“Wait, Morrigan, perhaps-”

Melodia tries to warn the tiefling, but they are a victim of their own hubris. Skeletons piloted by vines, presumably from the weeping willow at the other end of the cavern, rise from the sea of moss and attack the group.

Her grandfather may be the Lord of Ghouls and she may have a ghost for a motherly figure, but that doesn’t mean Astrid likes mindless undead any more than anyone else. Surprise manifests in the small triton in the form of her whole self suddenly puffing up, looking like a balloon trapped within armor with tiny spines poked out in every direction. Astrid, of course, didn’t expect that to happen, and feeling herself inflate is an odd feeling to pile on with the surprise.

No, no, no, this is too much. Out of some panic or habit, Astrid holds her hands out in front of her and shouts, “STOP!” Magic bursts out from her hands. Suddenly, the living bones freeze in place, in some cases mid-step or mid-attack. Anything stopped mid-motion rattles and in some cases falls over. The vines try to force the skeletons to move, but magic holds them firmly. This won’t last forever though. Even Melodia is affected, floating in place and looking confused and mildly distressed.

“Uhh…. Make a break fer it!”

Astrid whips out her hammer and rushes across the room, flinging her hammer into the skeleton holding Morrigan and shattering it enough for them to get away.

---

Call Ghost [post 2/3]
Halt Undead - undead unable to move/take actions for 1 post

Morrigan was too distracted to hear Melodia’s uneasy warning as they approached. The sudden emergence of the moss-covered, vine-puppeteered undead creature clinging to them, on the other hand, served as a pretty damn good indicator that they needed to back the fuck up.

Morrigan shrieked, scrabbling to whack the undead off of them before they took a solid blow to the chin, making them see stars. Stumbling, Morrigan blindly swung their tail at the thing hanging off of them, slicing at moss and soggy overgrowth with the blade still attached to their tail. It cut off part of the zombie’s arm, but not enough to free them from its grip. Morrigan began to panic, lashing out with their tail again, trying to hit anything at all.^[1]

“Ack, you foul, decaying creature, get-“

WHACK

“-Off-“

WHACK

“-Me!”

But their desperate, flimsy attempts to free themselves did nothing. In the distance, they could hear Blue Raspberry fighting more of the undead creatures, but help felt distant, until the moment that they heard Astrid Stormstone’s cry, and everything came to a standstill. Morrigan kept whacking at the zombie - for a moment, they thought they’d been the one to finally halt its progression, until they looked up and noticed everything had stopped moving, even Melodia.

“What just happened OH MY GODS WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT.” Morrigan screeched, narrowly missing the flying hammer that rammed into the zombie clinging to them, smashing it to smithereens and blasting Morrigan with the debris. Some of it even flew into their mouth, forcing them to let out a weak cough and spit it back out.

“Eugh! This place is disgusting!” They shouted, but after Astrid Stormstone’s warning they wasted no time hitting the pavement, making a mad dash for the tree. They just had to make it to the willow before the undead woke up again -

Those hopes were shot as the ground stirred the closer they got to the tangled knot of thick, gnarled roots and even more moss-covered zombies rose from the ground. The closer they got to the cursed tree, the more its defense systems kicked in, zombies inching ever-nearer towards them and vines that sprouted through the earth writhing through the air. Morrigan skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding getting hit by one of the vines that the tree swung at them with enough force to knock them off their feet.

“Whoa!”

They were gonna need more firepower if they were going to get rid of this infestation. Morrigan dug through their bag, pulling out a handful of explosive baubles that they juggled between deft hands for a moment, searching for something to set off the bombs, only to grimace when they came up empty.

“I don’t have a catalyst!” They shouted back at the other two, catching the ornaments and staring at the two expectantly. “I don’t suppose either one of you has anything?”

Astrid Stormstone leveled them with a deadpan stare that read, what kind of cruddy alchemist doesn’t have anything to help them start a fire?

