* Ske`dah-dal says something nonsensical, and Chee'trr dives into his pack and
begins rummaging.
* Several vinemen come swarming out of each of the side tunnels.  The ones
closer to Klizurk and Thunderstruck's wolfen owl friend merely close the
distance, while half a dozen converge on the dral on the other side of the
tunnel.  One of them hangs back and launches a spray of thorns at the
wolf-shaped Thunderstruck, while five more shamble past snapping jaws and swarm
his legs and flanks, battering ineffectually with prickly limbs.
* Laughing Bear holds his position for now.
* Thunderstruck howls and retreats back to his teammates, dodging all but one
attack as he goes. Out of immediate danger, the Dral shifts back into his
treeish form. "These creatures will not stop spawning. Killing them is futile.
There must be some source of energy and power farther in that is causing this.
We must push on!"
<Klizurk> Further in or further *in*?
<Ske`dah-dal> Would they stop if I blow up all their vines?
<Ske`dah-dal> I've never met a problem that couldn't be solved by more fire!
<Thunderstruck> Further into the mine. This is an unnatural disturbance; it must
have been caused by some intelligent thing. In all likelihood, this narrow
passageway will lead us to the power source.
<Laughing Bear> We'll go onward, then.
<Ske`dah-dal> Very well, then!
* Ske`dah-dal levels a finger at the vine men on the unoccupied side of the
tunnel and destroys them with another of his many balls of fire.
<Klizurk> Very well!
* Ske`dah-dal turns and scampers further into the tunnel.
* Fash retreats into the tunnel.
* Laughing Bear trots down the path - albeit carefully because of the slippery
green slime - after Ske and Fash.
* Klizurk turns and runs after the rest of the troopers, navigating the slime
like it was barely there. "Come on!"
* Vinemen continue to emerge from the side passages, lurching after the troopers
with mindless determination.
<Laughing Bear> Sorry! Short legs!
<Ske`dah-dal> ...why not fly?
* Laughing Bear clacks his beak ruefully. "Not enough space for the wings, I'm
afraid."
<Ske`dah-dal> Continue onward, I will guard our rear.
<Ske`dah-dal> These things cannot resist my rune fire.
* Ske`dah-dal moves further into tunnel, unleashing another ball of fire as he
goes.
* Thunderstruck retreats with his animal companion into the mine tunnel.
* Fash continues the slow retreat.
* Ahead of the troopers, the vines still choke the tunnel into a narrowing
passage that disappears behind a cloud or barrier of darkness that even the
kiths' darkvision cannot pierce.
* Laughing Bear plods on toward the darkness, everburning torch in hand.
* Klizurk speeds forward torwards The Darkness.
* More vinemen lurch down the hallway, and judging by the rustling among the
huge vines around the walls of the mine, they are already just behind the
troopers.
* Thunderstruck walks into The Darkness.
* The dral wades into some shallow water beyond the darkness, and just barely
pulls his leading foot back before stepping off of what must be a submerged
cliff or the edge of a water-filled pit.
* Thunderstruck's owl meanwhile navigates the unnatural darkness above the water
and emerges into the completely natural darkness beyond.  Unfortunately the
little creature can see no better there, and is forced to wheel back into the
darkness to rejoin the dral.
* Ske`dah-dal throws another fireball into the tunnel behind the group,
destroying a group of vine men and burning a patch of wall clear of vegetation.
* Fash approaches the darkness.
* Laughing Bear keeps moving, just reaching the southern edge of the darkness.
* Fash edges up to the pit and backs off. "There's a lot of water back here."
<Klizurk> Ske'dah, we have some unnatural darkness here.  I can't see through it
like normal: likely magical in nature.
* Thunderstruck calls back, "I'm in some watery hole. It seems to drop off into
a pit. Be careful."
<Klizurk> Well then.
* Klizurk starts to edge along the darkness, trying to feel a path around the
hole as she moves forward into it.
* Klizurk edges along the side of the darkness, carefully placing her feet as
she proceeds to the other side without falling, but not without nearly doing so
at one point. "Be careful, the side of the pit is very slippery and narrow."
* Nearly a dozen vinemen come rustling through the vines on either side of the
tunnel toward Ske.  They seem to be spreading out further now, their numbers
having been thinned considerably by the meer's fire blasts when they clumped
together.
