1.6 Eat or Be Eaten

I recognised my captor, not from my scouting years but from game lore. Strangler Vine Ivy, quasi animated plant type monsters. They reacted to movement, the harder one struggled the tighter they would become. Although a reasonable threat on their own, the scarlet veins were the sign of a bigger threat, Crimson Monarch Blood Orchid. The Blood Orchid had more in common with an over sized Venus Fly Trap than any hot house flowers. Although immoble, the monster could take physical control of other plants by infecting them with its crimson rootlets.

I wish I could report that I handled the unexpected arrival of the floral monsters with aplomb. I squealed like a small child and flailed about like an epiletic octopus. Even after recognising that struggling was only making matters worse, I found it almost impossible to relax. I tried to calm my breathing, but my body was in panic mode.

If I had been playing a game I would have activated my [Meditation] Skill to try and relax. The moment the errant thought crossed my mind, I felt my Stamina drop and a sense of peace flow through me. I was still in crisis, but I could think clearly.

The vines were dragging me through the lower branches of the Great Trees toward a strange pulsing red pod, easily big enough to hold a grown man, I would be a tight fit. The vines jerked unevenly on my arms and legs. Luckily, no vine had wrapped around my neck. A slow, deep breath, and I relaxed, letting my limbs fall loose. The goal was to mimic deadweight, as the vines reacted to movement. The pressure wrapped around my arms and legs did diminish, still uncomfortable, but some blood returned to my hands and feet.

[Meditation] was draining my Stamina too rapidly. I needed to find a way to relax without using System assistance. Last time I used a visualization technique, it had unintended consequences. This time I just silently recited poetry, in my head. Lewis Carol’s Jabberwocky, “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe…”

Why that nonsense poem? No clue, unless my subconscious was looking for an example of triumph over adversity. It worked, in that I felt the rate of Stamina drain diminish. A purely short term victory. I focused on the crimson pod I was approaching, and triggered [Examination]. I knew what my opponent was, but when in doubt, recon!

Crimson Monarch Blood Orchid...Level 17 Floral Monstrosity Tier 2

Health Pool: 99+/99+ Stamina Pool: 97/99+ Mana Pool: 57/87

Natural Armor: 9(Resistant Blunt, Vulnerable Fire)

Natural Attack: 3D6 Venom, 2D12 Corrosive, Entangle

Level 17! I needed a moment to regain my center. I could not even tell what its Health and Stamina pool maximines were. I could maybe do 3 points of damage unarmed, 5-6 if I could somehow free my arms and grab the six inch folding knife attached to my belt. That would not be enough to penetrate its armor, let alone kill it before it finished digesting me.

Ok, a word about Resource Economy, damage and armor.

The four Pools, Health, Stamina, Sanity, and Mana, represent both the ability to act, as well as the ability to take damage. Any exceptional exertion results in the loss of the appropriate Points. Successful attacks also deplete the Pools. Health is the amount of vitality and resilience a creature has; the amount of damage one can take before suffering a physical injury or Wound. Wound Ranks can also be inflicted by certain special attacks and critical hits, but mostly they are the result of zeroing out Heath. A creature can take a number of Wound Ranks equal to half their Con Score before dying. Zeroing out Stamina results in Exhaustion Levels, Sanity equates to Psychosis, and Undermana in both Health and Sanity loss.

Damage can be divided into different Categories: Physical( Blunt, Sharp, Ballistic), Psychic, Poisonous, Pathogenic, Holy/Damnation, Elemental(Fire, Cold, Electric, Corrosive, Radiant, Tenebrific), Necrotic/Entropic, Transcendental, etc. Different damage categories are affected by different Resistance and Armor. It can also be divided into Types:Lethal, Traumatic,and Casual. Lethal damage is deducted for the Health Pool, Casual from Stamina Pool, and Traumatic damage is equally divided between Health and Stamina. The Mental modifier is used if the damage affects Mana and Sanity instead of Health and Stamina.

Natural Armor applies its full value versus Blunt and Sharp Physical damage ,and half its value versus Ballistic, Elemental, and Necrotic damage. While it was barely possible I might penetrate the plants Natural Armor on a lucky Critical Hit, I would still need to inflict over 99 points of Health Damage before inflicting Wound Ranks. That was assuming I managed to get my knife out. The Resistant Quality increased the Armor Value by 50% against Blunt damage. Fire would ignore the armor and do increased damage, but all I had was a flint and striker.

