1-21 “Tree”

It was a very restful sleep, and an early awakening. We all finished breakfast before dawn. The sun must be just above the horizon now. The forest becomes quiet as we approach the place where I had encountered the amalgam. There wasn't a clearing here before.

A sky blue crystal tree at least fifty feet tall stands in the middle of a circle of uprooted and broken down trees. Its branches move regardless of the lack of wind. The area nearby the tree looks somewhat burned. As we approach the tree line, it bends its branches in one massive sweep, scratching the bark off of the trees at the border. It must still be growing if that was the first time it could reach these trees.

The Lords and Ladies start discussing what spells they should use before approaching, and who should stay back. They think those burns look like acid burns, one of them has a spell to protect against that.

Lord Hawkins calls me over, “You all have ranged weapons right?”

“Yes, sir, crossbows.”

“This thing can topple trees, I think it'd be best if you all stayed back and offered ranged support.”

“Yes, sir! You heard the lord, crossbows at the ready.”

I guess now it's time to find out if keeping my bolts in my bag instead of the belt box is a good idea. I reach in to pull out my crossbow and a bolt. It's already drawn and loaded when I withdraw my hand from the magical bag. That's... How does it do that?

Lords Hawkins, Hawklight, and Gimaim, as well as Ladies Maple and Hefthammer all advance toward the tree over the fallen trunks of trees uprooted by the corrupted one. Zilo flips up his hood, and his silhouette begins to fade as his cloak blends with the surrounding foliage, I quickly lose track of him. It's a good thing we can aim high to avoid friendly fire, though he probably knows how to avoid the line of fire if he does this frequently. Sephram stays between Lady Averdine and the tree, holding a defensive posture. Lord Mcgee starts firing arrows from an exquisite looking bow with remarkable speed.

The rest begin to cast spells. Lightning and fire burst forth, streaking toward the tree. Much of it dissipates as it contacts a hitherto unseen field around its trunk and branches. Lady Averdine finishes an incantation that leaves me feeling lighter, and it has obviously affected everyone else as we all begin moving faster.

Lord Alejandro turns out to be a spell-caster as well, I never would have guessed from the full suit of plate armor that he wears. I have heard armor interfered with one's ability to channel magical energy. The globe of fire he throws begs to differ, penetrating whatever protection surrounds the gemtree and leaving large cracks and scorch marks around the point of impact.

The tree makes reply by swinging massive branches down hammering on those that advanced with massive limbs. Those that are hit by these smashing attacks immediately receive healing magic from either Lord Carlmon or Lady Celano. A vine twists around and blasts a large gout of a greenish liquid that mostly dissipates where it contacts one of us but leaves distinct burns in the ground or trees that it contacts with. Lord Alejandro receives a volley of arrow sized splinters from the higher branches of the tree. All of them bounce off of what must be at least grade four armor. Crystalline roots also burst forth from the ground at Alejandro's feet, and are just as ineffective at penetrating his defenses.

The watchmen and I might as well not even be there, each volley of bolts we fire bounce off of the trunk. This thing has less gaps in its crystalline hide, and the gaps keep moving.

The advancing warriors make it to the trunk and begin smashing through the tree. Sword axe and hammer leaving cracks and notches with each swing. Lady Maple's punches are doing just as much as Lady Hefthammer's massive maul. Zilo's form fades back into view near the gemtree, he looks up it perhaps thinking of climbing it. He reconsiders and proceeds to stab at it with a pair of short swords.

More blasts of fire and bolts of lightning are launched. The gemtree seems to feel the warriors are a greater threat though as the root spears and branches are all focusing on them. Leaving only the occasional hail of thorns to threaten us, mostly aimed at Alejandro, whose spells seem to be doing the most damage. Only one even manages to break through the magical armor. It is quickly removed and the wound healed.

One of my bolts actually manages to hit a soft spot and stick, I wonder if that did any good.

Cracks begin to spread along the trunk of the gemtree. The constant hammering of spells and blades leaving the area near the ground looking much like the patch of cobblestone road in the city where a worker managed to spill a wheelbarrow of bricks from the second floor of a building he was working on.

Lady Averdine fires a quintet of small radiant bolts of energy at the gemtree. That was the last straw, the whole thing shatters and disintegrates. While everyone else starts congratulating each other on a good fight, I look for signs of Stanton.

I think I see him.

1-18 “Gardening”

Nothing responds to Sephram's shout. He sheaths his weapons and continues to walk around a bit before returning to where he crossed the barrier.

“It seems to be safe to travel on at the very least, though I would suggest that you stay close just in case there are more of those.” Sephram's tense posture returns as he stands near Lady Averdine.

“That was impressive. Who taught you to fight like that?” Sam follows the question with a glance around checking the bodyguard's armor, not even a scratch where the two hits connected with him.

“My mother was a Templar of The Hammer, my father was a master of unarmed combat, they taught me from earlier than I can remember.”

“That's an interesting sword you have. I haven't seen one designed like that, what is it?”

“It's a kodachi, a sword from my father's homeland. He came from far to the northeast of here.”

