October 14, 2023

Hook

From Long Slumber [Session 2] (Ruefang; Cayali)

Plot Synopsis

CoGM: Spencer

The scene opens up to the black-hole berry hitting the side of the tree, tearing slightly at the bark but unable to do much damage. Afterwards vines shot down from the canopy of the grand tree, blocking any more attacks from hitting the fragile trunk. Ujyaku casts chaos at the tree, making the creature inside believe that there used to be butterflies within the clearing. NPC attempts to shoot at the vines, and the party notices that the vines don’t grow back as quickly after being hit by the metal. Oswald remembers that they have the Ceremonial Shears from the hallway, and uses them to cut away at some of the vines.

At the other end of the battle though, NPC and Ouros are attempting to gaslight the tree. Ouros, by trying to cast an ease-aggression type spell, which the tree shrugs off- and NPC by telling the tree that they needed to get it out to safety. The two-round fight comes to a standstill as the party begins conversing with the tree. Through a series of events, the tree eventually offers Rik, NPC, and Gilburt (who are on the seats of the coliseum) a few corrupted black and jade colored fruit. The tree asks the group to join it, to gain the power of the surrounding forest, and all they needed to do was consume the fruit. Gilburt, takes up the offer, much to the displeasure or amusement of the rest of the group.

The party splits up, choosing to take a rest as Gilburt and the tree converse. Ujyaku takes a rest, Ouros and Oswald go to talk to Hunagdi to gain some insight on what to do, and Rik and NPC look at the trunk of the tree (which has now been covered in Green, Orange, and Purple crystals). Throughout the 8 hours of rest, Gilburt continues to eat the fruit, quickly gaining levels in Jinghua Poisoning. Progressing through each stage in what would normally take weeks. Eventually he reaches the enlightenment stage in Wood Jinghua poisoning, and has roots and plants growing out of his skin. The tree proceeds to ask him, now that Gilburt can speak to it- to go and convert the other members of the party.

He finds Oswald and Ouros in the basement, and attempts to feed the fruit to Oswald- thought it met with a blade to the throat. The two talk and eventually things calm down. Rik and NPC talk to the tree, asking it about the eggs in the basement- the tree requests the eggs to be brought to it. The party once again goes and talks to Huangdi about taking the eggs- Hunagdi says that it would be better to ask Qing Long, the owner of the temple, about it once they were woken up.

The party, except for NPC and Rik, meet up again with Dale and Ayrissa who have not found the transportation they required yet. Oswald and Gilburt continue to gaslight them, telling them that they need help killing the tree, and convincing them to run in and try to blow up the tree with explosives.

During this time NPC and Oswald descend down to the basement to plan how to take some of the eggs and not anger the statues- or be able to escape the room before the statues attack. As they are preparing- Ujyaku and Ouros walk in on them and want to take part. The group drains all but two feet of water with a portal, closes the gates to the room, takes some of the eggs, and runs through the portal. Both of the statues guarding the eggs awaken immediately and begin to chase the party. Ouros and NPC are able to escape unharmed, one of the statues goes after Rik but misses, and Ujyaku gets hit but otherwise escapes through the portal. The group of four stands outside the portal as one of statues begins to crawl through the entranceway- Rik proceeds to close the portal, bisecting the statue. The party then books it to the entrance of the temple as two more statues begin to crawl out of the ground nearby.

The party meets up once more outside the temple, having safely gotten 6 out of the 7 live eggs out of the hatchery room. They leave some of the eggs with Huangdi to watch over, and begin splicing some of the cursed fruit, blessed fruit, and some of the other fruit from the third puzzle to hopefully be able to use it to combat the tree. The statues watch them at the entrance to the temple as they rest and prepare for the upcoming bossfight.

Noteworthy Postgame Events