Log: At the Thorns

[thequestgiver]

Characters: All
Open? Yep
Where: At the edge of the Devouring Thorns
When: The 16th of Rebirth's Height
What: The heroes gather at the thorns to get a first hand look at the problem.
Warnings: None


There was a solemn sort of quiet at the edge of the thorns, the looming mass of twisted brush seemed to shift and creek as it was observed, sounding almost like the rocking of a boat at sea. Here and there a keen eye could catch a glimpse of what might have been a house, or an inn lingering in the harsh grasp. A sign post. A length of wooden board. Like the sea, it had swallowed it up, curling around it all and splintering it all into fragments almost unrecognizable. Now and then, there was a flit of motion. A small brown bird camouflaged by the thick branches, made visible only by it's head tilting this way, then the other, before it flew off.

Comments

[magicalflowers]

Flora had always wanted to go see the thorns, but because of the other problems she never had the chance to, until now. Her hand slowly reaching out towards the thorns, hoping to touch them, hoping to understand why it was doing what it was, but as she tried to close her eyes, trying to see if she was able to communicate with them, but to no avail.

This was going to be a much harder job than she realised.

[for_that_i_run]

Eagle had been watching and waiting to see who might show up and this young lady with her power over plants was some one he very much wanted to speak to. He gave her a moment by herself, so she could do what ever it was she had come to do, before wandering over to say hello.

"Good afternoon. Are you having any luck with them?"

[sorcerous]

Like the front of an enormous ocean, or an avalanche, frozen in time. Loki flies to the thorns in the form of a crow, black and swift, and he climbs high enough that he's only a speck before he ventures over them, circling down slowly.

[thequestgiver]

The parallel is even more apt from above. Deeper in, the crumbling spires of a church can be seen, half devoured by the twisting mass, the ruins of some lofty manor house just barely treading above the sea of greyish brown. The thorns continue on for miles and miles. A bird could grow tired before he reached the other side of it...

There's only the ever present creaking and groaning as he approaches. The snap of a board succumbing to the pressure of the ticket around it. A sound like a breath. A soft, faint laugh from deep with in the wood.

[wanderwonder]

Criminy.

As Olinda looked up at the towering mass of thorns, she realized that the locals weren't fooling when they spoke of the thorns as an honest danger. Some of these were as thick as tree trunks!

She craned her neck to get as close a view between the thorns as possible, but she dared not venture much further. Pointy ends were bad enough -- if this menace was actually sentient, why, she'd end up just like a pig in a blanket.

Well. Olinda had intended to snap off some of the thorns to take back, but they had proven much bigger than she had imagined. What she needed was a blade. Casting a reluctant glance towards the army camp nearby, she gathered her resolve and made her way over to them.

[magicalflowers]

Flora, her tried to see if she could talk to them again, but with very little success before she turned her head slightly, spotting someone she remembers talking to at least once or twice before. Looking down she shook her head, saddened by the fact she couldn't communicate with it.

"No, they seem to be quiet, or just refusing to talk to me."

[for_that_i_run]

"I was wondering if you would be able to get anywhere with them."

Eagle looked off at the thorns that seemed to stretch on forever from where he was standing.

"Is there anything else you could try? Maybe some kind of anti-growth spell?"

He really didn't know much about magic, Eagle wasn't even sure there was such a thing as an anti-growth spell, but it never hurt to ask.

[magicalflowers]

Flora's fingers lightly traced along the spikes of the thorns, trying to think of another method to use, or at least to find a way through to possible see if it works further in. Maybe there was another reason it was so quiet.

"I'm not sure about a anti-growth spell, but maybe if we could find a way further in, then maybe I could communicate."

[sorcerous]

A laugh; that, now, that is something Loki would follow. He pivots on one wing, head tilting to catch any noise over the rush of the breeze in his ears, over the rustle and crack of wood and leaf.

[for_that_i_run]

"Further in?"

Easier said than done really. Cutting the vines caused them to lash out at their attacker and they were so thickly overgrown it would be difficult to crawl into them.

"You might not like it, but I wonder how these vines would handle fire. If they would bent away from the flame maybe we could make a big enough gap to head inside?"

So not actually doing any damage to the plant at all just scaring it a little to make room for the two adventurers to pass by.

[shorterinperson]

Alanna stood far from the others when she faced the thorns. She couldn't reach through them to create a shield, so she simply had to give herself space in case anything went catastrophically wrong. In her experience, it often did.

Gently, very gently, she probed the thorns with her Gift the way she would a stranger. She sought signs of magic without attempting to disrupt it or provoke it in any way.

[thequestgiver]

There was a dark feel to what she sensed. Inhuman, unfeeling, the embodiment of something that could only be barely seen.

There was magic throughout it, running through the coarse brush like water in a river, like blood in the veins of the living.

[thequestgiver]

The soldiers paid her little mind, playing a game of cards. Really, without any idea how to actually stop the thorns, the duty of watching them sit there was the dullest thing in the world...

[through_fire_be_reborn]

There is nothing for a long moment before a soft, light voice drifts up from the brush.

'Little bird, little bird, for what do you fly?
Come to me, come to me, I'll bake of you a pie....'

[wanderwonder]

Their nonchalance whittled away any sympathy she may have had for them at the moment.

She came to a still right behind one of them, peering down at his hand. Olinda was woefully untalented when it came to card games that required strategy. Unable to recognize the game they were playing, she turned her gaze to the soldier directly opposite of her.

"May I borrow a knife?"

[thequestgiver]

"What you want a thing like that for?" came the reply.

[sorcerous]

He flaps his wing, climbing enough to drift in slow, slow circles. And he casts the illusion of voice, though the bird-throat can make no such sound. (Both spells at once is strenuous, and it may be dangerous to divide his concentration between magic and flying.)

"And if you do, you will find my flesh poison," he returns. "Chaos or not."

[wanderwonder]

"To cut off some of the thorns for samples."

[thequestgiver]

"Don't want to do that. Those things fight back. Might lose your hand if you try."

[wanderwonder]

She frowned. Kori had said the same, but...

"You are soldiers, yes?" she asked, shifting to a more relaxed position, arms crossing over her chest. "A group of you could gather some instead."

[through_fire_be_reborn]

The only answer is a light, airy laugh.

[thequestgiver]

There was a snort. "We ain't so stupid to risk that again. That thing ain't anything we can fight. It'd eat any of us as easy as a town."

[wanderwonder]

Her frown deepened. "Not even the length of an arm?"

[thequestgiver]

"Ma'am, that thing ate a catapult in no time at all. Nearly ate Alfred just for thrownin' rocks at it! I don't want to see what'll do to someone it does manage to catch..."

[wanderwonder]

Well, shoot. That was a pretty legit reason to stay away from the thorns.

Olinda plucked at the hem of her top, chewing her bottom lip in thought. She'd come all the way here -- it'd be a shame to return empty handed. Unacceptable, even! How many days had passed since she was here?

"What happened when you tried to set it on fire?" she asked, watching them choose which card to lay down. She was assuming they had already tried torching the stuff.