“Oh, leave me alone.” Morrigan snapped. “It’s been a rather trying day.”

She only rolled her eyes, but approached Morrigan nonetheless, pressing a gloved hand to each of the ornaments in Morrigan’s hands. The simple touch lit them up with crackling electricity - even just holding them in the palm of their hand, Morrigan could tell they were powerful.

A devilish grin lit up their features. “Oh, yes, this will do.”

Morrigan threw the three lightning-charged bombs all in different directions, shouting out, “Fire in the hole!”, letting Astrid know to set them all off. All at once, the area lit up with lightning-infused Dragon’s Cradle explosive powder, lightning and fire raining down on the zombies and the plants.^[2,3]

Oh, Morrigan always did enjoy fireworks.

---

1. Prehensile tail (with dagger possessing pale ice enchantment attached to tip)
2. Explosive Ornaments (3/3)
3. Thunder Bomb (Astrid)

While explosions rocked the cavern and scattered bits of bone and root around, the mossy skeletons started to slowly regain their ability to move. One leg twitched here, one arm began to tremble there. Astrid's spell wasn't going to hold much longer. While they still had the chance, Blue dropped to all fours as their body began to morph, growing and stretching, fur sprouting across their whole body until they had become a giant, silvery furred wolf.

One frozen zombie had barely regained enough of its movement only for it to be able to snap its gaze upwards to see the giant wolf maw clamping down around it. The vine connected to it snapped as the skeleton vanished into the ooze's gullet. Yes, while they were all frozen thanks to Astrid's spell was the perfect opportunity for the ooze to go on an eating spree. Not only to sate their insatiable hunger, but also to help clear a way to the trunk of the giant willow tree.

The giant silver wolf blazed a trail through the horde, scooping up any zombie in their path as they dashed toward the center of the huge cavern. The tree itself seemed to take offense to the approach as more vines began to come down and lash at them along with Morrigan and Astrid.

A group of vines suddenly twisted around each other to form one thicker, larger tendril that swung down directly at the wolf. Thankfully, the impact wasn't too harmful as a tendril of silver fur shot out of each of the wolf's shoulders to absorb most of the impact, but they were still sent flying backward, tumbling and rolling directly over more zombies who seemed to just vanish into the wolf's fur as it rolled them over.

All around, more clusters of vines twisted together into larger tendrils, prepared to strike at the group.

---

Shapeshifter Plate
Dancing Chain

With Morrigan freed and screeching, Astrid rushes ahead. But for them to present an explosive option with no means of actually exploding it... The gods would turn in their graves at the situation. See this is exactly why she just uses regular magic to make things happen. Digging around in a bag for all the alchemical stuff seems so tough. She can barely keep up with the few potions she does have. 

That's alright though. A devious grin spreads across her face. "I'll do ya one better," she says, hopping over a moss mound to send a wave of electrical energy into the explosives. "When ya throw 'em, I'll explode 'em!" Morrigan's expression reflects her own, and for a brief moment, she thinks maybe the two of them could get along under the right circumstances. Maybe.

The magic holding back the undead breaks just as Morrigan releases the bombs into the air around them. Groans are immediately replaced by a cacophony of electrified explosions behind him. Shrapnel pieces from the explosives stay electrified as they blast out and strike other zombies as movement starts to retake the bones. The explosions combined with the effects of her spell knock everything to the ground in the area. 

Astrid lets out a triumphant laugh, noticing Blue's become a wolf. They get smacked away by the tree, and she skids to a stop, ready to turn back to go help them. "Blue!!" A skeletal hand bursts up from the moss and grabs Astrid's ankles just as she starts to run again, nearly tripping her, but defensive electricity strikes out at the hand, running along its bones and paralyzing it in place.

"Astrid, watch out!" Melodia cries, rushing across the room. 

