To the Roots [Complete]

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Orup grimaced. Where had that sword gone? There was no time, though. As the man fought off the plant, their advantage quickly began to fade. If it couldn't consume the larger man, it might just aim for something smaller. Orup didn't know a whole lot about carnivorous plants, but judging by the size of this thing he would've wagered it was hungry. The man needed to die, else both he and Rua would be caught between two foes, as if the one hadn't been bad enough. Crying out with a desperation in his voice, he called to his bodyguard that had just moved closer to him, "There's no time, Rua, kill him now!" Flipping his belt knife around in his hand, he lobbed the blade toward Rua, hilt first, hoping his bodyguard would have the dexterity to catch it. Certainly not the favored weapon of choice against a man of that size, but if he escaped the plant then even a sword would likely not stop him.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Rua snatched the belt knife out of the air as it was thrown to him, spinning it till it was point down in his hand. He pivoted around, torn cape sweeping out behind him, and charged back out of the tunnel, his other hand snatching up his hunting knife from his belt. He went full bore at his opponent and leaped, slamming hard into the man's chest as he struggled against the restricting vines.

The thug bellowed as the hunting knife sank deep into a pectoral. He dropped the vines in his hands and turned his attention to Rua, but before he could try and shake the mercenary off of him, Rua stabbed the belt knife into the man's chest, higher than the first. He cried out in pain even as he reached to grab Rua by the neck, but the battered warrior ripped his first knife out and stabbed again, then yet again with the other knife, like he was climbing a giant in a macabre fashion.

"You...!"

"Shut up," Rua snarled, yanking out his knife once more and jamming it right into the brute's throat. Eyes went wide in shock and pain, and any further words came out as a liquid sputter. His balance lost, the man tumbled back, and Rua rode out the fall, pulling both knives free and rolling away before the vines could entangle him as well.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Orup grimaced as the man brutally executed their common enemy. He had forgotten Rua still had a knife of his own, and he now regretted bloodying his own without necessity. He grimaced at his own thoughts; his greatest concern was the blood on his own knife? Had he no sensitivity to the loss of human life? Well, he could feel bad about himself later; right now his greater concern involved getting out of this room alive. The plant had quickly switched focus to the lifeless corpse of its prey, and all the roots in the room were stirring now as those feelers on the ends of the roots punctured the skin of the man. It wouldn't be long before it had absorbed any nutrients inside the human carcass for itself; Orup shuddered at the thought.

"Let's get out of here, boy, the end is just in sight," he said hurriedly. A passage just across from where they had come in was visible now without the hulking man to block it. If this signal ended up being important after all, this "sand wall" would be down that way, likely. The plant would be very close now, the alchemist was sure of it. Unfortunately for them, though, with all the commotion out here he suspected the other alchemist might know they were coming. It all came down to how close he was paying attention, and if he had stayed alive for this long... Well, no point trying to stop the inevitable.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

"Give me a moment," Rua breathed as he stood back up. Knowing it wouldn't be long before the adrenaline wore off and he'd feel his injuries in full, he pushed forward and wiped the two knives down before proceeding to the tunnel. There was no way he was going further without being properly armed--though if another person ended up using a Piece of Power against him, it might prove to be moot. He soon spotted the weapon lodged between a couple vines, and he pulled the weapon free easily enough, and also wiped it down before sheathing it.

By the time he got back to his employer he was beginning to ache. He knew that if they survived this trip through the lower cavern systems, he'll feel like hell in the morning. But now they just needed to focus on surviving, and he needed to ensure his employer remained in top health. "Let's hope the other alchemist has some supplies we can raid," he muttered as he checked his injuries over.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Orup shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Rua continuing the fight in his current state; he really should have brought some potions for something like this. Who would have thought this was where their little trip would lead them, though? The boy would just have to do the best he could. Orup doubted they would be able to survive another encounter like the last one even if Rua were in his best state. Watching the ground cautiously as he picked his way across the large room to the opposite tunnel, he spoke slowly, "I hope so as well. With any luck he'll have put most of his living security on the outside of this place, though I don't think he suspected it would be this dangerous even away from the central stem..." The alchemist trailed off, his rampant thoughts getting the best of his tongue. He was truly getting tired of all these questions and no answers, especially when they were just in sight. Doing his best to keep calm, he spoke with only slight exasperation, "Let's go!"

