Chapter 39
The morning light arrives to find the group already awake and eager to continue their journey to the mountain temple. Dolor leads the group, with Bilwin close behind him, then Mond, Grindlefoot, and Gven bringing up the tail end. They battle the jungle’s dense foliage and thick vegetation for several hours, making slow progress towards their destination.
They enter a small area that has slightly less vegetation than the path they’ve tread. It’s not large enough to be considered a glade or even a clearing, but it’s noticeable. As Dolor enters the area, he sees several bunches of large yellow flowers, blossoming from vines that are encircling the trees. He catches a whiff of their fragrances, immediately thinking to himself how pretty they are and that he wants to see them up closer. With a shake of his head, his mind clears of the odd desire to smell the flowers and he continues forward.
Bilwin, Mond, and Grindlefoot also observe the lovely flowers, feel a sudden desire to smell them up close, and then decide to continue ahead. Meanwhile, Gven is the last one to encounter them and becomes enthralled with experiencing their beauty and holding them in her hands. When she nears the closest one, the six flowering vines close in on the group, surrounding them and preventing any escape.
Fight choreography
The route in front of him suddenly closes off; Dolor immediately draws Gleaming Blade in one hand and his shortsword in the other. He attacks one of the slithering vines, cutting off several blooming flowers and tendrils.
Responding to the assault, Mond casts Ray of Frost at a vine close to him. The streaks of blue-white light crackle and vibrate through the air, turning many of the plant’s stems and leaves to brittle ice.
Meanwhile, Gven approaches the vine closest to her, about to touch it, when she’s suddenly able to shake off the enchantment and backs away. Grindlefoot turns back towards Gven and casts Flame Blade, quickly slicing through many of its appendages and flowers.
Bilwin wasn’t really paying that close of attention as they were walking, mostly putting one foot in front of the other and making sure Dolor’s backside was always there. He sees Dolor draw his swords and then realizes the flowers are moving, and not in a very amicable way. He swings his hurdy-gurdy case from his back and smashes one of the vines with it, obviously causing a bit of pain, because the vine flinched. He then casts Spiritual Weapon and his usual spectral companion in battle, a glowing beer stein, appears floating next to him. The aggressive mug attacks the same vine and pushes it back more, causing some damage, but not enough to get rid of it.
The hostile plants continue to attack the group, this time with their psychic abilities. Gven and Bilwin appear to be the most impacted, each of them momentarily holding their heads and closing their eyes in agony. Emitting an odor, one of the vines is able to enchant Gven again, who suddenly wants nothing more than to cradle the pretty flowers in her hands.
Again, Dolor swings Gleaming Blade at the vine in front of him, following it with his off-hand sword, both causing a significant amount of damage. Standing in the middle of the group, Mond directs Fire Bolt at a vine close to him, the mote of fire incinerating large parts of it.
Enchanted, Gven approaches the vine closest to her but is able to shake off the unwanted desire to touch it. Standing next to Gven, Grindlefoot attacks with his Flame Blade, slicing through a piece of the vine and setting fire to a few flowers. He follows up with a frustrated punch, “stop enchanting my friend, you slithering ninny!”
Suddenly, a large ball of fur carrying a flaming scimitar explodes from the jungle into their midst. Screaming “Kazah!”, their new ally attacks one of the vines with a vengeance and fury, tearing it into pieces, although it’s still alive and thrusting about.
Bilwin is momentarily transfixed by this tall, muscular tabaxi who has unexpectedly come to their aid. It’s covered in scars that interrupt its fur lines, wearing scale mail, and carring a lengthy scmitar that is covered in magical flames. Blinking his eyes a few times to make sure it’s real, Bilwin realizes that they’re still in the midst of battle. He casts Guiding Bolt at a vine and his spiritual weapon attacks the same one with its force spell. He can see the vine and its flowers shrivel up into death.