I've heard of some of the far off lands, but have never seen someone from that far away. I wonder what other weapons they have that are also different in style.

“Well, if it's safe to walk across, I think we should probably see if we can find any more of those plants and destroy them before they eat something that let's them move.”

We decide to do so until sunset. The sun is already low in the sky, we'll still have a decent enough amount of time, though. We can come back tomorrow, if we feel it's necessary. The lady and her bodyguard go off in one direction and we take the other side to cover more ground.

They look like they used to be pitcher plants, and they give off a deeper aura of darkness than the rest of this field. They seem to be able to sense us coming. The first one we come across turns, albeit very slowly, toward us. Though unnerving, none of us are afraid of this display. Halberds are long and these things can't move. It's obvious after destruction that there is a lot more under these plants than I would think, seeing the size of the leaves above ground. Instead of roots there is what I can only assume is a large pocket of a stomach, I guess that is why they can eat things larger than bugs now. Perhaps that stomach used to be the bulb they grew from. Luckily, we don't find anything in any of these.

For the most part, the plants are very easily dealt with. Just as I'm wondering how these things caught anything to begin with, the rookie gives me an unintentional demonstration. Whether out of boredom or just inexperience, he decides to try and stab through one in a small cluster instead of cutting. Reacting much faster than the rest we have encountered, its mouth widens and grabs on to the head of his weapon, good thing he knows enough to drop his weapon rather than allow himself to get pulled in to the group. We manage to kill the plants and let him retrieve his weapon, though it's now covered in goo.

“Way to go, rookie.” Sam probably has more against working with a rookie than the rest of us, with all of his time spent investigating solo.

“What the hell? That one was way faster than the others.” I'll give the rookie that much, it was that much faster, and he did manage to avoid being dinner. I should probably give him some pointers when we get back to the guardhouse.

“Maybe we should have gone back and gotten the gardener from up at the keep.”

“Why's that?” Gordon probably wants a real story but I'll only give him this much for now.

“I heard that when Iztram was in charge, he had the poor guy taking care of strangle vines.”

“I didn't even think those existed.”

“You should go find him, Gordon. He tells the story a lot better than I do.”

Not much of note happens along the rest of our path to clear the area. Occasionally we find one that has sprouted a pair of legs, but is still tethered in place. The darkness around the area grows faster than the lowering of the sun, we call it a day early before it becomes too dark to see. As we leave and discuss what should come next we hear a group of approaching horses.

1-17 “A duck?”

We all approach the glowing wall as Sephram walks in toward where the river still runs through the crystalline ground.

“That's odd, I guess the crystallization has stopped growing,” Lady Averdine indicates where her barrier meets the ground.  “It used to be growing right up to that spot, even climbing upward, slowly trying to overcome the wall.”

Sure enough there's about half a foot between the edge of the strange growth and the barrier’s foot.

Our attention is then grabbed by a splash. We look back toward the river and Sephram. Out of the water have climbed two more amalgamations. One shares the features of a duck and a beaver, or maybe it is just the features of a platypus. It also must have caught a crayfish.  Two large pincers extend from additional arms near its front. The other seems to have the bodily features of an otter, the head of a frog and is slightly smaller than the first.

Sephram, whose motions read of tenseness the whole time he stood near the Lady, now seems relaxed in the face of a pair of slightly more than wolf-sized enemies. His stance is wide and aggressive, each sword held toward one of two enemies.  The amount of time before any of them make a further move is long enough for the lot of us to draw our crossbows.   We begin loading as the first move is made.

The frog-otter, in a motion similar to what I've seen before, launches a spear-like tongue at Sephram. Before I even have time to give warning, he deflects it with the longsword in his right hand. Sidestepping, he slashes a portion of it off before it recedes. The other begins to approach him, its gait rather comical and clumsy-seeming as it totters along.

The frog-otter also begins to run at him, but faster and with less confusion among its limbs.  It leaps at him only to be met by what I can only describe as a whirlwind of steel. Not shifting his feet at all, Sephram brings his blades around in swift circular strokes, each making contact with either a crunch as fractured pieces of the beast’s armor fall to the ground or a softer sound as the blade meets an unprotected section. His speed is hard to follow, as pieces of the amalgam fall to the ground.

The duck-thing has made its approach in this time, despite being hit by a volley of our crossbow fire, most of which bounced harmlessly off of the hard plates covering it. Sephram turns and defends himself from a surprisingly fast barrage of punches and grabs made by the lobster-like claws of the thing. Only one makes it past his guard and contacts despite his dodges. It does nothing more than make him step back a pace with the force. His chest plate takes the blow, not even leaving a dent.

Moving around the beast so as to make it turn slowly leaving only one claw to contend with, Sephram begins his own offensive. Using the longsword  to fend off the closer claw's strikes, he brings his other foreign blade down right where the oddly placed extra arm meets the body. It falls lifelessly to the ground. The more confident of us launch a second volley at the two locked in close quarters. One, probably fired by the rookie, deflects off Sephram's vambrace, the rest either stick in the duck-thing's front or bouncing ineffectively to the ground.

