Ploop. 

It's a gentle sound that marks an air of surprised silence that falls over the group. They finally found their clue to the archive, the cursed wood from the Hauntwood that supposedly held the spirit of an elf who knew the path. And as simple as that, a vine from the flooded passage at the back of the room snatched it right from their hands and disappeared into the dark waters. 

Astrid blinks and looks at Morrigan and Blue Raspberry then at Melodia, who floats beside her looking equally as shocked. 

"Wh-What... What just happened?" the half-dwarf stammers. Living plant life isn't at all outside the realm of possibilities in Charon. She's met a living turnip kid, after all. But in this old forgotten room beneath a sunken orphanage that's been abandoned for decades if not centuries, to have a living vine suddenly snatch something from out from under them.

Suddenly, it dawns on her that the thing they're after just got taken away! Her feet move faster than she can think, and she darts toward the water trying to catch up to the vine with the deadwood, diving in. It's dark, and while she can see in the dark, the water is murky, and the vine is long gone. She reemerges, coughing because she didn't take a proper breath of air, and sits on the steps leading down into the flooded tunnel. 

"There's no way we're gonna find it down there," Astrid laments, spitting water out of her mouth and wiping water from her face. "The tunnel's too long ta just hold our breath... I can't see the other end."

One moment, their prize was in sight. The clipping the three of them had managed to find was in their hands… up until the moment that a living vine reached up from the waters of the flooded, half-submerged passages of the underground tunnel system, snatching their prize from right under their noses. Morrigan reached for their fan, but they barely had time to react before the vine snatched the clipping from them and disappeared.

Morrigan blinked. Stared at the murky swamp waters that the vine had retreated into. For a moment, the fact that they’d been stolen from for once did not compute. Only when Astrid Stormstone started sprinting deeper into the water, body moving faster than her mind, did Morrigan finally put the pieces together and realized they all needed to move before they lost their prize forever. Morrigan wouldn’t let yet another chance to enter the Mage’s Guild slip between their fingers!

“Come on!” They called out to Blue Raspberry, all dignity abandoned as they chased after the surprisingly spry little lady, who had already dove under the water. “Astrid Stormstone, wait! We won’t be able to swim through these tunnels- and she’s already gone.” They turned to Blue Raspberry. “I don’t suppose you can spontaneously sprout a mermaid’s tail and chase after that vine, can you?” They asked sarcastically.

A few tense moments later, Astrid Stormstone reemerged, coughing on swamp water and wiping at her face. In an odd moment of solidarity - perhaps both scorned at the desperation to get back what they’d lost that petty squabbles felt small in comparison - Morrigan pulled a handkerchief out from their pocket and offered it to her.

There was a ghost of a smarmy grin on their face. They weren’t ready to give up on this quest - not yet. “Fear not, Astrid Stormstone. Your knight in shining armor is here. I have a couple of potions for just the occasion…” They rifled through their bag, pulling out a couple of vials labeled BEIST’S TRANSMUTATION TONIC. Much to their disappointment, they only had two.

“Hmm… not enough for all of us.” Their tail flicked behind them in thought, once more attempting to do the mental math. But no matter how many times they redid the equations, they already knew the answer.

Oh, who am I kidding? I shouldn’t even be here in the first place.

Morrigan had about as much a chance as getting into the Mage’s Guild as a snowball’s chance in hell. The longer they denied it, tried to play this song and dance, they would only be setting themselves for gruesome failure and bitter disappointment when the rejection letter inevitably came. They did not have real magic. Astrid Stormstone and Blue Raspberry did. It was simple math. With a pained grimace on their face, Morrigan held the two potions out to the others.

“Here. You two should go get that clipping.” Each pained word made it sound like Morrigan was swallowing glass.

Morrigan had accepted that their part in the story had ended. There were only two potions and three adventurers. Clearly, one of them would be unable to continue through the murky waters. It was fitting. The alchemist would once again be unable to enter the Guild, their chance snatched away by a vine. A plant. Maybe Kvasir would get a kick out of that. They could at least bring home a story, though they would undoubtedly embellish and alter it to be more in their favor. Maybe leave out the part where Astrid shook them for their coin or trapped them in chains of red lightning. With as much dignity as they had left after this whole experience, they bowed out.