Two of the vines attempt to charm Gven and Dolor, but the half-orc and tiefling are able to resist the magical compulsion. Dolor reacts with Hellish Rebuke, inflicting a fiery consequence on the plant. Two other vines attack Bilwin and Dolor with their psychic assaults, forcing them to stop fighting momentarily and deal with the pain. Nyx reacts and casts a blood curse at one of the vines, reducing the damage to Bilwin. The fifth vine attempts to enchant Grindlefoot and fails.
Swinging Gleaming Blade in one hand and his shortsword in the other, Dolor slices the vine attacking him into pieces, finally killing it. He only has a moment of rest before another vine puffs its purple powder in the air and the tiefling finds himself inexplicably drawn to it. He must get a closer look to really appreciate its beauty.
Mond casts his signature pink Lightning Bolt at one of the yellow creepers, hurting it enough that it flinches slightly in retreat.
Gven and Grindlefoot continue to assault the vine closest to them. With Tempest Edge and the halfling wielding his Flame Blade, they’re obviously hurting the flower more than it likes. Grindlefoot gives it another punch with his off-hand, “Don’t like that, do ya now!”
The muscle-bound tabaxi swings his scimitar at a vine twice, killing it with the second blow.
Inspired by the feline warrior next to him, Bilwin takes an extra-long backswing with his hurdy-gurdy’s case, walloping the yellow creeper in front of him and removing several of its flowers. Unluckily, he overswings and ends up comically falling to his butt on the ground. The spiritual weapon vibrates slightly, as though it’s laughing at its creator, then attacks the vine in the same manner, albeit much more gracefully.
Gven accidentally inhales some of the spewed purple granules that charmed Dolor and she, once again, decides to give the pretty flowers a big hug. The two other remaining vines attack Dolor and Grindlefoot with their psychic powers, but only the halfling appears affected, briefly revealing the pain in his expression.
Dolor and Gven are able to shake off their enchantment, but don’t have enough mental capacity to respond with any attacks. Once more, Mond casts his trusty pink [Lightning Bolt](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2167-lightning-bolt at two of the vines, killing one and significantly hurting the other.
With unusual gumption and flourish, Grindlefoot blitzes towards a flowering vine with his flaming sword. A single swipe of the blade cuts the creeper cleanly in half at the thickest part of its vine, and it shrivels up, embracing the decay of death. “Plants are supposed to be friends, not foes!”
The strange tabaxi pushes past Dolor, still recovering from the stupor of enchantment, and steps over Bilwin, who is lying on the ground after slipping, and attacks the last yellow creeper vine. It swings the fiery scimitar with fury, the muscles in its arms rippling with energy and strength, cutting the plant into an uncountable number of pieces.
After killing the last vine, the large tabaxi turns to the group and says, “I suppose introductions are in order. I’m Nyx Whisperfang and, well, this is what I do. These damned musk creepers turn their victims into zombies that serve them. They’re all over this island and nearly impossible to spot before you’re in range of their psychic attacks or being charmed by the puffs of purple pollin. I’ve been tracking a particularly large lizard zombie. Have y’all seen it?”
Just then, before anyone can respond to Nyx, they hear a thunderous roar and the ground beneath their feet begins to shake. Bilwin turns to Grindlefoot, “Please tell me that you decided to summon that helpful pink rhinocerous again.” Grindlefoot looks up into the air thoughtfully.
Watching in the direction where the roar came from, the group can see the tops of the trees moving and shaking, as though something very large is pushing them aside. In a matter of moments, the creature comes into view and they can see it’s a much larger version of the reptile they encountered a few days ago, except that it’s undead.
Stopping twenty feet from them, they can see that the tyrannosaurus rex has rotting skin that only covers some of its bones and body, the eyes are sunken, with one eyeball hanging slightly out of its socket, and yet the claws seem as sharp as any well-honed blade. Standing still, it begins to kvetch and make a retching sound while extending its snout, three humanoid zombies tumble out of its mouth.
Fight choreography
Not wasting any time, Gven enables her barbarian rage and attacks with Tempest Edge. She misses with her first swing then takes a chunk out of its leg with her second.