As if the tree could feel or be angry, its vines twist together into a massive arm swinging directly at the approaching group. Its shape looms over them like the shadow of an angry giant ready to strike. Astrid's eyes go wide, and she tries to pull her foot free, but vines slither up the skeleton and wrap around her leg too. Here comes the vine!

Whipping her war hammer around, Astrid points the head toward the tree with her arm extended. Cold mist swirls around the girl and travels up the head of her hammer before it focuses into a tiny point of blue light. Then the light shoots out of the end of her hammer and strikes the vine, pulsing with icy magic. The power of white draconic frost creeps along the massive collection of vines, freezing it in place. Wind buffets Astrid's cape and frills as she holds the beam steady, but it's quickly draining her mana reserves, and movement while focusing on this is impossible. 

---

Thunder Bomb
Storm Lord (electromancer L4, passive) - shocks and paralyzes anything that touches you
Frost Pulse

Morrigan and Astrid’s combined explosives did the trick - flashing fire and lightning danced through the cavernous room, lighting up still-wet vines and zombies. But it wasn’t enough. The undead were beginning to come to their senses, and Blue Raspberry - who was a wolf, for some reason? - had already jumped into battle, swallowing up the creatures threatening Astrid and Morrigan.

Things started to fall apart when a handful of vines gathered together and knocked the wolf away, throwing them in the opposite direction of the hammer. Morrigan whipped around at Astrid’s cry just in time to watch her nearly get pulled under by one of the skeletal hands hidden in the moss. She shocked it away without much thought, but there was a bigger threat looming on the horizon. She focused a massive blast of ice-cold energy into the vine, freezing it in place.

An opportunity - one that wouldn’t last forever, if the strained look on her face meant anything. Morrigan needed to capitalize on this. They grabbed the bag of gag chocolates from their pouch, grabbing a mint chocolate and popping it in their mouth.^[1] In addition to Astrid’s beam of pure frost magic, a blizzard began to form in the air around them, sucking the moisture from the tree to feed the cloud. Snow began to fall, further freezing the vines and the tree. Morrigan shivered, pulling their coat further around themselves in an attempt to stay warm. The ghost pepper chocolate was offered to Astrid.

“Here. You need to stay hot and keep yourself limber.” They stammered between clenched teeth, shooting her a begrudging look. Loathe as they were to admit it, she was the heavy hitter in their group. They unfurled their fan, ready to take on any more zombies in their way to the tree, before Astrid gestured for them to give the spicy pepper chocolate to Blue Raspberry once more. With a shrug, they made their way over to where the wolf had fallen, ready to feed him the spicy chocolate.

---

1. Blizzard Chocolate

Silver Wolfberry started to get back to their feet, but suddenly began to feel a chill through their whole body. Snow was somehow falling inside the underground cavern and the temperature was plummeting. The ooze's body began to freeze up from the cold, the semiliquid substance they were comprised of beginning to solidify. They stood up, moving sluggishly, back to their feet. How did this happen!? They weren't in Frostgale! Why is there a blizzard here?

As they thought that, they suddenly had a chocolate held in front of their face by Morrigan. Was that the same chocolate they'd had before? Perfect! That was just what they needed! Without hesitation, they clamped their mouth over Morrigan's whole arm and slurped up the chocolate before pulling their mouth away and leaving Morrigan's robe soaked in silver drool-like slime.

They felt the same feeling as they had before and Astrid and Morrigan could both see the silver color of the wolf's fur quickly changing as if the metallic wolf was being heated up inside a forge. The wolf's fur began to glow red hot, the snow that had fallen onto their back melting away and then evaporating off of them. The area around the fiery wolf was much warmer compared to everywhere else, even a little uncomfortably hot from the radiating heat.

That felt so much better! They really hated the cold! They happily licked their lips and went back to chomping down on the zombies that were near Astrid. Their rush toward the tree had failed, so they decided they would be better used protecting Astrid while she was immobile thanks to her spell and keeping her warm by being near her.

