We headed to a remote mining town that had been recently discovered. As we neared it, we found a boy lying next to skeletons. Sobbing, he had his face buried on the ground, saying that they killed his parents. He ignored us until we asked who killed his parents. He gave a malevolent grin with yellowed teeth and said that he did. The ground rumbled, and we were swallowed whole by a gigantic plant. I slid down an acidic slide of plants into a chamber made of vines and leaves of a monstrous plant. It seemed that we were in the digestive organ of the plant as my body seared of acid. We moved forward to a tunnel. The floor was slippery, making us take more damage if we fell. We saw the bodies of other adventurers in the plant, melting slowly. We hurried to made sure that would not happen to us.
Varon lead the way for us, moving northeast then southeast then north. Gaven’s minotaur turret truly saved us, giving us arcane health that blocked the acid for us. Lysing, a new adventurer, was particularly grateful. After 2 minutes of corrosive torment, we managed to exit the plant from an orifice that had a foul stench that stung at our noses. When we exited, the boy was nowhere to be found. If I had to guess, I would say the boy was a bait to lure in unsuspecting adventurers before swallowing them whole in its gullet. It seemed that we exited from the plant’s rectum. I decided to think no further on it…
We went to the mine nearby and saw that it had caved in naturally. There was no sign of a town. We surmised that the plant creature had eaten the town residents. Vahn tried to cast shatter on the rubble, but it didn’t work. Since it would take days to clear way the entire cave in, we decided not to proceed further. We met a girl with bare feet and tattered clothes. She seemed translucent. Varon informed us she was a ghost. Her name was Elona. She lived with her sister who actually was a house. She told us that the town used to be here. She wanted something shiny in return for what she knew. Gaven gave her a stone raven that Vahn gave with a mage hand in caution, given our prior experience with a child. Elona was able to touch the stone. She told us that she was the town. It seems she had to possess people for them to enter the town. She saw a boy with a book that came by a while ago. It seems it was a different boy.
Silthon told us that he had seen a similar girl in a previous adventure who was keeping her father alive in a haunted house of sorts but was not hostile towards his party. It’s possible the girl he saw before was Elona’s sister Crella.
Elona was not jesting when she said that she was the town as she could turn into numerous other people, including Snipper of all people! It was a nostalgic sight, with a mix of good and not so good memories. Gaven chocked up a bit. Gaven allowed himself to be possessed and said he saw a vision of a town. Elona spoke in a melancholic tone about how so many had gone away before her. Gaven and Silthon told her about her older sister Crella and told her that she was with their father. She asked about her father’s condition, but Silthon made no comment. It seemed that Elona was bound to the entrance of the mine. Unable to do much else for her, we left. Elona seemed a little bit happier upon hearing about her sister. I am glad that I did not use Turn Undead on her.
The next day, we encountered a cart with traders looking to trade at the town. We told them that the town was gone. They were dismayed but thanked us and argued with each other as they left. Though we had not gained much, we did help a deceased girl, and as a cleric (partly), perhaps that’s good enough, even if there was not much action to be had.