Pois' Boys

- Previously, near Taine Barrow -
The group pulled up hard at the sight of the utterly desiccated corpse of the well boy. In the near distance stood an old well with a curious looking plant beside it, swaying independently of the wind. The still forms of Hard Bert and Bruk Bruk's wife littered the ground. Bruk Bruk's wife looked decidedly worse. As they watched, she split open and a gnarled mass of twigs rose from her body to join its companion, looking at its guests with an eyeless face.

The friends and John immediately sprang into action. Poi$onblad3 dashed forward, but the elder of the two abominations thrust its fingers into the ground, reaching around Poison's feet and holding her fast. Poi$onblade3, however, was arguably more frightened by her adorable companion Daisy slamming her fingers deep into the hard wood of a nearby tree, hoisting herself up.

Kulak prepared to call fire from the wind again. The ones crawling around on the ground realized the potential and began to make fire of their own. Why did they not do this sooner, were they unprepared? Did the plants in these parts never try to kill them? How curious a place this was! Kulakulakhan was learning a great many things in this wide world.

The elder creature reared up and pushed mass into its arm. As it rushed towards Poi$onblad3 the only sound it made was the soft scrunching of twigs on moss, and the rustling of its right arm hardening into a club. Its companion wordlessly filled the cracks in its body until it was an eerily smooth shape. It ran on massive forearms and seemed to balance itself with small feet. The elder faltered as arrows scrunched into it and fire seared through its body. By the time it reached the group it was convulsing violently, making a feeble attack that John effortlessly batted away with his shield. The younger of the creatures managed to block an arrow on its woody carapace but it wasn't enough. Fire spread over its former companion's body, which the adventurers were using to light their arrows. Under the focused onslaught of the group it buckled and crumpled, unable to even attack its assailants. All was well.

The group began to deliberate over how to best help Hard Bert, who was breathing but having difficulty doing so. Poi$onblad3 was almost able to relax, but her senses were too keen. Was that a scuttling sound? It's coming from the well, what could be there? She drew her knife and approached. No sooner had she set foot on the stone around the well's rim than the lip of the well exploded with movement. A horde of oblong brown shapes, skittering on twiggy jagged legs burst out at her. She turned to run but they were right behind her. Daisy and John tried to help, picking off a few of the things with well placed arrows but there were too many. Suddenly Poi$onblad3 realized. This was her chance to do something cool! She would show them! She would show everyone who didn't think she knew what she was doing, set too many rules, and kept sticking their dumb stupid idiot noses in her business! She jumped straight up and down, tiptoed a short distance, slashing apart one of the seeds in the process, and planted both her feed hard on the ground, right in the middle of the seedlings. SICK MOVE! That was kind of like a flip if you thought about it funny!

John wondered at these silly people. Why were they scared about seeds? John knew seeds. You put seeds in the ground! You made seeds into bread! You didn't get scared of seeds, that was just dumb. The rest of the group had carefully fastened scarves and cloth over their mouths. John didn't cover his mouth.

The seeds continued to swarm Poi$onblad3. She tried to fight them off but one of them managed to scramble up to her face and claw its way past her mask. More began to grab her legs. There was a whooshing sound and the sun was briefly blocked from vision as Kulak darted down and blasted a buffeting wave of air everywhere. Poi$onblad3 was smacked against the ground a bit, but most of the seeds burst open and hissed out some kind of gas. The one on her face, still alive, puffed the same gas into her mouth. In a legitimately badass move, Poi$onblad3 sucked it up and spat it back at the seedling, causing it to fall and burst. Somehow, she had escaped with only minor bruising and a terrible taste in her mouth.

Immediately rushing to Hard Bert's side, the group used their combined herbalism skills to find and make a quick mixture which caused Bert to violently heave the tip of a seed out of his mouth. Wrenching it and the roots out, Kulak used a bit of power to stabilize bert from the hastily mixed mixture and the root damage, and he fell into a restful sleep. As they carried Bert off, John (I think it was him?) took a look back and saw a face woven out of twigs and vines glaring at him, which blew out of form as soon it saw John looking. John did not mention this to anyone.

Brob and Soft Eddie were waiting for the group near the village. Seeming un-sarcastically relieved to see Bert, he quickly made sure Bert was stable before forcing a morose Soft Eddie to pay the group from his precious wage. In sudden turn of conscience, Poi$onblad3 handed back the three gold. Soft Eddie tried to assure her that it wasn't necessary, and it was more than he actually made, but she insisted he have it. He went skipping home to tell his wife of their good fortune. The rest of the group kept their gold.

Back in the 'castle', the group were approached by the Thain who told them that these plants they fought may be a bigger deal than they seemed, as the King of the Crummoch had sent word to the Thains and Dochs, asking for word of abnormal and dangerous plant activity. He decided he would send Brob to accompany them to the city, to the great annoyance of Poi$onblad3, who loudly exclaimed, "But I wanted Soft Eddie!" "Ooh well, I guess ye better go alsoo, soft Eddie." Soft Eddie slumped and his expressive eyes became sad. He looked at his wife who looked back at him. Their eyes shared sadness and a lifetime of affection, and he decided then and there he had better remember her face well. Because although he believed the best of this new group of strangers, there was no telling what would happen on this trip.

Returning to the bloodmobile, the group discovered the villagers had returned the horses from their stables and the group threw open the back door of their cart. They were met with the weary eyes of the toothless mustachioed outlaw. He had not been able to break through his restraints. Filing into the back, with Poi$on sitting next to Soft Eddie and petting the incredibly soft hair of her new pet human, the group took off.