"Two is plenty! I don't need one!" Blue proclaimed cheerily as they gave Morrigan a (highly restrained) clap on the back and then ran off to dive into the pool of water with a splash. With their metal armor on, the knight sank straight down like a rock dropped in a well. Good for descending rapidly. Bad for swimming to follow behind the vine that was quickly absconding with their prize into a tunnel at the bottom of the pool.

As soon as they hit the floor, the ooze morphed and swallowed up their armor, storing it away, to wear a pair of swimming trunks. Their hands and feet changed to be webbed, much better for swimming, and a scaled tail grew from the base of their spine complete with spiny fins.

When their transformation was complete, they followed behind the vine as fast as they could, hoping Astrid and Morrigan would be able to catch up soon.

---

Gills
Webbed Digits
Prehensile Tail
Space Pocket

It’s a pretty big surprise to see Morrigan offering Astrid a handkerchief to wipe her face. She gives the tiefling a bit of a shocked look (but not too shocked) before she takes it with a mumbled, “Thanks…” Then she looks at the water despondently. How are they going to handle this? Blue Raspberry can breathe underwater, but she can’t, and she assumes Morrigan can’t either.

Then, to her even greater surprise, Morrigan pulls out a familiar-looking tonic in a bottle, and it’s even labeled with Beist’s name! Her eyes go wide, recognizing it. In a swift movement, she fully emerges from the water, standing up. “Those potions are perfect!” she cries in delight, which she quickly quells. "I mean... good idea or whatever." If she’s not careful, Morrigan might think she’s done giving them a hard time. Well, they were just nice to her and they even presented a solution for their predicament. Okay, maybe they’re not that bad.

There’s something off about Morrigan as they consider their options though. Only two potions and three of them… They seem genuinely disappointed about this. Earlier, it didn’t seem like they actually wanted to get into the guild, but maybe that’s because they tend to hide behind some showboating facade. Hm. Disappointment doesn't suit them, and well, Astrid knows Blue. She almost grins a little as the knight’s shapeshifting abilities turn them into a perfectly aqua-based adventurer.

“Oh, ya ain’t gettin’ outta the spooky stuff that easy,” Astrid teases Morrigan, turning her gap-toothed grin up to the tiefling as she takes one of the bottles. This time, there’s no deviousness in it, no snark, just real amusement and joy. “Down the hatch!” Popping off one of the corks, she downs it without hesitation. Some people might be put off by the liquid that changes viscosity. Astrid’s tried so many potions and eaten so many strange things from the garbage that she doesn’t mind what might be considered an off-putting texture.

The potion’s effects start changing her almost immediately, turning the little half-dwarf into a triton. Her eyes become larger and a bit more bug-eyed. Her skin shifts to a tan color, and her cheeks seem a bit rounder and more pronounced. Smooth skin shifts to scales with prickly spines, and webbing develops around her fingers. Gills form along her neck, and her ears change to fin-like frills. It’s an odd process, and she feels very strange at the end of it all, but at least this one didn’t hurt like the claws emerging from her fingers when she became a kobold.

Looking over herself, she considers this a success. “Perfect! Let’s go!”

She of course makes sure that Morrigan doesn't chicken out before she dives right back into the water after Blue Raspberry, dragging the charlatan behind if she must.

It seemed that little Astrid Stormstone was allergic to paying Morrigan compliments - honestly, it was probably the best decision on her part, lest they grow a big head and become even more egotistical than they already were. They rubbed at their nose, snickering to themselves. The triumph at earning even a reluctant half-comment was dimmed as they realized that they would not be able to continue on after all.

At least, until Blue Raspberry clapped Morrigan on the back hard enough to nearly throw them to the ground before the knight tossed themselves into the water like a skipping stone. Morrigan stared, dumbfounded, barely able to catch a glimpse of something scaly darting after the vine.

What just happened.

