Grand Line Adventures IC - Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the Grand Line Adventures IC thread! For the previous thread, refer to the link below.

Grand Line Adventures IC - Part 1

When we last left our heroes, they were about to enter a periolous bog, known as the Bracken of Decay...

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"Quite da' place, isn't it? It tink' it be makin' me feel nostalgic!" , Shallow cheerfully exclaims, looking over the situation with eyes, ears, and nose, before slowly trotting over whatever stable ground or trails there were to trot upon.

Perception:

"...Well, I suppose that the dangers of the bog would be a natural deterrent for escaping. I'll make sure that our "exit plan" bypasses it once we free the slaves." Torque kept a watchful eye out for any dangers.

Perception:

Zarhon wrote:

Perception:

You can identify some wolves likely an entire pack and one bear and from the sound of things they are each losing badly. While you can tell that there aren't any creatures nearby at the moment but there are just too many different scents to keep track of...

Lyntermas wrote:

Perception:

Torque manages to lead the group for sometime in the right direction but very nearly walks right into what looks like just another area of grass but is really a deep pool of water. Luckily Shallow does manage to spot this early enough to stop him. Also at this time Shallow notices an almost overpoweringly sweet aroma coming from some nearby pony sized flowers.

DM wrote:Torque manages to lead the group for sometime in the right direction but very nearly walks right into what looks like just another area of grass but is really a deep pool of water.

"Hoy! Careful dere', pon. Yah' may be able ta' swim, but I doubt yah' be da' only ting in dem' pools. Eyes on da' ground, an' all around. Keep an' eye ta' da' sky as well, mite' be snakes hangin' about."

DM wrote:You can identify some wolves likely an entire pack and one bear and from the sound of things they are each losing badly.

"Sounds like a pack a' canines be fitin' a bear. Let's try an' steer away from dat'."

DM wrote:Also at this time Shallow notices an almost overpoweringly sweet aroma coming from some nearby pony sized flowers.

Be careful of dem' large, sweet-scented flowers. I tink' dey' be a lure-plants, da' scent-lurin' kind, an' if I be guessin' rite', likely lure prey of our size. Dat', or dey mite' be venomous, and eager ta' defend dem'selves from predators like us. An' speakin' of scents, I tink' coverin' our snouts be a good idea. Who knows wat' hexxin' tings' be in da' air.", Shallow says, pulling out a small cloth, and covering his mouth and nose in it, to act as a crude filter against anything dangerous to inhale.  

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( OOC: Cloth conjured up with Magical Tricks, offering them to everypony if they want. How much am I penalized for scent tracking with the cloth on, if I am? Are the bear/wolves fighting each other, or are they fighting something I can't identify? Which of them are losing badly? Do we roll again to continue, or...? )

"Thanks for the assist, Shallow," Torque said, wrapping one the cloths around his snout. "I believe my mother researched some plants that were similar to those. These types of plants are unable to get most of their nutrients through photosynthesis, so they must get them through other sources. The scent is meant to attract the prey, which then becomes trapped and digested alive." Torque shuddered. "Primarily, the trapping takes the form of either a "mouth" that snaps shut when the prey touches it, or a sort of "pit" that is too slippery to climb out of. Of course, given that these are pony-sized, it is possible that they are more...active in obtaining prey."

Torque looked at the flowers (from a safe distance) and tried to see if there were any poor souls who had gotten trapped recently enough to be saved.

Perception:

Lyntermas wrote:

Torque looked at the flowers (from a safe distance) and tried to see if there were any poor souls who had gotten trapped recently enough to be saved.

Perception:

You can tell that the single plant that is not wide open has managed to catch something in the past few days or so. However based on the fact that the plant pod is completely still it is likely that it is too late to save whatever was caught.

(OOC: Assuming Torque informed us of the cadaver)

"I don't tink' we can do anyting' for da' poor ting' in dere', apart from give it a more decent burial. But den' again, it likely be best we don't stick around in dis' bog for too long. Anyone wanna mess wit da' flowers, or do we carry on ta' da' mansion?"

"In any case, if we are going to do anyting' about it, I tink' we'd need ta' get rid of da' rest of da' flowers first. Hmmm... Dose' ting's probably snap on da' first sign of movement, or don't care about wat' dey' eat. I tink' Boomer can come up wit' someting' adequate ta' 'feed' to dat' deadly bouquet, unless I be mistaken'?"

Perception:

Sixty-Two sighs. "Afraid I shan't be of much use in this environment, but at the very least I can contribute this: it would be most prudent for us to move along quickly, rather than stand here fudging about with the plant life." He looked down, sticking out his tongue a little. "Amongst other problems, this place is absolutely disgusting, no?

"You call this ugly?" Boomer comments with confusion. "I personally see it as wonderful place to gain some powerful resources for both bomb-making and ship upgrading... And that's just form what we know that the flora can give us... Who knows what goodies the fauna is just hiding in their biology!"

