Scene 4: The Tower

As the party steps through the dungeon door, it is clear they are finally entering the bottom of the tower as evidenced by the stone staircase curling upwards. Candlelight illuminates a pair of doors on the next floor and reflects off scattered treasures in the basement and on the stairs. Through the broken pieces of floor, the adventurers see scattered sunlight streaming in from higher floors. Brightly colored plants grow thickly throughout the basement. A skeleton tucked in the corner is almost engulfed in plants. A spider that must have sneaked through is skittering along narrow empty paths through the plants, but a leg touches a beautiful large petal and it freezes and shrivels up.

The silver piece flips in the air, bounces off the skeleton's head, and lands on one of the bright plant's petals. It smokes a little and the edges turn black, but it remains on the petal. Alax holds the silvered frying pan close upon watching the coin turn color.

Firina does see another oversized spider in the shadows, also avoiding the plants. Hindle, Merton, and Alax stay near the entrance for now, evaluating their next moves. Leana steps towards the flowers and tries to use her knowledge of plants and the reaction of the spider to determine its identity.

Upon closer inspection, Leana determines these are actually flowering shrubs called Ginger Lady oleander, known as one of many poisonous plants imported to the area. The sap the petals release can cause enough damage to instantly kill a weak creature like a spider and would cause substantial damage to the party if multiple plants are touched.

Brickowsky peers around Leana's inspection and lets out a little cry of delight. The Ginger Lady oleanders are dangerous, but the vitriol, the poisonous sap, could be collected to make elixirs of necrotic resistance. He tried to remember how they were often harvested. Fire was definitely a no go as it would aerosolize the sap, poisoning their lungs instead. If fire wouldn't work, shouldn't its opposing element, ice, work well?

Clever use. I always forget about how handy that spell can be. :)

Leana takes water out of her canteen and flicks it over to the plant the spider touched, using her magic to direct the water onto a leaf and then freezing it. The leaf is perfectly encased in ice and falls off the plant. A thick black sap slowly oozes out from the severed plant limb as the frozen leaf cracks apart on the exposed stone floor. Even from here, the group can smell a sweet, almost sickly scent from the sap. Brickowsky looks on excitedly and exclaims, "That's the vitriol needed to make an elixir of necrotic resistance!"

Meanwhile, Hindle is trying to track a path through the plants, looking for both safe access to the stairs and avoiding dangerous plants or traps. A tingle in the back of his mind and a sharp smell of salt water invades his senses as he realizes the plants with pink petals zigzag through the foliage and make a path to the stairs! They are smaller than their brethren and the party could have a higher chance of making it through without touching a caustic petal. He looks up as well. Maybe they could build something to take them above the plants?

Brickowsky only has to crouch down a little to gather the vitriol that flows from the injured plant. As he does so, Firina and Leana discuss how to get across safely, considering Hindle's suggestions to follow the pink plants with aid of a walkway. Hindle takes the door off its hinges and disassembles it to make narrow planks for the walkway. Merton nods at Hindle's plan and says "I'll grab some more from the dungeon." Merton and Alax go to fetch barrels and the bench to add to Hindle's wood planks for the walkway.

Firina is a little surprised as Hindle starts talking to what seems like thin air. Miet, meanwhile, gives a little rebellious huff, but carefully hovers well above the plants and along the stairs to the next floor to look for treasure.

Around the skeleton, she sees loose coins scattered about its bones. In its death grip, it holds a leather book and a shiny piece of parchment pokes out of the top.

As she flies around the spiraling staircase, an alcove just out of the party's view holds a shiny lantern, a green light glows out of glass that almost looks like an eye.

She flies back down and does a finishing sweep of the basement. On the far end of the room, a shelf full of bottles and paraphernalia like they saw in the dungeon. Of note, a red and yellow potion sit on the highest level.

Hindle stops halfway up the stairs to look into the alcove with the strange lantern. The lantern itself shimmers and shines more than its metal should and a green light glows out of glass that almost looks like an eye. Merton sidles up and looks around Hindle. "Shiny. A little creepy. Are we taking it?"

Alax shrugs, not sure what fascinates Hindle so, and continues up to the next floor with the pair of doors illuminated by candlelight from sconces on each side. Firina follows, cradling the book and spell she adroitly collected on the way up. With Brickowsky finished up with gathering the vitriol, Leana and Brickowsky join Alax and Firina to wait on the second floor for now.

Miet scouts ahead of the party, not noticing anything more of interest on the way to the second floor. She sneaks a peek on the stairs up to the third floor and finds an identical pair of doors with sconces illuminating it. Another spider skitters about on the third floor and then disappears out of sight around the spiraling staircase. Miet decides to wait and returns to Hindle's side.