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Rua stopped his self-examination, deciding the majority of his wounds were superficial--he'd only need to worry about getting a concussion from the one strike to the head by his dead opponent's glaive. He took the lead from Orup, drawing his weapon and lantern once more--it'd do little good to lack readiness should they encounter anyone else in here.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

After leaving the large room, Orup and Rua did not have to look far before running into their next obstacle. Their current tunnel, linked directly to the room they had just left, held a low ceiling that even Orup in his short stature felt uncomfortable by. After a few seconds of walking, though, the tunnel increased in width and height. Expanding quite sharply, Orup stopped halfway through a step, nearly stumbling. The end of the tunnel was in sight, a simple wooden door clear opposite them. With all the roots bulging from underneath the door, some even coming through the walls to the side of it, it was clear the entrance to their goal was feet from them.

On their left though, the light of their lanterns rendered the surface unusual to say the least; sand? Probably just seeing things, though. "The end's in sight, boy, let's go."

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

"Wait," Rua said, holding up an arm to ward off Orup moving ahead. Seeing no enemies in sight, he tentatively sheathed his blade and raised his lantern to get a better look at their surroundings. As he surveyed the chamber, the light fell upon the materials of the left wall, resulting in a square patch in the wall two by two feet in dimensions, filled with what looked to be sand clinging to the wall. "This is where these crooks wanted that signal placed," he said.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

The alchemist grimaced as Rua stopped him; oh how close they were. He knew he had paid Rua quite sufficiently to keep him safe, but the man was relentless. The wall certainly looked like sand, though, so Orup regretfully allowed Rua to go with whatever he was running on about. "Fine, I suppose it is. What was the 'signal' again? A sword and a shield or something? If it's so important then just draw the damn thing and let's get going." Not that anything would happen, of course. What kind of trap could an alchemist set up? Would some empty vials fall down on their heads of they weren't careful enough? The thought was ridiculous, and Orup was just about done wasting his time with it, especially with the end so close in sight. If it made Rua less prickly, though, then let him have his fun. Orup would wait patiently for him to come to his senses.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

He approached the wall, ignoring both his employer's growing impatience as well as the throbbing that was beginning to pulse through his facial wounds, and used one finger to etch the symbol--two swords crossed together, their blades pointed upwards--into the sand wall. The grains gave way to his touch easily enough, as if it were a creek's wet bank. As he completed the shabbily-drawn symbol, a few moments passed without anything happening. "Sir, you should probably--"

The symbol suddenly glowed a bright yellow, pulsing once as an illusion began to dispel against the ground in front of an around the doorway leading into the plant's chambers. Turning to it, Rua could see something was quite amiss, and was suddenly glad he held Mepple back. He wasn't entirely sure what those red plantlife nestled between the roots were, but he was sure it wouldn't have been a pleasant discovery without the signal.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Exhaling slowly, Orup licked his now dry lips. Ember Seeds, and a lot of them. They could be very useful for concoctions and different brews, but if you put enough force onto them... He found himself grudgingly thankful that Rua had bothered with the signal. No need to tell the man that, though; he was probably rolling in the vindication as it was. "Well," he muttered, "I suppose that covers that. Don't step on these, Rua. They'll explode and light anything nearby on fire." There was a path that had been carved in a zig-zag through the field of seeds that lay before them, likely the way that was meant to be traveled. The thought of collecting as many as he could tempted him indeed, but who could know what else this other alchemist had thought up? Steeling himself for the perilous walk and whatever else might be before them, Orup waited for Rua to lead the way.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

"That's comforting to know," Rua replied to the alchemist, looking at the Ember Seeds much more warily now that he knew what they could do. He picked his way around the seeds carefully to make it to the path to the door, and silently drew his sword once more. "There should be one more person on the other side of this door, so I think he'll be surprised to see me."

At least he hoped so. More injuries would be troublesome.

The mercenary opened the door open with his left hand, leaning into it to open it at a rapid pace. Sure enough, there was someone else waiting, another person lounging against the wall on a stool. He made a double-take as he saw Rua rush in, seeing it was not one of his buddies, and quickly leaped to his feet. But his momentary surprise cost him dearly; and before he could get his own saber halfway drawn, Rua's longsword plunged into his chest, slipping through just under his ribcage and cutting through his intestines, its tip bursting out from his back. The thug froze up with the attack, and coughed raggedly as Rua yanked the weapon out, letting him fall back onto the ground.