“What in the hell even are they?” Morrigan asked Astrid Stormstone, who was smiling to herself like the two friends were sharing some kind of inside joke. Whatever Blue Raspberry had done left the two potions for the tiefling and dwarven adventurers, Astrid snatching one of the bottles from them.

“If I can handle getting manhandled like a chewtoy, I think I can handle this. Don’t count me out just yet.” With deft movements, they uncorked the second bottle and downed the contents, undergoing a similar transformation to Astrid Stormstone, but in a considerably more… flamboyant manner.^[1] Their lavender skin took on a shiny, scaly sheen, their tail shifting and morphing until it was covered in elegant, fanning find. The most jarring part of the transformation was not the gills that sprouted in their neck, nor the sudden layer of skin that developed between their fingers, but the way their hair shifted until it began to resemble the elegant, sweeping fins on their tail.

It was too dark for them to see their reflection in the murky depths, but given the severity of the changes that they could see in Astrid, and on their own body, Morrigan figured the elixirs had done their magic. The two were now tritonfolk, capable of navigating air and sea.

Morrigan flipped one of their hair fins over their shoulder. “I’d better be a beautiful fish, at least.” They said to themselves as Astrid Stormstone dove into the water after Blue Raspberry. They weren’t exactly afraid of any danger, but there was a moment before Morrigan dove into the depths after Astrid that it occurred to them that they didn’t really know how to swim.

Oh, well! When in the Hauntwoods, right?

Besides, their natural fish physique would now hopefully lend to giving them natural grace while under the water. Not that it particularly mattered, but what was the point of a chase if you couldn’t look pretty while doing it? Morrigan darted after the other two, the three diving deeper into the submerged tunnels in search of their rightful prize.

---

1. Beist's Transmutation Tonic (2/2 used)
Growing gills and webbed hands

The water was murky and difficult to see through, but the tunnels didn't grow too dark as they swam. Actually, the tunnels seemed to grow brighter and brighter. All along the rocky walls, little glowing plants sprouted in cracks and gaps in the stone. Fluorescent corals jutted out from some walls, forming bars across the tunnels that the ooze had to swim over or under. Everything looked so tasty to the ooze, but there was no time to sample any of the local flora, they had a piece of wood to chase after!

As they continued on, the single tunnel twisted and turned and became a maze, multiple tunnels branching off in every direction. Up, farther down, left, right. It was an omnidirectional underwater labyrinth.

Suddenly, the pulled the piece of wood straight through a small gap in some bars of a purple-glowing coral that blocked the tunnel like an ornate, glowing grate. Blue Raspberry didn't slow their speed at all. The nails of their webbed hands grew into long, sharp claws and slashed at the coral. This coral was a lot tougher than they'd expected though. The acid lacing their claws also wasn't nearly as effective as usual while being diluted by the water.

While they were stopped by the coral, they lost sight of the retreating vine and the cutting of the cursed tree as it was pulled through the murky water and around another turn in the tunnel beyond.

---

Eldritch Claws

The darkness of the murky water luckily doesn't impede Astrid's vision too much as she's never had any issues seeing in the dark, something she's finding not all dwarves can do. Not that it's something she's questioning at this moment as she's too distracted getting used to the body that feels natural in the water. Swimming has never been something Astrid particularly likes to do. In fact, she hasn't been in a position where she needs to swim except that time she and Blue got eaten by a Charybdis. That was not a fun experience. 

This time is different. The webbed digits catch the water and help propel her forward after Blue Raspberry with ease, and it takes a moment for her to realize she doesn't need to hold her breath. While she's able to breathe underwater, the feeling isn't natural. Luckily, Beist's potions last for a long time. It took a while for the effects to wear off and for her to shed her kobold skin. 

Eventually, she comes across the bioluminescent corals, and she pauses her progress to observe them. This isn't something she would expect to find down here, but then again, she didn't expect a vine to sneak up and snatch their magical wood right out of their hands. Something is protecting that wood, and they need to get to the bottom of it. These corals don't seem like the kind of thing that would have vines, so after she admires them, ideas coming to mind for projects later, she continues until she finally catches up with Blue Raspberry struggling to break through the coral wall. 