I flipped head over heels as the four vines pulled me closer to the carnivorous flower’s maw. Each limb was enwrapt by a separate plant, which were not perfectly coordinated by their vegitative overlord. The twist brought my head near the vine binding my left arm, and I bite down on the Strangler.

The Crimson Monarch’s minions were weaker than the big boss plant. I really didn’t think it would work, outside of mealtime I hadn’t bitten anything since kindergarten. Still, if a plant wanted to eat me, then turn about was fair play.

I tasted a bitter sap, felt a strange buzz percolating from my bloodstream, and then bite down harder, chewing right through the emerald vine.

My goal was self defence, not consumption. The [Alchemy] Skill was all about converting ingredients harvested from monsters, mystic herbs, and magical ores, into beneficial Potions, Powders and Pills. Raw, unrefined and unpurified, monster parts were potentially toxic. Even if they didn’t kill one, eating monster flesh would often result in Corruption and Mutation. Strangler Vine Ivy, was often harvested in LoL, to be used as an Alchemy Reagent. Drinking the raw sap was akin to mainlining a dozen Winged Bull power drinks, or maybe cocaine, I wouldn’t know.

I don’t know what the Orchid was thinking, if it could think, because while it controlled the possessed vines, it didn’t take damage when they were hurt. Maybe it thought I had developed a taste for Strangler Sap, and wanted to deny me additional power ups, but all the other three vines let me go, a good ten to fifteen feet above the open crimson pod belonging to the botanical monster.

What happened next can only be explained by a Critical Fumble on the part of the Crimson Monarch, followed by a Critical Hit on the Random Injury table. I was falling with all the dignity a 300+ pound tub of lard can manage, when I impacted with one of the pod’s lids. Normally I should have been gently lowered into the orchid’s digestive pods by the vines. The pod would have closed, and I would have been poisoned by the narcotic sickly sweet nectar inside, left paralysed for the 7-10 days needed for the plant to digest and absorb me. Instead of landing in the center and having the two petal/lips of the pod’s maw close around me, I hit the edge of one, followed by a loud rrrrrip. The top third of the petal I hit tore away, the whole pod rotated 100° spilling the pooled narcotic nectar down its stem. The pod did close around me, partially and at an awkward angle.

The top half of my body was trapped, but my arms were free. The narcotic vapors were being counteracted by the Strangler Sap, although it was making me quite sick. My body weight was dragging the pod further off center, bending the stem to which it was attached. Creaks and snaps could be heard coming from the stalk. With my arms free, I could finally free my knife and attack. The tough fibrous Natural Armor did a better job protecting the outer stem than the fleshy inner surface of the pod. With no Combat Abilities, I just slashed like a madman.

I have no explanation for my next behavior. I only had one free hand, I was feeling woozy, my stomach was upset, I was starting to hear colors and see sounds. I started stuffing my face with the raw flesh of the monstrous plant. Maybe a weird reaction to the sap and nectar? I did not feel incontrol, like some sort of fugue state, just slashing and gorging myself on the more edible parts of the giant man eating flower.

I do not know how long it lasted, but at some point the pod lost too much integrity, and I crashed to the ground. A piece of the outer bark had peeled off, and I could see a honeysuckle scent, and hear an emerald glow emanating from the wound. The stem was too fibrous and woody to eat, but I came to awareness while licking the blood red sap. In my haze I had managed to pry out a nut brown golf ball sized seed, that hummed in my hand. I left my knife buried hilt deep in the woody flesh of the plant, and somehow struggled up to my feet. Only one of my arms was working. My good hand was wrapped tight around the seed. I was still hallucinating, but without conscious thought, I was able to return to the hill.

I can only surmise it was the System’s assistance from the relatively high levels of [Navigation] and [Orienteer]. When I had left the Stone Circle, I used my Compass and Orienteer training to keep track of my path. The System rewarded me with Levels, but the work was legitimately mine. They journey back, that was completely the System bonuses at play.

The menhirs started glowing when I passed the boundary, but I was focused on the Altar. I collapsed when I finally reached it, dropping the seed on its surface, before vomiting all over the Altars base.

I vaguely felt the pleasure/agony of the platinum flames before I passed out.