* Thunderstruck looks around him, then turns back to  his comrades, "I will need
some help getting over this pit."
* Ske`dah-dal fires another ball of fire, clearing another patch of wall.
<Ske`dah-dal> Incoming, Thunderstruck.
* Ske`dah-dal reaches back over his shoulder, where Chee'trr chitters helpfully
and drops a rune into his hand. He steps back towards Thunderstruck, tosses him
the rune, and says "Slap the rune against your left breast and say 'reboot',
then fly across. You can transform back when you're sure you're across."
* Thunderstruck catches the rune in midair.
* Beyond the darkness, Klizurk notes a pair of huddled humanoid shapes about her
own size.  They don't seem to have noticed her yet, though.  Or if they have,
they aren't reacting to her in the way most humanoids would.
* Thunderstruck slaps the rune against his left breast and says, "Reboot!" His
form changes.
* Ske`dah-dal wiggles his tentacles at the oncoming vine men. "Bring it on! I've
been itching to do this ever since those officers tricked me into eating some of
that vile 'salad' concoction."
<Klizurk> We have enemies over here, but they haven't attacked me yet.
<Klizurk> Or even noticed.
* Thunderstruck flies over the watery chasm, reverting back to his normal form
on the other side.
* Ske`dah-dal calls out over his shoulder, "By the way, if anybody tells you
that's fleshcrafting, they're lying!"
* Without a light source, the dral is nearly as blind on the far side of the
chasm as he was on the near.
* Fash works her way along the pit carefully.
<Laughing Bear> Did you make it, Thunder?
<Thunderstruck> Yes, but I still can't see anything.
<Laughing Bear> Watch out over there. I'm going to try to jump.
<Ske`dah-dal> Thundersssssstruck!  How is the water?
* Thunderstruck shouts back. "There is a small edge where it is but a puddle. If
you move any farther in, you will find the end of a pit."
<Ske`dah-dal> I meant the temperature.
* Laughing Bear unfurls his wings, then takes a standing jump across the pit,
aided by a couple well-timed wing-flaps. He lands rather clumsily, tail-first,
in the shallow part of the water.
<Thunderstruck> It's cold, but not quite freezing.
<Laughing Bear> Ow.
* Klizurk laughs. "Watch that landing."
<Laughing Bear> I'll try to keep that in mind for next time.
* Klizurk roars as she takes her bastard sword and brings it down on the
human-sized vine man in front of her, impacting hard enough that it crumbles
into vines when the blow is finished.
* The crushed vineman shortly explodes in a cloud of spores that cover the mine
walls and hang in the air like floating sand.  Klizurk has the presence of mind
to hold her breath before much of the stuff gets into her nose and mouth.
* Back on the far side of the darkness, the smaller vinemen continue to shamble
and flail toward Ske.  Although the ones that were at the front of their group
have been destroyed, the remaining creatures appear to be undaunted.
* Suddenly, all of the approaching vinemen seem to expand for a moment before
releasing clouds of needle-like thorns with tiny popping sounds.  A few of those
needles manage to find Ske`dah-dal, and others strike fellow vinemen though the
thorns have no effect on the creatures.
* Ske`dah-dal steps back a bit, calmly takes another rune from Chee'trr's
obliging and ever so helpful paws, and sends a cone of flame roaring down the
tunnel, clearing more wall and incinerating several more vine men.
<Ske`dah-dal> HA.  I love fire.  This is the only reason I come out of the
water, I sssswear.
* Thunderstruck steps through The Darkness and swings at the shape of the large
vineman. A miss!
* Fash creeps forward.
* Laughing Bear scrambles wetly to his feet. "Goodness, what's going on up
there?"
<Klizurk> Killing time!
<Ske`dah-dal> Stop killing time and kill plants instead!
<Klizurk> Plants, time, same difference!
<Ske`dah-dal> I don't think plants and time are the same thing at all!
* Klizurk takes her weapon and strikes at the vine man, the hit it scored not
even noticeable on her. Fash also feels her wounds heal up with the hit.
* The larger vineman staggers, and flails its arms mindlessly at Klizurk with
little effect.  The spores continue to hang around the kith, but she continues
to hold her breath against them.  Beyond the darkness, the surviving vinemen
scrabble over the charred and smoldering remains of their fellows.  Even more of
the things begin to slide out of the earthen walls of the mine near the meer
with wet, slimy sounds.