Astrid peeks through the gaps, able to see the other side and a well lit opening not too much farther. They need to get through. Well, she can get through quite easily with a bit of teleportation, but she doesn't think Morrigan or Blue can do anything on that front. She thinks for a moment then gets an idea and pulls out her war hammer. The water around it begins to freeze with the Pale Ice enchantment on it and it crackles with electricity, making the water feel a bit staticy in the immediate vicinity. While she can't move too effectively in the water to break the coral, she has another idea. Theoretically, the hammer will come to her hand from wherever it is.

So she turns around and swims back to Morrigan, motioning that they should stop there and wait. Then she hands them the hammer which upon her release sinks to the bottom of the tunnel because of its heavy enchantment. Astrid looks down at the hammer then at Morrigan then she shrugs and swims back to Blue. With her arm, she motions to the side, that they should get out of the way. Then she peeks through the coral and disappears to the other side with the shimmering magic of her cape. 

On the other side, she swims away a distance then calls the hammer. It rips itself up from the ground where she left it and flies at full speed through the water. The head of the hammer crashes into the coral wall hard, breaking it apart and leaving a hole behind as the weapon flies into Astrid's hand. If the water weren't so murky, the others could see that she looks quite smug that this managed to work.

---

Night Vision
Displacement Cape - Blink
War hammer - spellblade bond (weightless, returning, electrified), Pale Ice, Heavy

Morrigan wasn’t much of a swimmer, but they somehow managed to keep up with Astrid Stormstone and Blue Raspberry as the three waded through the murky depths, following that damned vine. Seaweed and coral attempted to snag at them, halting their progression through the water, but Morrigan kept their eyes resolutely peeled on Astrid Stormstone, who in turn watched Blue Raspberry. Things were going, for lack of a better word, swimmingly - up until the point they reached the outcropping of coral overgrowth blocking their path.

Morrigan would swear if they were capable of speech under the water.

They tried mining the motion of explosives to Astrid Stormstone and Blue Raspberry - they had some strapped to their belt, and even thhe act of using magical fire was better than nothing - but she merely ignored them, motioning for them to grab her hammer. Confused, they wrapped their hands around the hilt, only to sink like a stone the minute she released her grip on it, pulling them further into the depths. They writhed, struggling to hold onto it and prevent it from hitting the bottom of the depths -

Only to immediately be ripped back into the air with the force of a speeding crossbow arrow, knocking both Morrigan and the hammer into the coral wall blocking them.

Morrigan let out an inhuman screech that sounded more like a “HFBRHFLDBLARGH” accompanied by a burst of bubbles leaving their mouth before they rammed into the solid wall, knocking themselves dizzy. The world spun, or maybe Morrigan themselves was spinning. It was difficult to tell. Either way they were floating around, probably concussed, and completely out of their mind. By the time they regained their senses, the vine protecting the clipping was already gone, and Morrigan felt like they were this close to throwing up.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? They signed at Astrid Stormstone, unaware if the kid even knew sign language, but also so dizzy that they couldn’t comprehend much at all at the present moment. YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN ME KILLED!

Honestly they doubted she even really cared about that. Or maybe she just took pleasure in watching them receive bodily harm to their weak, squishy little human vessel. Morrigan huffed, crossing their arms before reaching into their bag, gesturing for Astrid and Blue Raspberry to take their next proffered potions. They didn’t really have good eyesight, but the other two looked like they didn’t have much trouble navigating the water. If anyone was going to be able to spot that vine, it would be one of them.

Maybe Morrigan would be lucky enough and one of the two would drag them the rest of the way before they threw up.

---

Eagle’s Sight Potion offered to both Astrid Stormstone and Blue Raspberry

Blue Raspberry watched both Astrid and Morrigan in confusion. They both signed to each other and motioned with their hands, trying to communicate as best they could. But the communication wasn't perfect. Morrigan clearly misunderstood what Astrid had been trying to tell them. The ooze knew her better, able to figure out what her gestures meant, so when Morrigan suddenly grabbed the dropped hammer, Blue didn't understand why.