---

Dragon Chocolate- Heat Wave

Feeling herself grow faint with the heavy toll of the icy beam, Astrid halts the spell. The last of the magic shoots forth from her hammer. Despite its weightlessness, she lets it lower with tired breaths heaving her shoulders. The frost from her blast crept up across many of the vines that were raining water on them from above. Now, tiny frozen icicles fall on them like a vengeful hail. It's more an inconvenience than anything.

Luckily, Morrigan's blizzard hold the plants piloting the undead. Things are still around the group for a moment.

A loud crack emanates from the tree as its strained movement causes the frozen collection of vines to break off and fall to the ground. It shatters on impact, sending brittle bits of frozen foliage scattering across the chamber. The willow groans, or at least its attempted movement groans. The black crystalline trunk of the willow has a layer of frost and many of the holes that previously poured water have frozen over. Whatever the water's source, it does not stop, and pressure builds behind the icy armor coating the tree. There's another series of cracking, but it's difficult to tell if it's the ice or the trunk of the otherworldly tree itself. Something's about to give.

They managed to get to Blue Raspberry’s side, feeding the wolf the piece of chocolate. The wolf-knight turned the same bright shade of red that they had earlier in the evening, uncomfortably so - Morrigan had to lean back to prevent from burning from the simmering heat in the air. They darted to Astrid, curling around the tiny terror protectively while she finished her spell. Even from here Morrigan could tell that she wasn’t going to be able to keep up with this much longer.

But where her strength was beginning to wane, Morrigan’s potion held true. The Willow’s tears were frozen, though that didn’t stop the building emotions in its labored movements, attempting to break through the thick layers of ice. The building dam was about to burst.

“Look out!”

Morrigan could be surprisingly quick when they wanted to be, considering their short stature. But rarely did they move with such urgency guiding them, genuine fear in their pace. Fumbling hands reached for another potion, a familiar rainbow concoction that had saved their ass plenty of times before. And the entire time they moved closer, ripping the cork out of the bottle with their teeth and downing the contents, was one single thought.

I can’t let Astrid Stormstone and Blue Raspberry get hurt here! Cantio Von Lumen might actually break his promise of pacifism to kill me! Kamille would roast me like a marshmallow! God, the only thing scarier than this kid’s family is the kid herself!

Morrigan got close enough to latch onto the two of them, and just before the ice could explode, the world erupted in a burst of rainbow.

---

1. Kvasir’s pride of Solaria (1/2)
Casting Circle if Life

Shards of ice and wood blasted in every direction. Trenches and craters were gouged out of the mossy stone floor. Pieces of the walls and ceiling fell down, rocks splashing into the water as the shrapnel impacted them hard enough to break them. There was a momentary fear of the entire cavern collapsing, but thankfully the burst of damage from the exploding tree wasn't enough to bring it down entirely.

Only the space around Morrigan protected by the bubble of rainbow light was left unscathed along with the three inside. Shards of wood and ice disintegrated into a harmless shower of sawdust and snow that then turned into sparkling glitter as they impacted the light. The entire trio was left completely coated in the sparkling powder once the explosion ended.

Flaming Wolfberry changed back into their humanoid form, the orange glow coming from the openings in their armor once again.

"Um. So, which of these was the one we were looking for?" Blue asked, looking over the destruction. Amidst the ice and rock were countless small shards of wood that looked just like the one they had chased here. It would be impossible to tell which one was the original.

With the sudden chaos and cacophony around them, Astrid's weak knees are grateful for the magical shield granted to them by the magic Morrigan cast. Water and debris leaves the group untouched, and Astrid collapses back onto her butt in the soggy moss below, her shoulders rising and falling with each heavy breath. She's worn out from that spell, which is exactly why she doesn't use it that often. 

Seeing the bottle in Morrigan's hand just near her eye level, she smiles a bit, though it has some twisting of a smirk. "Kvasir's special potion, eh?" she asks through her breathing. "It's a good one fer sure. That's what I used ta keep him from totally fallin' out when we got attacked by all them bugs."