* Ske`dah-dal takes a deep breath, steps forward into the cloud of spores, and
claps his hands together on another rune. And then the entire tunnel, for ten
feet in either direction, explodes into fiery fire.
* The vinemen and vines alike burn away in the flames, leaving behind charred
earth and clouds of smoke and spores.
* Thunderstruck takes another swing at the vineman, this time scoring a solid
hit.
* The larger vineman crumples under the blow, billowing with grainy spores as it
falls.  Thunderstruck and Klizurk both avoid inhaling the stuff.
* Fash dashes forward down the shaft, holding her breath to avoid inhaling
spores.
* The mine seems to end abruptly here, beyond the swirling mass of spores.
<Fash> "We are going into the water, aren't we?"
<Klizurk> Probably.
<Klizurk> Does this at least stop the pests from coming, Thunderstruck?
* Fash carefully feels along the nearby walls, hoping to find a break or a seam
leading to a hidden passage.
* The moist earth of the furthest area of mine wall remains curiously free of
any spores.  Fash's suspicions bear fruit when she searches that stretch of
wall, as her clawed hands pass through the wall as if it were as substantial as
the spore cloud that surrounds her.
<Fash> "Paydirt!"
<Klizurk> Find something?
* Thus disrupted, the wall disperses like so much smoke.  Beyond it the mine
opens into another small chamber, lit with its own eerie greenish glow.  On the
mine floor directly beyond the now-fading wall lie the desiccated remains of a
centaur.  The brown hair of its flanks is brittle and graying; skin and fur
alike are draped over a pile of barely-arranged bones, as if all the flesh and
blood had been sucked out of the creature in an instant.  Bits of leather and
metal are mixed up with the strange remains.
* Just beyond that macabre pile squats what appears to be a slender tree or
stout pole, suspended between the walls and floor and ceiling of the chamber by
thick cords of slime and vines bristling with razor-sharp thorns.
* The dim greenish light in this chamber appears to be cast by that pole, and it
gives off occasional pulses of brighter light in a slow rhythm.  A blob of
sludge falls from the ceiling and lands beside the dried-out husk of the centaur
with a soft splatter.
<Klizurk> Well.  That's... foreboding.
* Laughing Bear instinctively calls to hand his blade of fire as he steps
completely out of darkness and into a position to see the weird chamber.
<Klizurk> I don't know exactly what it is, but it's gonna be broken really soon.
* Klizurk steps into the room over the centaur corpse and starts hacking at the
vines. "There's a 'bit of a problem getting more than one of us in here, so I'm
clearing these vines out. Who knows, it might kill it too."
* Klizurk frowns. "There's something in here trying to mess with me, be
careful."
* Back beyond the darkness, only two vinemen remain and no more seem to be
forthcoming.  They shamble toward Ske, flailing as they come, but are unable to
get close enough to the meer to do any damage.
* Ske`dah-dal catches a rune flipped from Chee'trr's paw, chants a couple
strange words in meeri, and then snaps it in half. One flash of light later, and
instead of a squid and his otter, there are a pair of tiny bronze dragons taking
off into the tunnel, winging through the darkness, and skidding to a stop behind
Klizurk. The twin dragons stop, take a deep, dragony breath, and blast twin
bolts of power over each of Klizurk's shoulders.
* Klizurk manages to duck in time to avoid the brunt of the fire. "Careful where
you're aiming! It might seem like I'm immune to fire but I assure you, that's
not the case!"
* Ske`dah-dal gives a high pitched draconic chuckle. "That wasn't fire!"
* The bolts sizzle into the wood and plant matter and go coruscating along the
tendrils that hold it in place.  The light in the room seems to dim.
* Thunderstruck takes a step forward, draws out a pinch of wild cat hair from a
pouch at his waist, and presses it against Klizurk's shoulder. "Destroy this
vile abomination!"
* Fash steps to the side and fires on the demon plant, scoring two hits.
* The arrows stick from the plant thing like branches from a tree, and the
tendrils holding it in place quiver yet again as the light dims.
* Laughing Bear squeezes into the secret room with the cursed plant, next to
Klizurk.
* Klizurk roars and strikes forth again, hitting the plant creature this time
full force, with enough of an impact all evidence of Ske's stunt on her
completely vanishes as if she never was hit by the blast.
