[Fred] Chapter 7.1: Mana Flower

[Throndir]

You start to venture further into the cavern and tunnel complex. Soon enough, the amount of glowing roots started to lessen, however, there was still plenty about. The caverns were still quite wide and spacious, and there was still the same motes of light floating in the air much like it was back nearer the Spirit Tree. However, you made some sort of discovery, there was a glowing flower, similar to the glow of the Spirit Tree, but this one was dripping a glowing blue fluid, pooling into a glowing pool beneath it. There was much more life around there too, not just the glowing blue flowers, but other glowing fungi and mushrooms. There were crystals nearby too which was glowing much more brighter than usual.

Exploration Log

Spoiler

Exploring Spirit Tree, Section 1
Filiane fails to create map of Spirit Tree, Section 1.
Go Deeper, success. Now in Spirit Tree, Section 2.
Filiane fails to create map of Spirit Tree, Section 2.

[close]

Current Area: Spirit Tree, Section 2
Current Time: 4 PM
Roles & Formation

Spoiler

Scout: Eris, 120 ft. in front of Point Guard
Point Guard: Lai Fen, 10 ft. in front of Guide and Cartographer.
Guide: ?
Cartographer: ?, has Torch, 20 ft. bright light, 40 ft. dim light.
Rear Guard: Lai Ju, 15 ft. behind of Guide and Cartographer.

[close]

Areas
Area: Spirit Tree, Section 1, Not mapped
Area: Spirit Tree, Section 2, Not mapped

[Linwelin]

"Does...anyone know what that is? Usually, flora that glows isn't the good kind. But I don't know how it is here. It looks like it's supplying energy to the area, so I think it could be good? Fred didn't know how to react to this find.

"One thing is for sure. It's a beautiful flower. Do we try touching the liquid? Maybe tasting it?"

Since it seemed magical, Fred looked toward Eris and Filiane, hoping they might have more information.

How large is the flower, by the way?

[Throndir]

The flower was large, about 2 ft. in radius.

Both Eris and Filiane looked towards it, but Eris shook her head. "I haven't seen anything like this before. It looks similar to the tree where we laid Shuren to rest, and some of the glowing roots we had passed by. Well, in terms of the glow. But no, not this particular flower."

Filiane sighed as she looked at her make-shift map that she was trying to make. There were a lot of erasures on it, and lots of attempted fixes on the map. "I'm sorry, hero. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable, and at least better than the average at map-making, but no... I don't know what this is. I feel like I remember reading something about large flowers such as these back in my homeland, but I can't recall right now."

Lai Fen crouched down to the liquid that was dripping from the flower. She poked at it, as some liquid went on her fingertips. "Well, it doesn't hurt to touch..." She glanced towards the rest of you, and held her finger out. "How do you think it tastes?"

[Linwelin]

"Hmm, none of you know, huh? Well, I'll taste test it. I've drank more questionable things in my past, after all." Fred said, seeing that it at least didn't hurt to touch. He crouches down next to the pool, cups one hand, and takes a small sip.

Fred drinks from the pool.

[Throndir]

The taste was sweet, with a hint of almonds. It actually tasted quite good. It was refreshing, and it felt like it made you more awake and alert. Seeing you take a sip, Lai Fen stuck her in finger in her mouth too tasting the liquid. She nodded approvingly.

"Well, it doesn't taste too bad at all, it's actually pretty good. Lai Fen said as she began to uncork an empty canteen.

It was Eris who crept up to the pool as well. "The drink would be good... the status of my feet is probably tired." She said. You noted she said status, her sentence itself seemed a bit awkward, but none of the others really noticed. She glanced at something invisible in front of her, and she too took a sip of the liquid. She nodded a moment later, and you saw her briefly meet eyes with you.

[Linwelin]

Ohhhh right! It can be used like this...And I can't believe she's been using status like that this whole time. Sneaky Eris!