Dolor rushes in next to Gven, wielding Gleaming Blade in one hand and his shortsword in the other. Slashing both blades at the T-Rex, he causes enough damage to make it roar in agony—or defiance—and it regurgitates one more zombie. Before the zombie is even on the ground, the dinosaur scoops up Dolor in its mouth, bites him and begins to aggressively swing him around. Keeping his wits about him despite his dire circumstances, Dolor uses uncanny dodge to reduce the significant damage from the bite. The 30-foot tall creature swings its tail at Gven and she’s able to dodge it.
Seeing that Nyx is quite the warrior, Grindlefoot casts Haste, doubling the tabaxi’s speed and allowing him to make additional attacks.
Without hesitating, Mond casts Burning Hands at two of the zombies, killing them both instantly.
The T-Rex ferociously throws Dolor up into the air, but Bilwin is ready and casts Feather Fall on the tiefling. He floats to the ground like a soft, spherical bundle of dandelion seeds.
Bilwin suddenly realizes that he can channel a divine energy he’s never actually used before. Looking intently at the small horde of zombies, both humanoid and dinosaur, he calls on Hanseath to help him cast Turn Undead. Almost immediately, the humanoid zombies flee in seeming terror, but the tyrannosaurus rex shakes its head in anger and remains. Bilwin’s hurdy-gurdy-shaped Spiritual Weapon appears next to him and attacks the rotting T-Rex, only causing enough damage to barely register with the beast.
Thanks to Grindlefoot’s Haste spell, the muscular tabaxi, Nyx, attacks the dinosaur twice with his flaming scimitar. The beast is looking much worse than when they first saw it, but still standing and ready to attack the group. It retches again, spitting up one more zombie that immediately attacks Nyx, cutting him across the shin. Not wanting the T-Rex to get away this time, Nyx casts a curse that marks it with the Jolly Roger and allows the tabaxi to track it.
With a battle roar, Gven skimmies up the T-Rex’s tail and back, lifts Tempest Edge as high as she can, and plunges it into the dinosaur’s skull. Its body convulses and slowly topples over, with Gven riding it to the ground and calmly stepping off into the dirt.
Four more zombies violently erupt from the undead tyrannosaurus rex’s remains, clawing at the air and heading towards the adventurers. Two of the zombies immediately attack Gven, but she’s able to evade them with ease. Dolor isn’t fazed and immediately attacks one, cutting off a few of its limbs. Grindlefoot follows up, twirling his sturdy wooden staff with finesse, to remove yet another grotesque piece of the zombie’s anatomy.
Mond lashes out at the three other zombies with Tasha’s Mind Whip, visibly tearing into their undead flesh. Bilwin swings his hurdy-gurdy case at one, but narrowly misses. His spirtual hurdy-gurdy goes after the same zombie, connecting with its force melee attack.
Nyx launches himself at two of the undead humanoids, slashing and slicing into them, cutting off several pieces of undead flesh. Instead of defending themselves, they attack Nyx, trying to bite and claw him anywhere they’re able to. The tabaxi receives a small cut on his forearm from one of the claws, which only makes him angrier.
With muscles rippling beneath her leather armor, Gven’s first swing is a blur that cleaves through a zombie’s skull, leaving its body standing headless for a few seconds. With a powerful second strike of Tempest Edge, her blade finds its mark in the chest of the other undead creature. It collapses, lifeless eyes staring blankly into the blue sky.
Dolor moves with a grace the group has come to expect from the tiefling rogue as he parries a clumsy attack with swift counterstrikes, Gleaming Blade and then the shortsword in his off-hand.
The undead creature is in dire shape, scraggly limbs barely hanging from its torso. Grindlefoot flourishes his wooden staff with an unusual flair, twirling it around his body a few times before finally connecting with the zombie’s skull. It audibly snaps backward into an awkward position and listlessly falls to the ground, lifeless.
With a look of disdain, the halfling quietly says “that’ll teach ya to mess with a farmer.”