Astrid turns her eyes back to the rest of the room. Blue is right. The whole place is absolutely littered with pieces of exploded wood. Water continues to run from where the tree used to stand, now a steady stream that carries leaves to the flooded tunnels. It's entirely possible they lost the wood in the rush of water. She groans a little at the thought then grips her hammer and uses it to pull herself to her feet. 

"Well, guess we better just start lookin', huh?" Astrid slowly walks through the cavern, looking for any smooth, twisted pieces of wood. She considers if she has the mana for a duplicate to help. Drumming her fingers on the haft of her hammer, she decides she does, and she gathers up just enough magic to summon a perfect copy of herself that immediately gets to work picking out pieces of wood and looking for anything that seems magical. Two Astrids: Morrigan's worst nightmare.

She also summons Melodia, who looks around at the destruction with a brow furrowed with concern. "Oh dear... This place took quite a beating, didn't it?" she comments, looking at the group. "Is everyone alright?"

"Aye, we're lookin' fer the magic wood," Astrid says. 

"Oh, the spirit wood, right," Melodia says thoughtfully. "I'll help, of course." And so she does, floating about the cavern and looking for anything of note. The opening now devoid of a tree trunk seems interesting to her, and she heads that way to investigate.

"Blue, can yer... I dunno, weird magic senses pick up where the magic wood is?" Astrid asks, remembering that Blue could identify a spell had been cast from an unseen location, but she's not sure what the true capabilities of that extra sense are. 

---

Replicant
Call Ghost [post 1/3]

They’d gotten there just in the nick of time, it seemed. After the explosion of ice and twigs rocked the room, leaving behind only the three in the protective field of rainbow, the light began to fade, leaving the three tired from the battle, but mostly unscathed. It figured Astrid Stormstone would recognize Kvasir’s brew - perhaps they should have snipped back about how Astrid only liked them when they used other people’s potions, but at this point, they were too tired to even bother with the sarcasm. And they couldn’t find it in themselves to joke about Kvasir’s creation, of all things.

“… Yeah.” They wiped at some of the sweat on their brow. “It’s saved me from some pretty nasty scrapes before, as well.” They’d probably have died countless times before if it weren’t for the stock of Kvasir’s potion they kept on hand.

When Blue Raspberry spoke, Morrigan’s face turned pale as they realized that upon the tree’s destruction, sticks and twigs of all shapes and sizes littered the ground, obscuring the cursed clipping that they’d originally found in a pile of sticks.

“Shit.” They wrinkled their nose. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

They patted down their pockets for any more sight-enhancing potions, only to grimace when they realized they’d used the rest of theirs earlier under the water. Oh, hell. Well, if they couldn’t enhance their vision, they could at least get more eyes on the ground. Morrigan reached into their jacket, where a small, cat-sized pink ball of fluff was hiding. They pulled her out, the moth wriggling its little legs in the air at the sudden removal from its hiding place.

“Oh, come on, Luna Rose, you can help us out for a bit, can’t you? I’ll give you a treat later if you help, you little princess.” They cooed in a completely falsetto and utterly obnoxious pet-voice, scratching at the fur under her chin.

Luna rose fluttered her wings, but she didn’t bite Morrigan, which they took as a reluctant assent. They set the completely normal rosy maple moth on the ground, where she began pawing through the sticks in a rather ineffective but adorable manner. Morrigan turned to Astrid, ready to say something OH GODS THERE WAS TWO OF THEM.

Morrigan slowly inched away from the only thing that could be worse than one tiny terror - double the trouble. Thankfully, Astrid Stormstone was too preoccupied with talking with Madam Melodia, catching her up on the situation. The ghost, little kid, and the weird knight all seemed to be able to better equipped to search for a magical item amongst the mundane than Morrigan. It’s not as if they had anything to truly help. All they could do was follow Luna Rose around, and keep their eyes peeled for any stick that looked… less wet than the others, they guessed.

