Ahead of a courser loomed the entrance to a vast, subterranean garden filled with glowing flowers. Vines crawl along the walls- quite literally, because like most plants in the dungeon did, they moved. All of the plants in the room moved and they were everywhere. On the walls, the ceiling and forming lifelike bushes. It was a very pretty and noble-styled courtyard of a room even though it felt like a crazy mage’s experiment gone wrong.

“That’s a lot of flowers.” Scheitelhau winced. His words carried audibly across the flower-filled room as he said them. He looked at the strange plant growth as the vegetation hissed and curled when they sensed sound. “I don’t know if it’s safe to go in there.”

“I know one thing- that might just be a massive understatement.” Reaper hissed back. He too had stumbled upon Hau peering into the room. At his hooves, a black cat meowed, but she was quickly shushed. “Because honestly, that’s the most ‘I am a trap’ screaming room I’ve ever seen. It does not look not safe at all.”

Hau turned his head to face Reaper - surprised at the other courser. He hadn’t expected an answer when he spoke, and had been staring at the flower-filled room alone for a while.  Caw was snoozing on his shoulders. The sudden company was comforting. Perhaps the newcomer had seen this room before. He turned his golden eyes back to the courtyard. “You reckon that’s topiary?”

Closer to the back of the current party, Safira’s steady hoofbeats slow down. Her ears prick forwards with mention of there being a lot of flowers. Flowers? This far down? Wait a minute. Wait all the Ranger and Wizards’ minutes.

When she finds a space to move through, the pale courser does so. Goostarion honks when he spies the flowers mentioned, his feathers nearly floofing up in his surprise and shock at the room that he swore they left behind. “How many of these BLASTED rooms are we going to encounter, my darling Safira? I find it absolutely dreadful that we have to be within this…mess again. Honk.”

Safira moved her head and nickered softly. Goostarion moved closer to her and settled near her head, far more easy to listen to their conversations between each other with the others around.

“There must be several types of these rooms all throughout the land.” Safira said wryly, peeking in to give a quick scan of the layout of the room and pulling herself back in. “There are two variants of this room that I’ve encountered with my own campaigning party. The first room was less bioluminescent and more mossy…” She trails off, analyzing the space again.

Meanwhile, Reaper and Hau had sat down near the entrance to the room. The conversation they were holding was one bordering on ridiculous- but then again, so was the magically glowing plant room. “No, topiaries tend to be cut into shapes- it could be the same species of plant but they’re not called topiaries!” Reaper said. “That’s the same thing as calling a rose bush a bush just because it looks like one!”

“but they look like topiary shapes, mate, look, that one’s a courser. And that one… and that one..” Hau retorted, pointing to each shaped plant with a hoof, leaning back on his haunches and then slowing as he said it, realising something was really off about them. Caw shuffled nervously, and flapped to his head. “CAW.” The crow said, puffing his chest feathers up in the direction of the room.

As Safira moved to talk to the two other coursers the black cat at Reaper’s side hissed at Goosetarion when he opened his beak. “Lucky, calm down.” He said, then blinked at the new Courser that just arrived. “Oh, hello. Come to join the friendly argument?”

“Is there a reason this ‘friendly argument’ can’t be held not in an entryway?”

A new voice asked. As while the party had engaged in the chatter of plants a fourth courser had been winding his way towards them.

“Are you going in there?” Hau muttered under his breath. The entryway seemed like a fine and safe place to hold this argument. He snorted.

Whatever Hessatal had been prepared for with The Guild Matron’s instructions, warnings and suspicions ringing in his head…a wall of butts certainly hadn’t been one of them. Then his thoughts truly processed some of what he had overheard …did they say topiary…?

Unease twisted in Hessatal’s stomach like a colic as he looked over the other three and their pets to take in what lay beyond.

“Oh not this fucking place again.” His annoyance hissed through his teeth. Of course The Matron’s map had him emerging in another of the dungeon damned hell gardens. Why the hell wouldn’t it?! 

The spike of tension made the pup in his saddlebag shift and whine as she poked her head and an oversized paw up to peep through the flap 

Safira hears Goostarion honk again at the hissing, ear flicking as he murmurs something to him that seems to settle him back into the harness nestled to her back. The pale courser had agreed to go to this party because Mircea was preoccupied with other matters. Those other matters being the influx of new courser that had joined their encampment back home, and something something new allies were needed in this part of the woods. She sighed. She wasn’t much of a leader but she had the knowledge for it.

“Because the types of plants beyond this room have properties that can cause Courser to become part of the scenery….” She gently bobs her head towards one of the closer ones. “Pre-sculpted topiaries, if you will.” A shiver ran through her spine. “I’ve traversed rooms like this before, as I said.” She pauses, and then her ears flick and she lets out a snort. “My sincerest apologies, I don’t believe I ever introduced myself. How rude of me to input myself into a conversation being had without it.”

She dips her head again, politely. “My name is Safira, amateur historian and lore-keeper for the..” Pause. “Anarch Campaign party.” Had she the ability to shrug, she would. “Our lead, Mircea, calls my usual campaign party that. In any matter…” Gaze sweeps back over to the room. “From the subsequent visits to that room, I believe that there is a variety of plant in there that, when disturbed or breathed in too deeply, causes the transformation sequence to start the longer one spends time exploring in that room.” She recalls her first trip in, how her lungs hurt and her vision became hazy and oh, how tired she’d been at the worst of it.

“So while to us outside they may appear like topiaries..” She shakes her head. “Those are unwary Courser who did not see the signs until it was too late.” Though, curiously, she glances towards the one she heard hiss and cuss, cocking her head softly to the side. “You have also traversed these rooms, I presume? Did you have a similar experience?”

“Excuse me?” Another voice interrupted. Safira looked over to the two other coursers that had finally quit their own garden chat. “Did I hear it right that the two of you, and I mean you, Safira and a newcomer who’s name I still do not know, have experienced either this room or similar rooms like these?”

At two nods, Reaper stepped back from the entryway. He gave a nod to Lucky who jumped upon his back, claws digging into his leather harness. Then he drew a giant, orange scythe and tossed his head to the room, ears flat. “And I take it those topiaries were once souls that never got out?”

Another pair of nods. This one had the ossuary-covered courser roll his eyes. It looked pretty strange, since one of them was blue and the other a blood red. He trotted a small, frustrated circle before the entrance and then walked back to the three other coursers.

“Right.” Reaper sighed again. “Why can’t it ever be a fun room, like a room filled with food or gold that isn’t trapped to the Wizard’s buttocks and back. Look, since I have somewhere to smash a certain skull, could you two please help me to cross that room? I got enough gold to pay you if that’s needed, though I certainly hope offering my services to cross it will be enough.”

Hau listened intently to all of this. Souls? Gold? Wizard’s buttocks? Did that GOOSE TALK? Caw fluttered uneasily to the ground. Then the conversation turned to skull smashing, and he butted in “- A skull to smash! That b*stard?? I’m headed that way too! I also have gold!”

Safira nodded gently. “No need for payment. If you have a skull to smash…I am curious to see how such an encounter would play out, and I’d be more than willing not only to accompany you but also provide support for that.”

Hessatal listened intently and had to shake off the horrific memories that surfaced unbidden as the scholarly courser detailed the process by which he had nearly died to and worse watching Ritsu and the rest of their party freeze engulfed by leaves thorns bursting through their skin…he took a breath steadying himself and grounding in the here and now.

“I know from my own experience that as Safira said, we really don't want to be lingering here when that demon plant senses us. However it does that. We'll want to move through quickly. Preferably before the bastard thing starts sporing the place” Hessatal said reaching into his saddlebag looking for spare cloth for makeshift masks. 

Reaper’s talk of a quest though certainly brought the swarf flecked stallion's attention to him intently “What skull are you talking about smashing though? Some enemy of yours you want mercs to help knock around?” 

“Suppose so.” Reaper tossed his head to his saddlebag. “I got a certain kind of tome in there- actually, I got two. One’s a tome of skull summoning. Found it during my party’s last campaign but none of them are on my level- and I want to beat it. For…personal reasons, let’s leave it at that.”

“Personal reasons huh? Revenge mission on a monster?” Hess asked. His muzzle finally found what he sought. Pulling it out to be cut up. even as his mind started to tick with a creeping thought he didn't like. One tied to his own mission alone down here. A skull demon…he was almost certain that it rang a bell. An old story or legend he and his brothers had been told.

“It nearly killed my friend.” Reaper answered, and his voice took on a grim tone. Lucky meowed near his leg. He nuzzled her head. “He’s alive, thank the gods for that- but he will never walk nor adventure again. And it was his livelihood.” Staring at the plant-covered room he shook his head. “Now, I don’t mind taking others along- I’d welcome any help. But to be quite frank I don’t know how dangerous it will be. I need to get going so please- are you willing to join me on this quest to smash that thing into pieces?”

Hessatal’s expression shifted looking at Reaper sympathetically and nodded “I'm prepared to help you pay that thing back…it might even be what I'm here hunting as well. Name’s Hessatal of Trickshot” he said, dipping his head to the party. 

Hau suddenly felt quite childish and very small. The skull had not nearly killed his friend. He’d just heard it existed and wanted to have a go at it. His mother had told him tales of its ferocity and all his adventuring so far had built up to finding the darned thing. How dare it think it was the ruler of the dungeon. 

“I’d like to help too, in that case. You have a noble reason for the fight.” He muttered under his breath part of a verse, “he who hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made, and crowns for convoy put into his purse.” A personal reminder, that there was no shame in backing down, but that he did, indeed have the stomach to join these other adventurers and avenge his new horticultural friend’s friend.

Safira’s eyes alight upon the book, and the muscles in her shoulders beneath her skin flinch as she takes a step, one more in place. “We had one of those before. They’re called…” She pauses. “A Tome of Skull Summoning. Primarily to summon the beast of legend. I never rifled through the pages of the ones we obtained.”

“Yes, I said that’s what I have.” Reaper muttered. He put the tome back in his bag for safekeeping. “So, do you want to fight it with me, or are we going to keep talking about it in front of the worst gardens that I had the displeasure to ever see?”

That said, he held out his hoof to Hessatal for one of the clothes. He was not about to turn into a bush because of his impatience. “And let’s get to stepping.”

Hessatal nodded and gave a mask to Reaper and pushed two of the larger ones he'd made to the others “I'm all for moving on…or putting the whole damn place to the torch. One or the other. Moving on probably has less chance of dodgy fallout. Who knows what this shit would do as smoke.” he said getting his own face covering casting an eye to the smaller and cuter members in the band “What about your pets? Should I make coverings for them too or will you be hiding them in your bags…might be tough for the goose though”

“I’ll take one for Lucky.” Reaper said, and took another one offered. Lucky was given the other mask which she deftly tied herself. “Lucky’s very skilled. Good thinking and thank you for sharing!”

Safira tilted her head and listened in, ear twitching a bit. “Well -I- for one know that my dearest Safira would want to be able to research more of this horrible beast, Honk. So we shall come with you and fight it, like she said she wanted to.” Safira clipped her hoof as the Goose that was perfectly normal looked over to Hessatal. “-I- have a name, you know. It is Goostarion, protector of the Lore Keeper of the Anarchs. Honk.” He did show he had a space on Safiras back to settle to be safe from the plant room.

Safira realized it would be harder, but she accepted the face covering gratefully and with a little bit of maneuvering put it on. “I do apologize for Goostarion’s sass at times…He is a good companion, though. Fierce in battle…and in tongue today it seems.” A dissatisfied honk was her response. “Well…shall we?” 

Hessatal had rolled his eyes at the bird sassing him, “I was referring to the fact that you're too large to fit in the saddle…” his words trailed off as his dark brown eyes widened as they fixed on the goose…Goostarian as he had so proclaimed himself. He side eyed the others seeing if they had heard “you all heard it too right?” He asked. Getting back nods he took a deep breath “I have so many questions right now…” he shook his head this was not the time or place. He finished the last of the makeshift protectors for Caw which he gave to Hau.

Twilight though was practically vibrating. The tiny wolf cub, though largely unseen, was wiggling and wagging her tail like crazy at having so many new horses and new creatures around her and Hess. Especially Goostarian having never seen a goose before and she yipped and made a little whine at them for attention. 

Hess craned his head to her with a soft smile “shhh you can say hello later.” He lightly pressed his cloth covered nose against his puppy’s and pressed her back into the bag. “lay down Twilight, good girl.” The puppy obeyed with only a minor sound of protest. 

With the animals secure and feeling like all the preparation and precaution that could be done had been, Hess stepped into the garden. He turned his head this way and that, watchful as he skirted the plants. Reaper and Safira followed with Hau closing the rear. One step, two as they entered the garden- all following Hess as he skirted around the place. This adventure was going to be a tough one.