BNN: Botanical Wonders
Farley of Vesper Sep 13 2000 9:37PM
Dear Readers,
I have witnessed a marvel recently that I simply must share with you all! Upon exiting the city of Vesper to go on my daily foray into the forest for herbs and reagents, I noticed a most wondrous sight on the nearby cemetery grounds. It seems that overnight a mystical garden had sprouted up from the graves of the dead!
Unfortunately as my move to investigate further brought me near the fence surrounding the cemetery, a thorny tentacle lashed out from the nearest botanical wonder to scrape my arm quite badly. Even now, a day later, this scratch has grown quite irritated and includes a most interesting rash. I may have to seek the aid of a healer or alchemist to cure it.
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At any rate, I moved back a respectable distance and stood staring in amazement as the odd, giant plants sprouted from the ground before my very eyes. As if to add to the very danger of my loitering there, I noticed one sprouting plant had also pulled an animated skeleton from the grave it grew over!
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At this point, I determined that I was going to need a great amount of help if I was ever to collect specimens from these beastly plants amidst the wandering dead whose rest had been disturbed. I am but a simple herbalist and scholar, after all. I quickly trotted the short distance back to Vesper where I knew I could find brave warriors to assist me in my expedition.
Though I had nothing to offer in the way of reward, save whatever the spoils of the battle with the deadly foliage might be, a large group of generous warriors escorted me back to the cemetery. There they waged a great battle with the savage garden, during which I did my best to step around the fighting and gather my specimens from the fallen plants.
Towards the end of the battle with undead and flora alike, it was noted by the valiant combatants that one particular tree-like specimen was much stronger than the rest. I could not help but wonder what powers the sap of such a beast may hold. The fighters gathered their skill and might and finally won over the enormous creature as its branches fell to the ground with a loud thud.
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Perhaps a little hasty in my eagerness to gather a bit of sap from the fallen tree, I bent to pluck off a piece of moist bark with my fingers. No sooner had I grazed it with my fingertips then did I pull them back with a yelp. The sap from the tree had burned the tips of my fingers raw! Using a bit more intelligence in my second try, I scraped off a piece with my dagger to add to the now large collection of jars filled with my specimens.
After the very short remaining battle was over, I gathered the rest of the samplings and thanked the brave warriors who had assisted. It seemed that some deal of treasure had been found among the fallen plants and undead, but I had no care for that. With a spring in my step, I walked quickly back to my lab in Vesper to study my newfound specimens.
I hope one day soon to be able to astonish you with my findings. Until then, again my thanks to those courageous warriors who assisted me on this expedition!
Respectfully,
Farley of Vesper, Herbalist