"It's clear," he announced to Mepple in a regular tone as he cleaned his sword, so as not to alert anyone else in the chamber.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

The door that had been crammed into the tunnel to seal off this room had hidden quite a find, all things considered in the Western Caves. With ceilings well over forty, maybe even fifty, feet high, the cavern seemed quite large. There were several curious things about it though, beyond just dimensions. Despite them being quite far underground, the stone beneath their feet gave way to a dirt floor, covered in grass, that seemed to cover the entire room. The grass, though, was often impossible to spot in many places of the room thanks to the massive roots that traced themselves to the central plant.

Nearly as high as the ceiling, the plant rested itself at the far end of the room. It was a strange looking thing, to say the least, with a series of folds surrounding the center, apparently open to the air at the top. Three or four dozen tentacles attached themselves at the base of the plant, arcing up and drooping back down as they laid themselves out all over the floor. Ranging from perhaps twenty to sixty feet in length each, Orup noted uncomfortably that the ends seemed to be heavily coated in spikes. Self-defense? Or perhaps simply for aggression. There was something else interesting, though.

A series of wooden catwalks had been bolted into the stone ceiling, somehow, and a man in a white coat was carefully walking on one that seemed to lead right to the top of the plant. The other alchemist? He was carrying several vials in his arms, and Orup's eyes widened as the man, now perfectly above the plant, poured the contents of a single vial into the opening at the top. He clearly didn't notice the intruder's presence, and Orup watched in fascination until a loud cry cut off his thoughts sharply.

"Intruders!"

The alchemist, positioned at least forty feet above the ground, spun rapidly, and the contents he carried in his arms slipped out of his grasp and fell down, down, down into the mouth of the monster beneath his feet. As the vials disappeared from sight, the plant reacted almost instantly, it's color changing from a pale blue to a violently dark purple; from the depths of those folds, a gout of acid erupted and shot vertically, instantly vaporizing the alchemist and the section of the catwalk he was standing on.

It had not been the alchemist, though, that had made the observation. Three men, all heavily armored and looking nervous, had frozen in their charge toward Orup and Rua as the plant changed attitudes in that moment. Unfortunately for them, though, a full sprint toward the door would have been safer. As quickly as the eruption over their heads had occurred, each man was gutted mercilessly by one of the tentacles in range of them, their bodies flung into separate walls as the plant seemed to scream in pain.

Behind Orup, the roots sprung to life, shooting up and covering the exit in a way that made the alchemist queasy. The plant knew they were there, and it would spare no one. Quickly, he tried to formulate a plan, relaying it to Rua as simply as he could, "I think I can calm this thing if I can get close enough, and then I can properly study it." He pointed to the left-most wall, "The cauldrons that are brewing over there, I can use those. Just keep this thing away from me in the meantime." He would have his answers. He would!

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Rua could only stare in awe at the massive plant that was housed within the center of the chamber, maybe some hundred meters away from them. The giant blossom would've looked beautiful anywhere else, but Rua knew that he had to treat this thing as a dangerous creature--he'd already seen its handiwork, and he could easily see the weaponized tendrils extending from its stem. Just how extensive was this creature? How much farther did the roots extend?

Movement flickered in the corner of his eye, and Rua turned to face it, brandishing his weapon on instinct. He was not disappointed--three more men had appeared, all of them with weaponry on their persons, and they had just noticed them before Mepple could tear his eyes away from the gigantic plant and the alchemist tending to it. He opened his mouth to warn his employer, but the guards that had spotted them beat him to the punch.

"Intruders!"

The effect was instantaneous: Mepple started in surprise, as did the alchemist on the catwalks above them. An unearthly roar erupted from the plant as it erupted with an unnatural blaze from within its blossom, whipping its tendrils about in a fury. Rua shied back as a few such vines lashed out at the incoming guards, killing them instantly and brutally. More roots erupted from the ground behind the two of them, and Rua sprang into action, pivoting around his employer and severing them in a quick, heavy horizontal cut. He backed away as the severed tendrils sprayed about the plant's fluids as they were sucked back into the soil.

"I'll cover you the best I can! Just get moving!" he told Mepple in response to his order, stepping back between him and the plant, his eyes on the writhing vines as the plant continued its stationary rampage within the cavern.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

The older man gritted his teeth at the prospect of coming in range, but the way the walls of the cavern narrowed left no choice, unfortunately. Their destination looked safe enough, seemingly located in a blindspot to the plant. Orup could see it quite well from here, actually, and the purpose of the location seemed quite straight forward. A dozen or so cauldrons each with different colors of fumes rising from their tops, and nearby several roots that had been opened and tied down. Interesting little cylinders and funnels ran to different roots, evidently for injecting different kinds of stimulus into the plant. The alchemist wondered how many of those deaths had been from unfortunate chemical infusions over the previous weeks. However, the issue for them would be getting there.

