4/2/04 - The Mighty Flower Warriors
The Mighty Flower Warriors
The group left the city of Greerson early in the morning, hoping to cover much of Lord Tannerson's territory in just one day. The bandits the party seeks are apparently several days outside of the east gate at the end of the twenty trees. Each member of the party, save for Deborah who remained in Greerson, is wearing a tabbard marked with the oak leaf of Lune. The day and night both pass uneventfully. Within only a few hours on their second day of travel the party exits the realm of Lord Tannerson. The transition is quite noticeable to several members of the party as the terrain now seems overgrown and generally more wild. Felix explains that the health of the land is tied to the health of the ruler, be it a king or powerful nobility or whatever, and that the change in the structure of the forest is likely a reflection on Lord Tannerson.
Having exited Tannerson's lands the party decides to begin foraging for food as we continue to make our way down the road. Ayla, Ceru and Felix spread out and consistantly manage to gather enough food to feed the entire group. During the first day of travel since exiting the lands of Lord Tannerson, the group spots several wagons heading up the road towards them. Ceru and Felix return to the road, while Ayla remains hidden in the bushes. Li moves towards the wagons accompanied by Ceru, Felix, and Tormal, as a man and a woman advance to greet them. Li asks who they are and what is their buisness here. They explain that they are merchants and offer to sell us some of their wares which include horseshoes, pots, skillets, and jugs (Oceaus grins). Felix says he is interested in a skillet and so the woman takes him to the far wagon so he can pick one out. Felix ends up with a nice skillet and Li allows the merchants to continue on their way. Before they leave, Oceaus approaches the man and asks him if he recognizes Oceaus' holy symbol of Zanthos, which he does not. The party waits as the wagons pass, and then continue on their way.
The next day, the party again continues in the same manner as before, foraging for food as they make their way down the road. At one point Ceru and Felix spot a large beehive hanging up in a tall tree, and then quickly realize that next to that tree is large creature. What appears to be a huge bear turns to face them and they realize that this thing is not entirely a bear. Instead, it has a beak and feathers covering a good portion of its body, though otherwise it looks just like a bear, complete with huge bear claws extending beyond its feathered arms. Felix yells to the rest of the party as Ceru waits to see how the creature reacts. As it starts to charge forward, Ceru pulls a Li and starts to run away. Li and Tormal both advance quickly to assist Felix who has already advance into melee combat with the creature. Unfortunately, they do not arrive quickly enough to prevent the owlbear from biting a huge gash into Felix's shoulder. Felix crumples to the ground, but Ceru is right there to heal Felix, returing him to consciousness. Li and Tormal arrive and start combat with the creature as Keldorn, Ayla, and Brother Oceaus continue to make their way there. Li and the beast exchange brutal blows before Keldorn arrives and takes up postion. Felix too moves back into combat, despite heavy injury. The owlbear is now centered between 5 of the party members, all swinging at it, as Ayla is firing arrows down a narrow gap at the beast. Again the creature attempts to slam its claws into some combination of Li, Keldorn and Tormal, as it once again bites down into Felix's shoulder in the same spot as before. Again Felix falls and Ceru backs out of melee to again heal him. Finally enough damage is dealt to the owlbear that it collapses. Ceru and Oceaus cast more healing on the injured members of the party while Ayla quickly checks the beast for any items carried. Then Li stand over the creature and slams his nagimaki into its skull twice and then swings his sword about in some crazy fashion before sliding it back into its sheath with very little blood remaining on it. Ceru and Oceaus both gather a couple of feathers and the group dicusses breifly if they want to try to retrive the beehive in the tree. The decide against it and decide to move on.
The next day they continue to forage, though with the heavy injury sustained by Felix, the work is now done by Ayla, Ceru, Oceaus and Li. They pass the day uneventfully. That night however does not go so smoothly. As Ceru and Felix are on the second watch of the night, each feel a sharp sting and Ceru collapses. Felix notices, wakes Li and tells him Ceru just fell. Li yells for everyone to wake up as he too is stung by something and falls. Ayla, Keldorn and Oceaus all get up, and Tormal starts to but falls right away. Ayla and Oceaus look at each other for a moment and then start screaming and run in opposite directions at top speed. Felix turns to see Keldorn fall, leaving him as the only concious person remaining in camp. He notices a needle-thin very long arrow stuck in him and guesses that is what is causing everyone to fall. A minute later he notices a figure dancing in the trees a little ways away. He begins to pursue it as it moves away, but suddenly all of the plants in the area reach out and try to grab him. He leaps out of the way in time to avoid being caught and then spots a tree that for some reason he really doesn't like. About this same time, Ayla and Oceaus begin to wonder why they are running away and turn to make their way back to camp. Along the way Oceaus spots Felix hacking away at a tree with his rapier. Ayla arrives just as Oceaus is getting ready to tackle Felix. Felix snaps out of his tree rage, and the three return to camp to find that all of their equipment, as well as their unconcious compainions have all disappeared.
OOC: I have to go to work now guys but I'll finish this up later on. I might have messed some of it up so feel free to point out any corrections.