"What are you guys doing?" Blue asked in confusion as Astrid and Morrigan silently argued after breaking through the coral. "Why don't you just talk?"

Blue shook their head as they swam up to Morrigan and took the potion they had pulled out and gestured to instead of just talking like a normal person. How was the ooze the only one acting normal here?

"What's this one do?"

Without waiting for an answer, Blue popped the bottle into their mouth and swallowed the cork before drinking the potion inside. Quickly, streaks of silver began to flow through the ooze's eyes, hair, and beard before completely overtaking the blue coloration. Their hair and eyes looked almost like they were made of metal, silvery and reflective. At the same time, they suddenly found that their sight greatly improved. They could see through the murky water as if it was almost crystal clear!

Silver Fishberry slurped the potion bottle into their mouth before giving a big smile and looking around with a look of amazement.

"Wow, I can see way better now! Thanks!"

They took off, swimming down the tunnel they'd managed to see the vine disappear down while stuck behind the coral wall.

Astrid really did expect Morrigan to release the hammer when it started sinking, so as far as she’s concerned, they held on all of their own volition. Their angry arm motions toward her are hard to make out as the movements are slowed by the water. She makes a motion that she can’t really understand what they’re trying to say, some of the spines on her neck bristling as she gets a little worked up at the adult’s visible anger. She only learned a few sign language basics while spending time practicing alchemy at Kvasir’s place.

So when Blue’s voice comes through the water nearly crystal clear, Astrid looks past the rattled Morrigan at the confused ooze. “Wait… We can talk?” she asks. There it is! Her voice sounds normal! “Oh, I thought the water was gonna make it impossible fer us ta talk… Huh. Anyway, Morrigan, I didn’t expect ya ta actually hold on ta it the whole time. Seems a little weird that ya would after it was sinkin’.” Oh well.

Once they’ve gotten it out of their system, she looks at the potions produced by them. Hm, after the chocolate earlier, does she trust this? Luckily, Blue knows no fear of food or food items, and when they declare they can see easier, Astrid’s fishy brow furrows at the coloration change in their hair. “Every time ya drink a potion or eat somethin’ weird, yer hair changes color,” she says. “But if this’ll help, that’s fine with me.” So she takes the potion and drinks it, shaking off the weird feeling as it starts to affect her eyes. “Whoa…”

The murkiness of the water seems possible to see through finally. That’s going to be a huge help. “That’s helpful.” The extent of a compliment she’ll pay to Morrigan right now. “Let’s go! There’s some light comin’ from up ahead!”

With that, Astrid starts swimming down the tunnel until she reaches the well-lit branching hall where the surface reflections of the water paint moving patterns on the floor below. A few roots spread into the water from broken tunnel and rocks. Seems like a good place to look. Up she goes!

Morrigan was growing increasingly frustrated the more that Astrid Stormstone couldn’t understand them. Wasn’t she learning some stuff under Kvasir? He made it a point to teach all of his students some level of sign so they could understand patients. It did not occur to them that she couldn’t properly make out their hand gestures, their method of sign language a little too grandiose to be standard.

But then Blue Raspberry started talking and Morrigan’s face turned a deep shade of purple.

“Have we been able to speak this entire time?” They shrieked, a wave of bubbles escaping their mouth. Their flush deepened, if possible, when Astrid brought up the hammer. Maybe it was the dizziness, or perhaps the fact that they were definitely concussed, but they crossed their arms, drifting through the water lazily. “Well how was I supposed to know it would return to you? I thought you merely wanted me to hold onto it and not lose it! What was I supposed to think?”

Either that or this was some new form of psychological torture on her end, but they weren’t going to voice that particular thought for their own safety.

They turned their attention back to the potions, where Blue Raspberry had already downed one of Morrigan’s elixirs, turning their hair a fine shade of silver. Why did that keep happening? By now Morrigan knew better than to question their strangeness.

“Why wouldn’t the potion help?” Never before had a person sounded so offended at the implication of something that was entirely warranted and one hundred percent true given the nature of their snake-oil business. “I don’t have sensitive night-vision, otherwise I would drink it myself. Alas, it’s better served helping you two. Now go on, I’ll follow behind!”