Blue Raspberry looked around, trying to sense something different about one of them with their ability to sense magic in the air. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working. They could sense a spell being cast near them, feeling a sensation like a jolt of electricity sparking in the air, but objects with magic imbued into them just didn't seem to give off anything they could easily sense. If they did, Astrid would be lighting up like a fireworks display whenever they looked at her with all of her enchanted weapons and armor.

"No, I can't sense it. Sorry." They shook their head to Astrid and got to work sorting through all of the debris on the ground to look for the cutting the old fashioned way. At least they could make it easier for the others by getting rid of the sticks they weren't looking for so Astrid or Morrigan wouldn't waste time double checking them. As they sorted through the twigs and bits of wood, they inserted the pieces that looked like they could have been the one they were looking for, but weren't, through the neck hole of their cuirass and consumed them.

There were a lot of pieces to sort through, and after just a couple minutes, they resorted to just eating everything and then looking through their internal catalogue of everything stored in their stomach to see if the piece they were looking for was in there. Whether it was a good idea to eat pieces of some ancient cursed tree or not didn't really occur to the ooze as they left a trail behind them of ground free of debris.

---

Space Pocket

Astrid's pretty bummed to hear that Blue can't sense the magical wood because it would make things a lot easier, but there's only so much they can do. With all of them looking, it'll be a faster process at least. She decides to pull out one last pair of eyes with a decent nose, and manifests the last of her energy to pull the hell hound Spicy Pawsage from her pocket. 

The hound lands on the wet ground, still covered in a couple of inches of water, and instantly boofs in annoyance. Being a hell hound, he does not particularly like water. With the kind of unimpressed expression only a dog can give, he looks up at his master only to find that she does not look like he expects; this child, is in fact, a fish. Spicy immediately jumps back, growling at her defensively and glancing around for the real Astrid. He spots the replicant and rushes over to her only to find that she is also a fish. He yelps in surprise and scrambles back, caught between the two Astrids with his tail between his legs. 

"Hey, hey, Spicy, it's alright," Astrid coos, squatting down and holding out her hand for her pet. "It's alright. It's me, I drank somethin'." Not that Spicy understands those concepts. "Come on, here's a snack. It's a bit waterlogged, but it's a snack nonetheless. Come on." With some goading, the hound slinks over and takes the jerky from her and allows her to pet him, quickly becoming comfortable with the presence of his master and her petting. "Good boy. Now, I need ya ta sniff out some spirit wood. Can ya do it? Help us look, buddy." The hound barks and starts trekking through the water, sniffing around at the moss-covered skeletons and getting distracted by free chew toys. Well, that didn't quite work. 

Melodia looks around closer to the remnants of the base of the tree and observes that there are... Well, there are a lot of dead in this room. It's quite concerning. Some have ragged bits of armor, and most are as tall as humans or elves. "There are... quite a lot of dead in here," she says. "This place was connected by the tunnel from the orphanage?"

"Aye, it is," Astrid says. "I'm just glad all the skellies ain't attackin' us no more."

"They were attacking you?" Melodia asks, shocked by the news. Astrid nods, and Melodia's spectral brow furrows as she looks around from her place suspended in the air. Her hair, which usually seems to float like tendrils suspended without gravity, now rests flatter against her back with a few waves in its lochs. "I don't like this place," she says as she observes the area. 

Astrid goes over to the tree and clambers up the broken petrified wood and looks inside the chamber revealed by the pressure having broken through. Water drips from the dark ceiling in streams, and a large crack in the far wall gushes with more water, keeping the room filled with at least knee-deep dark liquid. Half-decomposed and bloated bodies float on the surface. It's sickening. It smells. 

"I don't think it's in there," Astrid says, getting the heck away from that quickly. 