With its remaining arm the creature manages to grab Sephram's leg. Before it can take advantage of this, Sephram severs the limb. He follows with a thrust that goes straight through one eye on the creature's duck-like head, and comes out the other. Spasming slightly for a second or two, it slumps over.

I hear the men exchange coins as Sephram stomps the ground twice and yells, “Any more?!”

1-6 “Slayer”

It rushes at me. Focusing on the pain and my duty to save Stanton, I throw myself to the side. It misses me and continues into a tree. Considering that tongue, I decide the reach of a halberd isn't better than the protection of a shield. I drop the halberd and pull my shield out of my bag, it's already properly equipped as I withdraw my arm.

How does this bag do that? FOCUS!

I draw my shortsword as the beast turns back towards me. One of its antlers must have stuck in the trees, part of it is broken off now. The light sticks are dying strangely early, but for some reason the level of light in the area is increasing, maybe it's had its fill of light and can't eat anymore. I can see more clearly, the joints, and the stomach bulge look more organic. I will focus my swings there.

The amalgam fires its tongue at me once again, I feel the punch of it on my shield, the tongue is deflected. I rush forward and to the side as it snaps at me. First things first, I swipe my sword along its flank. The blade cuts cleanly through. Stanton flops unceremoniously to the ground, still stuck in that position. The thing motions with its head as if howling in pain.

The amalgam kicks back at me with a clawed hoof. I deflect the shot with my shield, my arm wound doesn't appreciate it, and thrust my sword into the thing's knee, crippling blows for against the larger opponent. It staggers as it kicks out with the other rear leg. Again, I catch the shot on my shield. This time, though, the shot is centered and knocks me down, my shoulder flares in pain.

It turns around as I try to get up. I think I tore that arm wound further. I can't put my weight on it, thank the gods it's my off hand. It tries to bite. I shove my shield into its mouth as I pull my arm out of it. OW! I am caught by one of the teeth on my way back, at least it has helped pull me back to my feet.

It tries to shake my shield out of its mouth. I bring my sword down into the top of its neck. It starts seizing, and falls to the side. I go back to my halberd, pick it up and use it to decapitate the beast, no sense being close enough to get knocked out by a random spasm. The spasms stop. That was a mistake, ow, should've used a staunch stick on the wound on my arm first. Actually, should've used a staunch stick on that before fighting further.

Staunch sticks, every watchman is supposed to keep two on him at all times. These things are very nice, you crack one over a wound and it stops the bleeding and helps prevent further degradation. You still need to find a healer or medic to treat it properly, but at least it stops you from bleeding out or, in my case, tearing a wound further. I apply one to the gash on my upper arm that I foolishly tore further already. I should make sure I don't need to use one on Stanton before healing the cut I got from its tooth, they aren't standard issue for trackers.

I move to check on Stanton.

1-5 “Thing”

I reflexively activate and toss one of my standard issue light rods to the middle of the clearing. Usually more effective than a torch, it isn't much help here. I still can't quite make out this things shape in the shadows. It's currently looming over Tracker Stanton, and I'm not about to lose a man to my own uncertainty.

Charging, I bring my halberd forward and down onto the things back. No sound other than the crack of metal on soft rock. I only feel the hide, or whatever this thing is covered in, give way a little. I cant even try to tackle something this big off of someone, its easily bigger than a full grown bull.

“Come on! Off him! Pay attention to me!” I hear a gasp from Stanton. The thing is ignoring me, so I drop another Light rod after a second ineffectual swing. I can see it now, though the darkness lingers, it almost looks as if a sculptor couldn't decide what animal he wanted to carve. Before me stands a translucent crystalline being that looks like a mix of animals. I can see the light being drawn towards and into this thing.

Everything that I see mixed here is native to the region, or one of the missing animals. Deer antlers, a wolfish mouth, bovine legs, a real amalgamation of parts. Are those tiny little chicken wings, I see?

Now that I see a head to attack, I take a swing. Stanton seems to have been stunned by its tackle, only now reaching for his weapon. At this first sign of movement the creature opens its mouth and fires a 'tongue' at him, piercing his shoulder. Stanton freezes, he doesn't go limp, he doesn't yell, he just freezes. I'd cut the tongue off, but I would need to swing so hard I might hit Stanton underneath.

I get a swing into a soft spot, at least this thing has some. It pays me back by jabbing at me with those antlers. I'm slow to duck to the side, and it tosses me several feet back. I get up in time to see it open its mouth impossibly wide and swallow Stanton whole.

When I was young, my father once took me to see the ocean. We went fishing and caught a jellyfish that had caught a smaller fish. I had never thought about what that fish must've been going through until I saw Stanton inside that Creature, its 'stomach' distending with the frozen prey inside.

It turns to me. Its tongue flashes out again. I sidestep, but it still grazes my arm, cutting right through the leather protecting it. I feel it, something trying to wrest my body from my control, keep me still.

This isn't poison, it's magic, I can fight back against that.