They gave a pathetic little doggy paddle behind Astrid and Blue Raspberry, moving considerably slower while they regained their bearings after being thrown around like a ragdoll. Eventually, Astrid Stormstone spotted a light in the distance - branching roots clinging to the tunnel up and running up to the surface. If Morrigan had to take a guess where a vine might have come from, they would have guessed it was a place full of, well, vines. With a shrug, they followed the others all the way up to the surface, where the source of the light was from.

They pulled themselves up after the other two, feeling a bit like a bedraggled kitten. They shook some of the water off themselves, attempting to get dry after that cold, unpleasant swim. “Where in the name of Ginma’s fuzzy horse ass are we… whoa.”

They trailed off as they finally caught sight of the room they’d ended up at - namely, the giant, swooping, gnarled weeping willow tree in the center.

“Well, that explains where the vines came from.”

The cavern was huge, far larger than they might have expected after the claustrophobic experience of the underwater tunnels, but the entirety of the ceiling was blotted out by a canopy of dangling dark foliage trailing down from the canopy of the twisted branches of the willow tree at the cavern's center.

The wood of the tree was dark, practically black and oddly shiny like the whole thing had been carved from some dark gemstone. In every crack and twisted crevice of the bark, water flowed down from some unseen source, so smoothly it might have been glass melted into and solidified within the gaps to hold the shattered pillar of darkness together. Every vine hanging down dripped water from the very tip, making it feel as if it was raining within the cavern.

All around the cavern's edge, in the walls and along the ground, tiny glowing plants grew and illuminated the whole area. Nearly the entire floor was coated in a blanket of green glowing moss, small sprouts of other colors cropping up here and there, but for some reason nothing at all seemed to dare grow on the roots or trunk of the tree. No moss or mushroom. All of the flora gave the tree a wide berth, nothing growing within a foot in any direction of any of its sprawling roots, and nothing within a whole yard from its trunk.

Hanging from one of the vines of the willow was the stolen piece of wood.

Shaking herself out, Astrid stands upright after having climbed out of the water. She looks around the room – or cavern, rather – looking for their prize. Wrapped in the vines of the twisted, black, leaking tree at the other end is their prize. Sunlight leaks in from cracks in the ceiling above. The moss looks soft and inviting but alien with its luminescence. Water trickles past their feet and into the drowned tunnels behind them.

She’s glad they didn’t have to go too much farther, but there’s something weird about this place. Why doesn’t anything grow near the tree at the other end? It seems otherworldly… And where does the water dripping from it come from? Perhaps there’s an underground river on the other side of the cavern wall. Or maybe it’s an above ground river, and these tunnels just flooded because the surrounding earthen structures couldn’t hold back the weight of the water.

Come to think of it, they’re quite close to the Flood Roads…

But Astrid doesn’t know enough history of Moonglade nor the Marsh Flats to have answers to any of these questions, so she calls Melodia forth for advice. The spectral woman appears before them and looks around the cavern.

“What is this place?” Melodia asks cautiously, looking to the group before her eyes trace the walls again. Melodia does a double take, looking at Astrid and Morrigan having taken on entirely different forms. She looks around for the actual half-dwarf girl she’s come to know, but this strange short fish has all her equipment. Once she processes it, she returns her gaze to the cavern. “It’s… Very strange.”

“Aye, it is,” Astrid says, crossing her arms thoughtfully. “Did ya know this was all down here?”

Melodia shakes her head slowly, but her eyes stay locked on the room, specifically trained on the strange tree at the other end. “I didn’t…” she breathes. Yet, somehow it feels familiar. This couldn’t have been a place she knew about in life, though. She was a caretaker at the orphanage. The secret passage beneath the old building came as a surprise to her. How on earth would she have known about these flooded tunnels or this cavern with a tree that…

“What are you all doing in here?”

“That vine’s got the plank!” Astrid says, pointing. “That tree’s somethin’ weird. I don't trust it.”