Melodia's eyes continue to look inside as she tries to piece together what happened. Perhaps they sealed themselves off to protect something or themselves with the tree, but whatever the water's source on the other side of the far wall pushed through and drowned them. It seems a tragic fate. The tunnels leading here were not meant to be filled with water either, it seems. "The dead might have all been dragged here by that awful tree," Melodia says, noting the vines intertwined with the bodies around its roots. "Perhaps the wood was simple a shard of its trunk from the beginning. It might have simply been protecting itself..." Though she wonders what kind of magic could bring a tree to life with enough sentience to use humanoid skeletons as puppet guardians. 

---

Pet Pocket
Call Ghost [post 2/3]

Luna Rose didn’t find anything, as she was not in any way a tracking dog - or even a real moth, though Morrigan was blissfully aware of that fact - but damn if she didn’t look adorable doing it. Morrigan watched her paw at a couple of twigs before getting bored and deciding to roll around, their heart melting. “Oh, Luna Rose, I can’t ever get upset at you.” They cooed, scratching at her stomachs. She bit at their hand in response, nibbling on their wrist. “Oh, you feisty little creature.”

They trailed off, scratching the Mephit-moth while Astrid set out some vicious looking hell-dog to sniff the area, and Mistress Melodia hovered around, clearly nervous. Morrigan’s tail flicked behind them, curious to know what she could possibly be concerned about, considering she was already dead, and didn’t have to worry about mortal harm at the hands of the moss-covered corpses. But she seemed to be put out as she investigated the zombies and skeletons littering the ground that had been uncovered by the crack in the wall and the rapidly-filling water. Morrigan was nervous until they remembered that they still had gills and fins and were very much part fish at the moment.

“So the tree lashes out with vines and zombies to protect itself. But what exactly about the tree is so special that it needs to be protected?” They mused, picking up one of the floating twigs from the water. Even in pieces, it still thrummed with magic that seemed to ebb and wane as Morrigan picked it up, until they’d entirely absorbed the last traces of lingering magic from the twig. They frowned and tossed it over their shoulder. It hadn’t been anything like the power from the cursed clipping that they’d sensed. It was a dud.

They stood with a frustrated huff, when some foliage caught their eye. Morrigan turned, catching sight of a pile of now-limp tangled together, the very ones that had snatched the twig from them in the first place and attacked them.

… There was no way.

Was there?

No harm in checking, at least. Morrigan waded through the water, getting closer to the pile and sifting through the vines - lo and behold, there was a piece of vine that was still firmly wrapped around a dark twig, one that looked as familiar as a nondescript stick could.

“I think I found it!” Morrigan exclaimed, unwrapping the piece from the greenery and wading their way back over to Blue Raspberry, Astrid Stormstone, and Melodia, with the prize clutched tightly in their hand.

Blue looked up to Morrigan, slurping up the last branch they'd stuck into the top of their cuirass, and stood up.

They'd eaten all of that cursed wood for nothing since Morrigan had found the thing instead. That wasn't really a problem though. Probably. They would have wanted to eat it anyways, so they weren't bothered. And they'd found out that cursed objects weren't much tastier than normal objects if they compared this tree to any of the other trees they'd eaten. Nope, this tree didn't taste like anything special. Kind of watery, really. At least it didn't give them a stomach ache like that one time they'd eaten a couple of devils.

"Get them off!" One of the devils shouted while the other frantically ripped at the vines wrapping around his legs to try and free him from the sudden new roommate in the ooze's insides. The three Gnomes just tried to ignore the commotion, continuing their card game. Brian, one of the Gnomes, sighed and wiped his hand down his face in exasperation.

Blue walked over to Morrigan and looked at the piece of wood in their hand. Yup, that looked like the right one as far as they could tell. They all looked the same, but this one did give them a bit of a weird vibe. There was something different about it from all the debris scattered around. Maybe that was why the tree had tried so hard to take it back.

They reached a hand into their cuirass and pulled out the small metal box engraved with protective runes they'd found the wood inside in the first place and handed it over.