Fred muttered to himself after nodding back. "Status." Hoping to see any new current conditions.

[Throndir]

Your status screen appeared, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Fred Pragtige
Well-Appreciated
Level 20

Condition: Uninjured, Refreshed

HP: 24/24
MP: 40/40
KP: 17/17
STR: 16
DEX: 28
CON: 13
INT: 11
WIS: 24
CHA: 19
MAG: 21

Blessings: Quick Learner, Mana Sensitivity, Translate Languages, Personal Status, Status, Destroy

"How's your status hero Fred? And I'd love to share some of this with everyone..." Eris said seemingly staring at the pool in front of her, though you could tell that her she was actually instead looking at something else. She dipped her hand into the pool as well, then brought it up to her lips. The moment she said 'share', her stats appeared in front of you.

Eris Alaster
Inspected
Level 53

Condition: Uninjured, Slightly Tired

HP: 112/112
MP: 179/227
KP: 34/34
STR: 22
DEX: 47
CON: 23
INT: 20
WIS: 18
CHA: 15
MAG: 46

Blessings: Quick Learner, Mana Sensitivity, Translate Languages, Personal Status, Smoke Melding, Powered Magicka

She then took a sip of the glowing liquid again, and her current MP went up from 179 to 183.

[Linwelin]

"Oh! Wow!" Fred says as his eyes widen, trying not to look at the original discoverer too much. "This liquid restores mana! No wonder it tastes so good!" Fred looks at the large pool and flower before him. "It's only by a small amount with each sip, but this seems like a great find."

Seeing Lai Fen with a canteen, Fred gets a little frustrated with himself. "I didn't even think of bringing a way to carry more liquid, just a pack for solid objects...next time." Of course, Fred had brought water to drink as well, but he wasn't willing to discard it for the liquid, just in case the mana restoration didn't also quench thirst.

Well, I guess we'll keep exploring this area once we've obtained as much of the mana liquid as possible. I wish there was a way to move the flower to camp, but it's large, so I doubt we can. Right?" Fred looked around to see if everyone agreed with his words.

[Throndir]

"If we move it... we'll have to dig out and move the roots as well. To keep it safe for transport, we could potentially empty out one of our bags then let someone else carry more than usual." Filiane said pushing some of the flower away to take a look at it's base.

"Unfortunately, I didn't think we'd be digging up things on our little escapade. But if anything, we could use our weapons to free it and carry it with us. We have some tools back in camp."

[Linwelin]

"The bigger issue would be keeping it alive, yes? I think it may be better to leave it for now and come back later to gather it safely." Fred concluded, after a bit of thought. "I think that's the best course of action, as given the circumstances, having this alive at our current based would be extremely helpful. Do you think we can make it back here relatively easy if we try?"

[Throndir]

"Well..." Filiane looked at her map. "I feel like exploring this area a bit more and perhaps backtracking would help me figure things out better. But... I'll mark it down at least."

You can find specific point of interest in an area by making a Survival check as a Guide, at a higher DC than the norm for the area. If you can figure out any other way for you to leave tracks behind, that would work as well and give you a +2 or +4 circumstance modifier to your roll. Otherwise that would be a Survival check to backtrack following tracks. You can view the track rules here for reference: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/survival

[Linwelin]

"Well, just to make things easier, we should probably leave a trail..." Fred says, taking out his ranseur. "I'll be back." He says as he goes toward the tunnel they'd just come from. Upon entering it, Fred puts the haft of the spear into the soft ground, dragging it all the way through the tunnel until there is a spit in the path, or it opens to a new room. Once done, he wipes his brow and heads back.

Once back, he explains to the group, "It's not much, but I've at least marked the tunnel we came here through so it'll be easier to find and notice if we come across it. Just dragged a line through the dirt, but it's something. I would do more, but I didn't want to get lost." Fred shrugs at his simple plan. "Shall we continue on?"

[Throndir]

"That's a good plan Fred. We'll come back for this later."