Once again, Luja was able to react quickly - whether due to quick reflexes or panic, it didn't really matter.

Zem, still standing well back of the owlbear, is taken off guard when the vines begin to move. He reaches for a flask of alchemist's fire and then hesisitates, not wanting to waste the expensive liquid so soon. He stands there thinking, paying no attention to the ambush of his companion in favor of a moment of thought.

"Velve! I've got a plan, but you'll need to act fast!"

Luja's right hand seems to turn a sickly brown colour for a brief moment, and almost instantly Velve's armour turns that same colour. It appears to be... stained, for want of a better word.

"Try not to get killed!"

(Better not use alchemists fire than... Tee hee)

Zem watched Velve struggle with the vines, pondering an important question: which of his spells would work on a plant? He didn't want to use the alchemist's fire, because he had heard somewhere that the berries of an assassin vine made a very good wine--and he never passed up an opportunity for a good wine if he could help it.

He hummed a brief tune as he drew another pinch of sand out of his pouch. The grease that Luja had cast on Velve's armor might help him escape the cluches of the vines, but Zem was tiring of the problem posed by this plant. It was time to end this. He spoke a few soothing words and gestured with the sand, casting it accross the clearing towards the vines.

(I can't believe this) As Zem casts his sands, the vines fall limp.

Velve seems rather irritated of the fact that he is cover in grease, but glad that the vine has ceased to move. So he hacks the vines till he feels sure that they stay still.

He thanks Zem, and then looks at Luja "What was that?!?"

(You all get 450XP. 400 for the encounter, and an extra 50 for role-playing experience.)

Luja grins sheepishly. There is only one thing he could possibly bring himself to say.

"I was lubricating you."

Semong, who had been shocked by the swirl of recent events, broke into laughter.
"Ha! This is something I should probably forget when I sing ballads to our honour."

Velve walk towards Luja"Why? What benifit would lubricating me be? How is that suppose to help me?"

"You saw what it did to the owlbear, didn't you? It grabs things and restrains them. If you were slippery, then you could slip out of its grasp. It doesn't matter though, the grease has gone now."

Zem ignored the explanation Luja was giving Velve and walked over to the fallen vines. Taking a leather pouch out of his pack he began picking the berries that had survived Velve and the owlbear. Soon he had filled his pouch. He put it back in his pack, satisfied.
"Amazing that these things aren't poisonous," he said to himself.

The rain lessened to a droning sound as the adventurers stood around, twiddling their thumbs.

Bored with talking to Velve, Luja recovered the arrow of his that had struck the owlbear. It hadn't gone in deep, and so he was able to tear it out of the monster's flesh without much difficulty.

"At least the rain's not as bad now. Let's go."

"Right you are, Velve." Semong strode on again.

Hmmm, seems like you all have played D&D before. Alas, I am a newb and will have to wait for the next game. Great job so far though.

Zem held out a hand and considered the few droplets that splattered it. He shook his head. It wasn't raining as hard as it had been, but it was still enough that he didn't think it wise to bring out the map again. He followed Semong down the path, hoping that they were still going in the right direction.

(Who needs a map? I can just tell directions by the trail of bodies I leave behind...)

After much walking, the forest canopy thins a bit, and rounding a bend you see a massive stone gate, completely overtaken by thorns. On either side there is a wall, coated and degraded by roots and vines. Through the gate you can see the city; glimpses of limestone beneath nature's abundance. It would have been a beautiful place, arches and buttresses abound, steeples and turrets reaching up into the weeping sky, city squares with grand fountains, and pillared buildings led up to my mighty steps. Now there was dirt all over, and the rain had made things muddy. The stone was corroded by twisting flora and sounds echoed in the most peculiar way.

"So," Zem said, gazing up at the thorn-covered gate. "Chances are this is the place, eh? Thornsgate." He shook his head. "How original." He idly broke one of the thorns off the gate and examined it. Shrugging, he gestured grandly to his companions. "After you, dear comrades."

Velve walks towords to gate, making sure that there are no more vines, he opens the gate, walks in and then has a quick look around.

He then turns to the other, "Come on! Nothing to be afraid of".

Luja took one look at the remains of Thornsgate and sighed.

"Somebody really ought to have a chat with nature about respecting building code."

He then began to follow Velve in.

OOC: My posting here might be a little erratic for a couple of weeks, because it's going to depend on whether or not I can get interent in the hotels I'll be staying at. Just letting you all know.

IC: Zem watched for a moment, then followed Velve and Luja through the gate when nothing jumped out at them. Better safe than sorry.

Semong strode in behind Zem and admired the grandeur of the place. Its view opened up to him every step he took beyond the gate.

(Actually BeeL, a natural twenty gives you +10, so you got 34.)

Entering Thornsgate the group stood around in awe of the place. Velve's eagle eyes however were looking over the drizzly place as the sun began to set covertly behind the clouds.

Velve adverts the rest of the of the group by tapping them on the shoulders, he signals them to be quiet, then he points his hand down the main road. He has noticed some hooded figures in a circle on top of a dais, and they seem to be moving around something in the centre of their circle.

"So then," Zem whispers. "Black-robed cultists, I would guess? I suggest we listen in on what they're doing before taking any hasty action."

"I'll give it a go." Luja whispers. "But don't expect much."

Semong speaks up "I can make myself invisible, both figuratively and literally. I think I should go forward instead," but was instantly silenced as Luja had already begun to sneak ahead.

(They're about 80 ft away.)

Sputtering and coughing, Varstl emerges from the tangle of vines draping down from the gate behind the group. His boots are filthy, leaves and twigs are stuck in his beard, and his traveling pack seems to be crammed, if possible, even fuller. By his posture, not to mention the remains of assassin vines stuck to his shortsword, it's obvious he's been hacking through the forest after them for quite some time. He sighs under his breath as he spots the group, but otherwise makes no mention of his trek.

"Ah, I thought the owlbear was yours," he growls in a low voice. "You all have yet to evade me."

Varstl takes a moment to pick a particularly pointy twig out of his beard.

"Not that it's difficult. Whoever's wearing the oversized boots makes tracks like small canyons; it doesn't take a ranger or survivorman to find you all. But a lecture about stealth another time, we're stopped for a reason. What are we--"

Velve silences the Varstl by putting his hand over his mouth, then he turns the dwarf's head in the direction of the hooded beings.

(It's up to you BeeL. Did you throw the torch at his feet while he's standing next to you, or do you withdraw the action?)