Fmh ~ 30!

Andre had left the badland area and gone searching for plants that he could use to subdue that bear. It certainly wouldn’t be an easy task, but there was only profit in this plan. If he took down the bear non-lethally, he could attempt to bind it and reach the Second Circle. He would also gain whatever that plant was that was gathering mana to push through into the next tier.

The risk was absolutely worth it, especially since he would never get close enough that he would risk an attack. Andre looked at the plant cuttings or seeds that he had and prepared to start investing mana. “Skunkweed, rotting corpse bloom, sapstick, numbing nettles…”

Mana poured out of him and into the plants, and his selections grew, bloomed, and faded in minutes. Andre collected all the pollen and seeds, then started again. On the second run, he integrated the pollen. This process repeated over and over as Andre selectively bred the plants that he needed. In the natural world, this would never happen. It was only through forcing his mana to react with the plants that he eventually achieved what he wanted.

He stared at the plant that had been created; a fleshy bulb that looked like a cross between a pine cone and a succulent. It was small now, but when he wanted it to grow it would reach maturity in moments. Once it did, it would release a stench that could only be surpassed by smashing the ‘fruit’. The bulbous fruit was filled with sap and thousands of seeds, and once it reached the open air it became incredibly sticky. When the bear attacked it, the sap would get into its fur. That meant the seeds would as well. Andre had made sure that he could control all of them. It was time to begin.

Circling around the area, Andre found the rock formation that housed the cave and bear, and climbed the back with the help of his powerful body and vines that lashed out and pulled him up the steep rocks seemingly of their own accord. At the top of the stone, he was still only about thirty feet off the ground. This was too close for Andre to be comfortable, but it would have to do. The newly-named Stink-sac plant was lowered down by a vine, and Andre sent a pulse of mana into it to begin the growth process.

It didn’t take long for the bear to notice the stench, and as the plant grew it only got worse. Much worse. Andre had wrapped multiple layers of lavender-infused filter flowers around his face, and the smell still got into his nostrils. The Cave bear screeched and glared at the wriggling Stink-sac, then tried slapping it away. The pod burst, and the sap splattered the ground and the paw of the bear.

It was annoyed at first, then became increasingly desperate as it tried to get the sap off of it. It was a beast at the third tier, and this meant that it had reached a point where it could be considered extraordinarily intelligent for an animal. There was no way that it was going to stick that mess into its mouth and bite or lick it off. Instead, it was rubbing its paw against the ground and walls, tearing off fur and wreaking havoc on the cave entrance.

Andre knew that he needed to act fast. Mana whirled out of his hands, and forced the seeds to grow. The bear stiffened and reacted to the mana influx by coming fully out of the cave and glaring up at Andre. “Oh… hi there, big fella.”

The bear bellowed and jumped at him, scoring deep lines into the stone. When that didn’t achieve the intended effect, it reared back and gathered mana on its claws. Andre narrowed his eyes; this was what he had been waiting for! Mana roared out of him and the small pods on the bear swelled to the size of watermelons. The claws swiped, releasing claw-mana slashes, but the first thing hit was the pods.

Andre rolled out of the way of the attack, and looked down at the miserable bear. It was now coated head-to-toe in sap, and was struggling to breathe. “Yeah… I’m really sorry about this. I really need you out of the way, though.”

The bear was starting to blink rapidly, and Andre knew that the sheer amount of numbing nettle sap that was now coating the bear was starting to have an effect. He knew that a small amount of the toxins wouldn’t do much, but he planned to marinate this beast. Mana lurched out of him, and in moments the bear had so much ‘fruit’ on it that it looked like a plump raspberry. “A rasp-bear-y! I love it! The fruit is even pink! Mr. Bear, if you move at all things are only going to get worse.”

Mana: 89/481

He quickly checked his mana, swallowing at the low numbers he was seeing. Without a large circle of plants, he could only rely on his personal stores to see him through this trial. If the Cave bear could get through this…

*Wham*. The bear dropped to all fours, and there was a huge splash from all the sap that washed over its legs. It leaped forward and up, digging its paws and claws into the rock face. As a fringe benefit for Andre, all the plant matter and now dirt and rocks were stuck to the front of the beast, slightly slowing it down. However, this was a magical, powerful creature! It wasn’t going to be brought down by something stinky!

Vines lashed out from Andre, adding an additional and more potent paralytic to what was coating the bear. With a thought, all the pods on the bear burst at strategic locations; ensuring that the vast majority of the sap was soaking into fur. “I can do this all day—abyss!”

Andre dove off the rock formation as the bear surged upward suddenly; nearly three times as fast as it had been a moment before. Madness shone in its eyes, and there was a faint red outline around the beast’s entire body. “It has an enrage ability! Bad!”

He was rapidly approaching the ground, but a swinging vine grabbed at an outcropping and swung him around the rock and up to another. This motion just barely kept him ahead of the bear, which dove off the rock and charged after him. Attacks were coming thick and fast. Andre’s vine was slashed by a ranged claw swipe as he pulled himself along, but another took the place of the first easily. As Andre swung up, his back and the long green druid robe he wore were both slashed deeply by the very edge of claw-shaped mana.

Health: 121/141. Bleeding heavily! -4 health per second!

“Ahh!” Andre screamed in pain, directing several of his plants to wrap around the wounds and bind them tightly. Before he had dropped a dozen feet, thorns had pierced his skin and nailed the gashes closed. It still hurt to move so recklessly as he was doing, but the other option was death, so he continued swinging along. Each time his wound reopened, a thorny vine pulled it closed. Excruciating, yet effective.

Bleeding removed!

Andre landed on top of one of the rocks, panting heavily and finally out of the bear’s line-of-sight. “Pods… break!”

Mana: 10/481

This was his last-ditch effort. If he didn’t have enough time to regenerate his mana, there was no way to escape. He waited with heaving breaths as his mana pool slowly trickled upward, and there was no sign of the Cave bear. A few minutes later, Andre carefully crawled to the edge of the rock and looked over. His nose nearly touched the bears, and Andre leapt back like a fish trying to swim upstream; screaming at the top of his lungs. “Ahh! Ahh…?”

The bear didn’t move, except for its eyes, which were locked on Andre and filled with hate. Andre drew closer and found that there was a thick coating of debris and plants holding down a thoroughly paralysed Cave bear. The red aura was gone, and Andre realized that the effect must only have a short duration, then weaken the creature for a while. “Well… mana is back, so no time like the present.”