shopping list!
Plants we need to get:
Willow Sapling
Camphor Sapling
Mint Sprig
Aloe Plant
Poppy Seeds
Sadie is taken aback. The great saviors who freed the town from this menace is here for...a shopping trip?
Clarence has his excuse, he showed up after the fact.
After being informed they're on a quest to replenish New Stetman's garden, Sadie agrees to sift through the ruins of the apothecary. If Alfred has also died, then she's the highest-ranking apothecary left.
The Sprite hands over the shopping list.
The question of cheese for the mayor comes up. Bertrandd offers some cheese for one gold piece. The party decides to forage for cheese on the way.
Rutana believes cheese never existed.
Sartorii found a whole goddamn wheel.
Onward to the mayor's house!
The building is covered in ivy and sickly vines.
Sartorii knocks on the door. The mayor greets the party from within. He states he's been stuck inside by ivy blocking the door. Sartorii and Clarence free the door.
Within, the mayor is still sitting in his rocking chair. His left eye is closed, but there is no more bloom, and he is no longer connected to the floor. A fire crackles happily in the hearth. Mayor Algernon suggest the party go downstairs to meet his son, then inquires about the cheese. Sartorii presents the wholeass cheese wheel.
Trepidatious, the party heads down to the basement.
The ivy from otuside has grown into the basement. As the party descends, Clarence sees a piece of ivy peel away from the wall, pulled taut. It comes all the way off the wall and flops onto the stairs.
Sartorii calls out for Albert, who peeks his head out from the corner. He was pulling the ivy off the wall.
Clarence carefully steps over the discarded ivy and continues.
Albert appears around 25. Squat, short hair, glasses, huge nerd, probably a McElroy. His mom is down there, too!
Albert muses, the only thing the Sylpheum cares about now is the plant he found and what it's done to him. It is likely that Willum has his sights set on something more populous.
Albert hands the party a very precise sketch of that six-leafed plant. After some terrible suggestions by the party, Albert names it......Algholthu Flavus! Or, the Alghol Flower.
Albert opens his room to reveal some floppy vines and something that looks like unripe eggplant. He brushes his hand through his hair, and he looks vaguely green. He'd been growing a smaller, mutated version of Willum's plant, fed on positive energy and on Albert himself. Before it can fully bloom, Willum's did first. The plant protected his home, but Albert and his mom are permanently part plant, now.
The whole time, Albert was drifting as if in a dream. He grew, photosynthesized.
His mom had gone to check in on him, but got drawn in. The eggplants are them, now. Their hearts.
Albert decides to call himself and his mom Dryads now.
His mother is like Mother Gothel if her vibes weren't rancid. Mature, curly black hair, does self care, exudes friendliness. She's a wine mom now.
When the party describes what happened to the fountain, Albert goes on a nerd rant about salinity in dirt.
Albert becomes concerned when he hears the party got Willum's journal, asking if they had found another book, too. But the party only got the one, so it seems Willum might still have the tome he had received from that merchant.
The Herba Triocculi Libre. The Book of the Three-Eyed Flower.
When the group is ready to leave, Sartorii mentions the cheese. Albert is crestfallen; his father is lactose intolerant!!
Cue family reunion, Algernon had consumed Far Too Much Cheese as his first meal as a new man.
The party returns to Glory's Hole.
Most people already returned home. There are only two kids left. Sadie sits at a far table with two tree saplings in pots and three rather full bags. She also hands the party a sack full of coin and other jingly objects. If anyone asks where the 100 gold pieces went, Sadie will tell them the coin was lost to the earth.
Rutana drives the cart into town for the party to load up with their goods.
The party finds an inn to stay the night.