Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

Adran shrugged, "I don't know, I wasn't a part of that conversation, but uh.." Adran looked back to see Jeri nibbling at a fruit and fussing over Asta as her way of continuing to over-apologize for hurting him last night. "Jerry's not in right now."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Yeah... Another time then. I believe someone was going to teach Shuffle how to shoot straight as well.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Adran dipped his head. "Yeah, about that... we're kinda one door away from getting bodyswapped again, so I don't think it's a good idea to let her start playing around with that bow right now." Adran looked around for Shuffle to make sure she wasn't doing exactly that right now.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle was distracted eating at the moment. She kept glancing down at herself, but was otherwise just sitting around with her food.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yeah, she's fine." Adran nodded. "Anyway, once everyone eats we're gonna get going."

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina nodded. “Right.” She turned her focus to her food, not wanting the others to have to wait for her to finish.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Once everyone finished eating and packed up camp, Adran and Joanne helped the ones without thumbs put their masks on. "We're going to move on, so keep your masks on and try not to breathe the spores."

"I don't have... a mask," Jeri looked at the others confused, "Do I need a mask?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli spoke up. “You have an amulet on that protects you. Which reminds me, I more or less hid behind that amulet when we passed through before. I’m not sure about now, unless I just hold my breath until we’re passed.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That should work," Adran nodded, "And if you do end up affected, just hang on until we're through and then we can stop and you can ride it out- Jeri stop trying to take off the necklace!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli nodded. "Right."

Niudisa shook her head. "If only we could tie it on her. I'd hate to see what she does in someone else's body. Well...I'd hate to see what she does in my body, anyway."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry crossed her arms and pouted at being told to behave. It was weird, watching Jerry act like a child, even if it wasn't actually Jerry controlling the body.

Down the stairs the party went, leaving only the products of alchemy on their shelves and some tapestries behind as they made their way back to the fungus room. This fungus grew quickly, overnight it had spread to the jungle room below through the hole, and without its plant to keep it in check, completely taken over down there. "Last door," Adran opened the last door and the group moved down the hall outside the spore cloud, only removing their masks once Adran and Niudisa confirmed they were safe, and Jerry's Necklace of Adaptation stopped glowing to confirm that there was nothing in the air.

"I've decided I hate mushrooms," Adran announced once they were safe. Veo looked a little uneasy about that, but didn't say anything.

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli made sure to hold their breath as they rode on Erina's backside, with her permission, of course. They finally let it out once everything was clear. Erina looked at Adran. "Some of them are good, if you know which they are."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Nope, I've had the good mushrooms before, but after this I don't think I can stomach one again," Adran shook his head. "Never again." Veo shifted again, looking to the side. Briefly Emil could see the faintest bit of blue fungus at the lowest part of her horns, she seemed to have moved her hair to cover it.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil glanced at Veo before speaking up in conversation. "A passing discomfort, I'm sure. I've said the same for other foods myself, but to this day I eat them anyway."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Adran didn't reply and just kept moving.

Further on in the ruins, they came across an arena. Well, from the bits of stonework they could see, it had once been an arena, but now it was completely covered in plants. Apparently, this was where some of the other jungle plants had gone to. In fact, they could see the remains of a massive minotaur in the trunk of one of the trees. "That's..." Adran shook his head, "Step carefully, don't antagonize, just like with the last one."

 

[Fangs9090]

The others nodded their understand. The last one was enough of an ordeal, so none of them wanted to do it all again. Niudisa kept an eye out for spores.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Carefully, ever so carefully, the party made their way through the jungle. Occasionally a vine would move, and off in the distance they could hear a blight hound's yowl of pain suddenly cut off. Tendrils would exploratorily reach up to invesigate the party, trying to decide if they were food, but it was a lazy investigation, it didn't need them to eat, it just wanted to see if it could. It found Shuffle and Veo, sending a shudder down the redhead's back as the vines felt over her, and felt their sprouts, and then retreated like it had been bit.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa made sure to stay out of reach, watching the plants' reactions to them passing through. She especially took note of it's reaction to Shuffle and Veo. Shuffle herself seemed a bit confused. Erina and Emil watched the vines cautiously but kept their cool. Asta and Poli just hoped to be overlooked on Erina's backside. Fia tilted her head as she watched the vines. She didn't seem too concerned, well aware that she could burst into flames in an instant if she needed to.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Once the vines took off, the path almost seemed to clear up a bit, like the plant wanted them out of its territory, or possibly something else. In any case, whenever they stopped to figure out where to go next, a section would clear up as though the plant thought that was their path. it was usually right, as it seemed to be leading them to the exit. Once at the exit and on the other side, Adran gave a sigh of relief, not realizing he'd been holding his breath for some time. "I'm never eating salad again either."

 

[Fangs9090]

Many of the others seemed likewise relieved. Emil glanced back. “Odd that seemed to guide us through, but I won’t complain.”

Niudisa spoke up. “We have others of its kind among us, in a sense. It wanted us out of its territory.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Or maybe it was something else," Joanne offered, "If the species is territorial, perhaps it also cares for the young? The plant Veo possesses was only 'born' yesterday."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Hm, or that. I wonder how it views Shuffle then. She doesn’t have exactly the same condition, but it reacted similarly to her.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne thought about that for a moment. "When Jerry, Shuffle, and I were first beginning to purge the ruins, Jerry explained to me that when Shuffle partakes in the blood of creatures, she gains some of their traits. These plants use the host's body to survive, and when Jerry cut it, a black liquid came out. Shuffle partook in that liquid, perhaps it was the plant's blood, and she is the equivalent of a newborn, as her traits will not grow as Veo's will?"

"Can we please stop talking about this thing in my chest?", Veo pleaded.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa glanced at her. “It’s fascinating, when you don’t have one yourself. All my time practicing alchemy, and it’s the most interesting plant I’ve seen.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Shut up!" Emfa put a hand on Veo's shoulder to try and calm her down, but Veo brushed her hand off, blooms turning almost black as her horns grew thorns. "We're not doing this! Just shut up, or I will shut you up!" Adran, sensing that either Veo was on the verge of a breakdown or a fight was about to break out, readied a shield spell to put a bubble around Veo.