* Ske`dah-dal or maybe Chee'trr, it's hard to tell, sends one last bolt of
lightning into the room, sizzling not quite far enough over Klizurk's head, to
slam into the plant thing, and then the pair revert to their normal, and much
superior, forms.
* The plant thing's vines and tendrils snap free of the walls and writhe around
it like snakes.
* Thunderstruck removes a snake's skin from his pouch and chants a few words
under his breath. Druidic energies flow through Laughing Bear and Klizurk.
* Klizurk springs forth with sudden speed, taking her weapon and making a clean
strike down the creature's side, doing a fair bit of damage.
* Tendrils are sheared off of the thing by Klizurk's attack, and fall to the
floor, flopping uselessly around the slime.
* Laughing Bear is suddenly swift enough to deliver a quick chop with his flame
scimitar, which scorches its way through vegetable flesh.
* The tendrils that Laughing Bear chopped smolder and wither away from the
blade.
* Slime and vines slough away from the plant thing, dropping to the floor around
it in great wet blobs.  The thing drops as well, and as its outer shell slides
away the troopers can see its true shape.
* A pole of hard, reddish wood lies among the muck and glistens with residual
slime.  Over six feet long and seven inches across, the wood is carved with
figures: dragons with open maws and horses with manes flying, scorpions tails
and hawk talons and clenched fists.
* Ske`dah-dal whistles.
<Klizurk> Is that bloodwood?
<Ske`dah-dal> Come to papa.
* Ske`dah-dal steps forward, voice dripping with uncontained greed.
* Laughing Bear blinks at it. "What is it?"
<Fash> "Wow."
<Ske`dah-dal> Solid heartsblood.
<Klizurk> Amazing.
<Laughing Bear> Incredible. I've never seen its like before.
<Laughing Bear> Are those pictographs runes?
<Ske`dah-dal> I doubt it.
* Ske`dah-dal takes careful, loving hold of the wood and coos at it like a
mother with her new baby.
<Ske`dah-dal> You're such a precious little thing.  You're going to make a lot
of people VERY happy.
<Ske`dah-dal> You people should look around for any living copper.
<Ske`dah-dal> After all, not all of us are on the lookout for heartsblood.
* Laughing Bear nods as he hacks off a piece of bramble to bring back as a token
for his fetish.
* Laughing Bear then searches the centaur remains for anything he can take as a
trophy.
* Klizurk grins and starts searching for signs of this living copper. "You sound
just like my aunt did when she got to use Xanthinkan at the Battle of Angor.
Only you're not swinging that stick around wildly and trying to lob heads off."
<Ske`dah-dal> Oh, no, precious is FAR too valuable to swing around.  It might
break.
<Ske`dah-dal> That would be a tragedy.
<Fash> "So, any theories about what caused all of this?"
* Klizurk keeps looking. "That's the other thing. Xanthinkan is a finished
weapon."
<Laughing Bear> I wonder if this centaur fellow had anything to do with it.
* Laughing Bear is still crouching over the corpse, examining it.
* Thunderstruck takes out his dagger and begins hacking at the vines on the
walls of the mine. "We'll need to work through all of this overgrowth if we are
going to search this area thoroughly."
<Laughing Bear> Thunder, would you mind coming over here to help me with this
corpse? You seem to have a better idea of physiology and all that than I do.
* Thunderstruck puts his dagger away and walks over to the mess on the ground.
* Klizurk shrugs and starts chopping away at the overgrowth. "Weedwhacking it
is."
* Thunderstruck looks over skin and bones carefully, nodding as he goes.
Finally, he stands and speaks, "This creature had all of the water drained from
his body." Peering closer, the Dral kneels down once more, "There are tattoos
all over the skin. Ske, these might interest you. Also," He picks up several
pieces of metal, "Bracers, some earrings, and other items. We might as well take
them."
* The vines and slime are already beginning to lose much of the vigor they once
had.  Many of the largest vines are quickly drying out and becoming hollow
shells, so that chopping the material away is child's play.
<Klizurk> Do that, we can find out what to do with them later.
* Thunderstruck gathers up all of the standard items from the pile of Centaur
mess on the ground.
* Ske`dah-dal staggers out of the room under the weight of the heartsblood
plank.
* Laughing Bear scrambles to help Ske carry the plank.