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. While some may find the biological implications facinating, I agree with 62 that time is of the essence. If the flowers are not directly blocking our path, I say we move on."

Torque joined Shallow in looking for a safe route through the bog. He also kept an eye out for some of the ironwood trees that Shallow had mentioned.

Perception:

Zarhon wrote:

Perception:

You manage to successfully lead the group further into the bog. Eventually you reach the edge of a large pool of water closer to a small lake. You can see that there is the remains of what was once a bridge now no longer fully stable spanning the water. Also you can see some plants moving around on either of the paths you could take around.

Lyntermas wrote:"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. While some may find the biological implications facinating, I agree with 62 that time is of the essence. If the flowers are not directly blocking our path, I say we move on."

Torque joined Shallow in looking for a safe route through the bog. He also kept an eye out for some of the ironwood trees that Shallow had mentioned.

Perception:

After some examination and reasoning you can tell that all the pieces wood sunk into the pools of acidic water are ironwood.

Torque tried using telekinesis to try pulling the pieces of ironwood out of the acid water. "Well, this might be a long-shot, but if the ironwood hasn't overly dissolved, we might be able to use it to reconstruct the bridge." Torque inspected the pieces to try and determine if they were salvageable.

Perception:

"...Um, I must confess it's been a while since I've dealt with carpentry. Could someone help give their opinion?"



"Hang on a sec, let's see what I can figure out. "  Tortoise Shell looked at the pieces that Torque had extracted. "On the one hand, that acid looks pretty darn potent. On the other hand, if this ironwood's lasted this long, it might be more durable than you'd think."

Perception:

"...Yeah, I'm not getting much either.  Anypony else want to take a look at this?"

Boomer takes a try at looking this over... Trying to figure out something to quickly build that'd help with the bog travel.

perception check:

Shallow looks within the pool, checking for acidic turtles, or other acidborn flora and fauna. He also takes a careful whiff of the hopefully non-acrid scents.

Perception:

Xel Unknown wrote:Boomer takes a try at looking this over... Trying to figure out something to quickly build that'd help with the bog travel.

perception check:

Boomer can see enough wood down in the water to maybe build a crude raft but not enough to build much more than that.

Zarhon wrote:Shallow looks within the pool, checking for acidic turtles, or other acidborn flora and fauna. He also takes a careful whiff of the hopefully non-acrid scents.

Perception:

Shallow can see at least four or five very large turtles moving around in the water some of them appear to be looking back at you. Your short whiff proves beyond a doubt that the pool is acidic just from the fumes coming off it.

"mmm... Anybody else think a small raft would be helpful for travel?" Boomer asks.

"Aye," Sixty-Two said, raising his hoof.

Torque raised an eyebrow at 62. "...62, you seem to be supporting both Shallow's plan to go around the lake (although I'm not sure if the moving plants are because of fauna or extremely active flora), and the plan to make a raft across the lake. While I am somewhat certain that the ironwood is good to use (given that it's managed to last so long), I'm not sure exactly how a pony who's afraid of water is okay with going on a flimsy raft over a lake of acid." He shrugged. "I'm open to ideas, however."

Torque looked over at the acid turtles and tried to remember if he had read about them being as territorial or dangerous as Shallow had thought.

History:

"Ah, well, you see, I support both of them because outvoting one side or the other means we go ahead and do that thing, no?" Sixty-Two smiled. "And I'm all in favor of getting out of here as soon as possible! It's quite simple, really!"

"Well, hard ta' make da' sides uneven wen' yah' pick both. An' if yah' want ta' get out, best way be ta' move yah' legs. So lets do dat'! We can probably pull da' Ironwood over from around da' otha side anyway, if we need it. Let da' turtles age in peace.", Shallow says, deciding to go down the left path around the lake, very carefully approaching the moving foliage.

Perception:

Zarhon wrote:"Well, hard ta' make da' sides uneven wen' yah' pick both. An' if yah' want ta' get out, best way be ta' move yah' legs. So lets do dat'! We can probably pull da' Ironwood over from around da' otha side anyway, if we need it. Let da' turtles age in peace.", Shallow says, deciding to go down the left path around the lake, very carefully approaching the moving foliage.

Perception:

You see that the disturbance is caused by a decent sized group of plants jostling over the fresh corpse of a bear. One of the smaller ones manages to spot you as it is pushed away from the bear...

Shallow slowly pulls out his spade. "Pons? I tink' I mite need a hoof very soon...." he says, as he prepares for a confrontation.

He also pulls out the strange, highly intoxicating drink he got from the self-passed-out bartender from yesterday, uncorks it, then attempts to sprinkle the small plants roots with some of it from a distance, or failing that, semi-gently tossing it towards whatever would equate to the "mouth" of the plant creature, so that it would "swallow" it and its liquid contents.

Athletics:

Initiative: