Crop Circles
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Dwin pulls on a pair of heavy gloves from his pack and helps ( a bit ) with the weed and root pulling, being the benevolent, friendly, every-mans leader that he is.
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Nods to Cal
Have faith, old friend, we ain't done yet… gives him a bit of a smile
Addressing the farmers and their families ((Z wants the community to be, very much, a part of the ritual and the cure))
We thank you for your prayers and your help so far, you're doin' great. As you kin see, by workin' together and puttin' our faith and trust into Chauntea, we can overcome. But we ain't done and this next part is very important. We, once again, will need ta work together ta accomplish the task.
What we need to do now, is clear out all of these dead and dying plants. But it is very important that you get the whole plant, roots 'n all. You all know that, if you don't get the roots of a weed, it'll come back. These will too - quickly. So, it is critical that you get every last bit of the plant and its roots. Even if a little leaf falls off, you need to get that too. We need to get everything…every little bit. And be careful, please. Some of them thorns are razor sharp.
For those of you who din bring work gloves, I have several pair for you to borrow ((and he does)). And if you din bring your shovel, send some of your little ones ta go fetch it…we'll need 'em later. But for now, we're weedin' by hand. The rest of you, please continue your prayers as we work.
Z scans the crowd to find the woman who leads the church choir and addresses her directly with a smile Mrs. McDonald ((E-I-E-I-O
)), perhaps we kin also hear some of the choir's beautiful songs of praise ta inspire us and make the labor a little more pleasant.*While the men work at pulling up the dead, blighted plants (roots and all), the women and children pray and sing songs of thanks and praise to Chauntea for her love and protection.
Once everyone is confident we've gotten all of the plants and roots manually, Z, Telli, Cal, and Jerrick will do what they can magically.*
((Telli, Calendel, Jerrick, please post. I'm writing about what needs to happen and what Z will do if no one else posts. Any of these steps can be done by any or all of you. J, I'm not really sure what Jerrick's powers are, but anything he can do to help would be appreciated. Thanks Everyone.
))*Z will then, casually, go over to his gear and gear up. So as not to make it obvious that he just geared up, he will put his robes back on, over his armor (light chain). Of course, the shield on his back might be a giveaway.
Z will start by warning the families, especially the ones with small children. He assures them that Z's friend "Sparky" is scary looking, but he's only there to help and won't harm anyone. Z will then summons a fire elemental.
The pulled plants will be dispelled and then burned by the elemental ((or one that T, C, or J summons)). Once the fire burns itself out, holy water will be poured on the ashes to make sure they are out and to finish the cleansing.
Next, the elemental will be instructed to walk around and do a high heat burn over the entire crop circle (and slightly beyond). Leftover plants, roots, leaves, etc. need to be torched.
Z will then instruct everyone to use their shovels to turn the soil in the crop circle and an elemental (different one) will do another burn (repeat this if necessary).
((These are all the parts of the third phase of the ritual - unless it's interrupted.))
Z
((P.S. I specifically asked T, C, and J to post as part of the ritual but, of course, other people are welcome to post, as well.))
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Calendel sighs
We can only delay the spread of this blight. We'll need to determine and eliminate what's causing the blight if we want to put an end to this once and for all. Let's continue holding this back as long as we can and hope that the others searching for the source are successful.
Calendel resumes his prayer and divine casting with Z and Telli
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_A good many of the the flies covering them all especially the clerics turning, burst where they are. Splotches of juicy fly guts are left all over the clothing, in ears eyes, whatever, if anything is left uncovered. The surviving flies away and closer back toward the ground. They are left to occupy the ground around people's feet in the affected area furtherest from the turning cleric's, leaving the area around the first circle's cent entirely clear of the pests.
The thorny weeds around them finish out their hasted lifecycle and nothing grows to take its place. It looks all looks placid and cured. Yet it has looked often the same after the many attempts to be rid of the blight before. The blight has so often grown back from this apparently cleansed state._
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*Z wraps a large piece of fabric around his head, nose, and mouth and then pulls up the hood of his cloak.
With a nod to Telli and Calendel he takes each of their hands (still holding his holy symbol in one) and begins to pray…* ((Turn undead - Plant domain clerics turn/destroy vermin as undead.))
Addressing the crowd in a calm voice
We've cast the remove curse blessin' many times over the past few weeks and this ain't happened before. We're on the right track. Trust in Chauntea and she will deliver us from this curse.
*After a brief conference with Telli, Jerrick, and Cal, they begin the second round of blessings.
These consist of cure disease and healing blessings (healing circle, for example) on the plants within the crop circle to just beyond the outter edge.*
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Zeff uses his 'howl' ability to inspire fear in to the dogs surrounding him and Miea sends any flying that don't run.
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_The children are chased off when outnumbered, by the guards chasing them around.
The dogs run in circles around Zeff, taunting him with some teamwork. Round and round they go until the wolf gets reinforcement. The pack of dogs break only a few rounds after the children are sent running, and scatter in all directions.
Bark and stone skin may bring great relief from the feel of tiny legs crawling on bare flesh, as do the more mundane protections of hoods and cloth and helms. It does not stop them crawling into orifices left unguarded or bringing their high-pitched whine into ears and crawling over eyes._
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grins watching Mord's reaction briefly before whispering over the area with Z, Jerr, and Cal.
eh?
Telli watches as smoke billows to the sky from Jiyyd…((added to reflect Diet's recent post in SV*...