“It certainly doesn’t look like any other trees in the Marsh,” Melodia agrees. Her incorporeal form floats across the floor of the room, cautiously moving forward and inspecting the ground for anything odd or interesting. “The floor beneath the moss doesn’t seem flat,” she says. “It’s quite lumpy in places, but I don’t know if that’s just the way the moss grows…” Her head tilts as she notices one series of lumps seems to actually be one sprawling lump somewhat body-like in shape. Then she notices a white chip on the floor near it. As she draws closer to inspect it, she wonders if that might be a bone chip.

---

Call Ghost [post 1/3]

There was something odd about that tree.

Morrigan didn’t like the feeling of it.

Honestly, they were paying less attention to the tree’s dripping branches or the way no moss dared creep close to its trunk than they were the clipping hanging from one of its vines.

“There it is!” They pointed to one of the branches of the softly-crying tree, where the clipping hung just out of reach. They’d need to climb if they wanted to get up there… given the tree’s utterly rotten feel that somehow made shivers creep up Morrigan’s spine the closer they got to its base, it wouldn’t be an easy task. But they would be damned if they let this prize slip through their fingers this time.

They shrugged off their sopping-wet jacket, rolling up the sleeves of their soggy blouse while half-listening to Astrid Stormstone’s ghost… mother, or whatever she was. “It does feel weird.” They confirmed, a frown tugging at their lips. Wasn’t this tree meant to be cursed?

Well, they couldn’t pussyfoot around forever hemming and hawing about how strange this place was. Morrigan bit their lip, wondering what they should do. It was a curse, yes, but magic all the same. And Morrigan, unfortunately, was quite skilled at repelling the stuff.

“I’m going to climb it.” They declared, clearing their throat to get the other’s attention. Wrapped up in their own inner turmoil, they’d missed Melodia’s comment about the moss, or her inspection of the floor. In fact, they seemed quite content to draw closer to the ever-weeping willow, without a care in the world for any danger. Once more, though, their listening skills would prove to be their downfall, as the moment Morrigan stepped down on that soft pile, the moss sprang up around them, arms jutting up from the ground and grabbing at their legs.

“What the -“ Morrigan gasped, kicking in an attempt to shake them off, but the hands only tightened their grip, using Morrigan as an anchor to pull themselves out of the ground, forming full-bodied creatures of moss, intent on protecting their land and hungry for the new blood that had entered their domain.

As the moss being rose up and grabbed Morrigan, bits of the mossy coating fell off to reveal bones and dark wood, just like the bark of the willow in the center of the room. Suddenly, the dripping vines extended down and connected to spots all across the floor of the cavern and rose with another lumps of moss attached. Like puppets with their strings freshly reconnected, mossy skeletons of various races rose up from the floor and turned to the intruders. Most looked to be human, but a few resembled Lizardfolk or Dragonkin, their legs bent, tails behind them, and reptilian skulls. One skeleton was short and stout, possibly that of a Dwarf.

Their movements were unnatural, bending and contorting with no regard for human limitations. Their limbs snapped from one position to the next unsettlingly fast as if being yanked around by something else. Bones cracked and broke and then were moved back into place by the roots and bound back together. The skeletons ran toward the group aggressively, the eye sockets of their skulls abnormally dark, like they were holes into a deep, lightless void.

With the vine burrowed into the top of its skull, the zombie holding onto Morrigan suddenly seemed faster, stronger, and more intelligent than before. Its head snapped up to look directly at Morrigan's face. Its mindless assault suddenly had a glint of tactics to it. The mossy skeleton rose quickly while Morrigan was still surprised by its sudden appearance. Its feet snapped to be beneath it and it shot up, both its legs and the vine connected to it aiding its ascent. Its fist rose with it in a punch aimed right for Morrigan's chin.

As one mossy enemy rapidly approached Blue, they slammed into it with their tail, sending it tumbling away, but it just rose again. Its bones were practically shattered from the force, but it seemed to not care about such a thing in the slightest as it simply resumed its attack, running at the ooze again along with several of its allies.

More skeletons ran toward Astrid, the Dwarven skeleton at the front. A hammer suddenly formed in its hand made of the dark wood. Behind it, more weapons began to appear in the hands of the other skeletons.

---

Prehensile Tail