Grunting with exasperation, Orup nodded to Rua. He would likely have to run, an experience far from pleasant, but it sounded better than the alternative of being gutted on the end of those... things. Staying close to the wall, only the longest and slowest of the vines would be in range, but given how quickly the other man had been killed, Orup was not excited to find out their own odds against the thing. Fully ready to move, he spoke to Rua, "Alright, boy, I'll stick with you. If need be, though, give me the word, and I'll make a run for it."

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

"Then get moving!" Rua snapped at the man, waving him forward with his free hand. The dirt in the chamber was being to shift about, and the mercenary took that to mean that more trouble--more roots or vines--were going to burst up from the ground. He maneuvered around to shield Mepple from them.

His actions did not go unrewarded--the roots burst up from the ground, immediately snaking towards him and his feet. Another sound, something large scraping across harder surfaces grated at his hearing, and he slashed, severing the trailing roots before looking about at where the sound was coming from.

Ah, shit. One of the weaponized vines was on the move, pulling back to strike; its barbs grinding against rock, dirt, and root. "Get back, Mepple!" he shouted, backing up himself to try and get out of the plant's range.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

One minute he's telling me to run, the next minute he's telling me to get back-- the Alchemist's irritation was cut short as one of the massive weapons flung toward them, only barely out of range. As the root receded though, the way looked clear enough for the time being, "Alright, boy, keep me covered!" Heavy as he was, adrenaline proved enough to boost him to a reasonable speed, keeping a wary pace as he began to make his way along the cave wall. With eyes switching between the lethal roots and his goal, Orup did his best to stay alive as long as possible.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

A single tentacle slammed down in front of Rua, splitting the ground with explosive force and throwing him off his feet with a yell of pain. He landed on his back with a grunt of pain, and quickly tried to sit up, looking around--the limb was suddenly hovering over him. It went rigid for a brief second, then came hurtling down.

"Whoa!" Rua shouted, rolling out of the way in the nick of time as the tentacle smashed into the dirt. Rua clambered to his feet and bolted, maneuvering himself between the plant and his employer once more. Roots burst up from the ground as he ran, forcing him to cut them down with heavy swings of his sword. "Pick up the pace, Mepple, it's getting angrier!" he called out, looking back over his shoulder. Sure enough, more tentacles were in the air, writhing madly as more fluids splashed up from the flower's bulb.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

Gritting his teeth, the overweight alchemist wrapped his fingers around his belt to make sure his pants would stay up as he broke into an all out run. The man didn't have the best reaction time or the greatest agility, but he knew his plants well enough. It looked as if the plant were dealing with spasms of pain now; if Orup were not so grievously threatened by it, he would have been more curious about it, maybe even sympathetic. But as it stood, though, the alchemist had figured out that when the plant frothed liquids out of its main area, an attack was imminent. It also seemed less aware of their specific position now and was doing a lot more thrashing than aiming.

Slowing his pace down so a huge attacking arm could slam down directly in front of him instead of throw his skull, the alchemist spared a quick glance backward to make sure Rua was doing all right. They had made a sizable distance already, the goal clearly in sight, but the rest of the way would not hold any safe areas, conveniently out of the reach of the monstrous plant. He would simply have to do his best to avoid incoming attacks and pray to the goddesses that one he didn't see wouldn't cut him in two.

The way was treacherous, to say the least, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it, and a dozen close calls later he found himself at the destination, eight bubbling cauldrons located in a cove in the wall, just out of the reach of the monster. Several of what appeared to be feeding roots had been stapled down and cut open so that, Orup assumed, the mixtures in the cauldrons could be fed safely to the monster. Much safer than climbing the catwalks like the other alchemist had; hopefully the solution could be found from here.

Re: To the Roots [Closed]

More roots sprung up from the ground, barring the way between him and Mepple, and Rua snarled as he cut through them, pushing through with a handful of his torn cape to shield himself from the fluids that sprayed out from the severed tendrils. "I hope you have an idea on how to stop that thing," Rua muttered he ran up to his employer and spun on the spot, turning to face the creature once more. "Because if that thing keeps flailing it'll bring the whole cavern down on top of us!"

A tentacle smashed into the wall nearby as if to punctuate his statement. Tendrils were roiling beneath the dirt floor, not really attacking, but still trying to uproot themselves. Rua inched back, bringing his blade up between him and the plant with both hands, ready to chop the nearest limb that lashed out at them.