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Mord curses soundly as the children and dogs move in and can be seen directing the guard to harry them away. He himself takes his baton and swings at a few of the fleet ones he comes close too, not seeming to care whether they are child or beast
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nods back to Miea before turning to focus back on the ritual…
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Upon seeing the eruption of flies Miea quickly dons her wooden helm and pulls on her leathers. Casts ‘Barkskin’ upon her self, anfd additionally 'Bark skin' and 'Bull's strength’ on Zeff also 'Magic fang' then tells Zeff to deal with the dogs. Then proceeds to wildshape (bear) and moves in to deal with anyone or animal who are harassing the casters doing the ritual either scaring them off, physically picking them up and removing them or by making herself the object of their harassment. Just so all they have to deal with are the flies and the blight itself.
//some info that may be required
Miea as bear Hp 73 AC 16
strength 27 +8 bonus
Fort 10 Reflex 4 Will 8Zeff Hp 38 AC 18
Strength 17 +3 bonus
Fort 5 Reflex 8 Will 3Zeff will be trying to asserting authority over the dogs to make them think of him as a alpha male, any that cause him too much trouble Miea will deal with.
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Telli clutches her wreath whispering as she attempts to turn back the flies from the fours presence… quickly she follows suit covering Z, Jerr, Cal and herself in a shell of bark and stone. When the flies return she makes it a point to stuff cotton into her ears and cups her nose and mouth breathing through her cupped hands. Even with the practice she's endured standing within Chauntea's blessings... ((creeping doom))... Telli has a hard time enduring the flies annoyance.
((Dumping four stoneskin spell components next time I log in.))
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_The wild plants that have grown up in place or around any new crops, their thorns do tear into any pretty cloth or unprotected flesh in areas not cleared beforehand, as it would be especially thick around the center of the circles.
Upon the casting and completion of Remove Curse ((which shall be treated as a circle casting for my purposes, I've not heard anything that says clerics may not do it too.)) it's not exactly clear its effect, since the effects of the blight are harder to discern by day in the first place. The wild plants do shrink away from around them where they have not been cleared. Mage bot flies rise up in a thick cloud from the ground and foliage. The high-pitched whine of their buzzing fills the ears, and there is barely an orifice they do not find. Eyes, noses, ears, mouths all easily find flies straying into them if left uncovered or open. There being no mages among the gathered, no one is bit, but that doe snot keep them from landing and crawling all over anyone within range of the first circle's center
Amidst all the flies come the taunting shouts of children who have come running up, throwing stones at the casting group. A small pack of dogs add raucous barking to the cacophony. The five or seven children and equal number of dogs are fleet of foot and agile, making a point to harry the casters and avoid true confrontation._
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There’s a somewhat loud yawn from a nearby tree, and sounds of something moving around in the branches, after a small while Miea climbs down out of the tree, Looking at those gathered she asks sleepily.
What's happening?
Zeff pads up beside her and she ruffles his fur looking to the group.
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To Dwin
Aye, thanks old friend.
When I first heard about the lights, the crop circles, and the blight, one of the first things that popped inta me head was that somethin' unnatural was "planted" here and was growin'. But we checked under the surface and that doesn't seem ta be the case.
Since then, Miss Telli, the farmers motions to his fellow farmers gathered around, and I have been workin' on this blight problem for a few weeks, but everything we do seems to only last a few hours.
I'm pretty sure we've figured out the right order and combination of blessings to get rid of the blight once and for all.
((Waits for Chaos Nymph to reply with the results of the remove curse before proceeding with the next round of blessings.))
((P.S. I'm going out of town for the weekend and will be back Sunday night. I won't be IG at all, but I think I'll have access to Internet. If I do, I'll continue to post. I've already PMed CN, Telli, and Cal so they know the plan.))
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Once Dwin sees the defensive stances of those around him, he too pulls his shield up to his eyes and beckons for the red cloaks to stand, meat-shield style, in front of him.
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:: Kalith backs up and stands behind and to the left of Dwin and having tucked the spade in his belt and begins readying his shield::
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Jerrick watches impassively, and shrugs, resuming his work on the prayer, and focusing his thoughts as he did before, when fighting the taint in the Rawlins, which when fueled with prayer with other people, actually affected the grounds they focused on, and purged the taint in those areas.
If this situation proves to be like others, he is ready for things to burst forth from the ground, scimitar loose in it's sheath.
The Large direwolf that tends to accompany him about stands behind him and the group, watching idly, ears twitching about as he stands guard over his companion.
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*Dwin blinks a few times and rubs his forehead.
Z, ya thought this through, aye? Yer as good a farmer as anyone I have ever met, so I trust ya on matters like this.
Just think twice before ya do anything… we've had lots of problems lately--not like I have to tell you that--and we dont need any more.
Kalith here always has good advice, I recommend ya listen to each others thoughts on this. Two hammers are better than one, eh?
Dwin steps back to what he assumes is a "safe" distance should anything ugly happen.
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@bd783f81e7=Speedy_Z_:
@bd783f81e7=Salsadoom:
Lord Dolvak, I have just arrived to survey the damage and collected a few samples for Calendel taking appropriate precautions and had hoped to see if anything lay beneath the ground at the center.
((Calendel is standing there. He's one of the casters working with Z.))
Z gives a quick, apologetic nod to Dwin and seems to relax a bit when Dwin ((and, apparently, Cal)) recognizes the man.
( I was just waiting for Cal to respond
)
