Chaos plants

From: Mittmann, Mike <Mike_Mittmann_at_affymetrix.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 11:41:49 -0800


  Chaos Plants

    Chaos does not limit itself in which runes it perverts. Here are a few     plants you're likely to find in a chaos infested area.

    Appears Extremely Dangerous Tree:

    This tree has the chaos feature "Appears extremely dangerous". It is a     large oak tree positioned along the path, just as the path goes through     a gap between two large boulders. The boulders serve two purposes.     First, they channel any faint breeze through the branches of the trees,     so that the branches will wave towards the PCs. (I describe it as "As     you near the huge oak, you notice that the branches reach towards you     and withdraw, then reach and withdraw, coming closer with every step you     take").

    Additionally the boulders narrow the path so that the PCs must walk     right under the tree, they can of course go around the boulders, but     this will require cutting a path through the chaos woods, and will add 2     hours to travel 200 meters.

    If the PCs look very carefully at the tree they will see a bark     formation which looks like a huge grimacing face, about 10 feet up the     trunk.

    Sitting in the upper branches of the tree are large black ravens, which     will caw loudly, (one of the ravens is semi-intelligent, int 4, and will     make trouble if the opportunity presents itself). If you wish you may     want to bind a hostile ghost into the tree so that it will detect as an     enemy, but this shouldn't be needed.

    Finally, if this is making the PCs nervous, make sure that they trip     over the roots while they watch the branches for hostile movement.

    Cherry Bomb Tree.

    The cherries from this classic tree are quite volatile, and explode for     1d4 damage when sudden pressure is applied. If someone is actually     foolish enough to eat one she should take 4 points to her head from the     confined explosion.

    Road Apple Tree:

    These otherwise normal looking apples taste like horse manure.

    Venus Fly Tree:

    This tree has what looks like a baby stuck in its upper branches. The     baby is screaming and crying loudly. If the PCs try to rescue it they     discover that about the branches are covered with sticky sap. The sap     acts like the glue spell, holding a person with a strength of about     2/100 square cm, this is about an 8 strength for both hands and feet,     but climbing a tree while touching it with only your hands and feet is     quite difficult (about 3 climbing rolls at climb/5). Normal climbing     will very quickly result in the person getting glued to the tree with a     strength of about 5str/size point of climber. (since the trunk isn't     sticky they'll get caught about 20 feet up the tree) If the person isn't     removed within an hour they slow eating acidic sap will begin to eat     him alive. The process will take about 24 hours. Note that if the     person was removed from the tree immediately they will feel all the sap     that they hadn't washed off begin to burn. The baby is, of course, just     part of the tree.

    The Reversed Lewis Carroll:

    As the characters approach this tree they see a housecat sitting in mid     air, watching them with the look of a contented cat. The cat (known to     be of the Cheshire variety to any PC who makes his animal lore roll) is     sitting on an invisible tree. The cat can see it. The characters     can't. This is unfortunate as a branch from this tree crosses the path     at a height of 4 feet. The cat thinks all of the people running into     the branch is very funny. Due to the many intervening (invisible)     branches,95% of the missiles shot at the cat will be deflected by the     branches. The invisibility of this tree is chaotic, and dependent on     the tree being alive, thus any characters who cut down a branch with the     intent of wielding an invisible maul will find their weapon fading into     visibility within the hour (an elf who can bring himself to try to keep     a chaotic plant alive may be able to keep it invisible for a day or so).

    Warrior Of Stone:

    This stone tree is not particularly hostile, unless it observes other     trees being abused (are the characters using a machete to go through the     forest more quickly? Do they have a campfire?). The tree also destroys     other trees as it is passing through the forest, thus all but the most     deaf (or noisy) characters will hear it coming.

    statistics                      location      melee   missile  points

    STR 35     Move 2               current limb  01-06   01-03     15/20
    CON 40     Hit Pts: 49          useful limb   07-09   04-06     15/20
    SIZ 36     Fatg: 75             useless limb  10-15   07-10      7/---
    INT 4              -0=75        trunk         16-20   11-15     19/30
    POW 13     Magic Pts: 13
    DEX 3
    weapon    sr       attack%      damage        parry%    points
    Branch     9         23        2d8+3d6+4        0       (limb)

    Skills: Smell smoke 85, Notice use of machete 70

    The tree has a total of 8 useful branches, however due to his low dex     (which, admittedly is higher than most trees) he can only use one at a     time. After his first one is incapacitated he will switch to the     second, if he loses about 4 he may begin thinking about a strategic     retreat. For each useable branch he loses he will lose 4 points from     his hit points, and every 20 points done to his useless branches does 1     point to his hit points. Note, that this tree does leave a     comparatively nice path through the forest, so you may want to use it to     encourage your PCs to go somewhere. (or they may find it, and walk     along it, slowly approaching the crushing and tearing sound of trees and     bushes being destroyed.)

    The Sacred Shrub

    This enchanting bush has a charisma of 14, roll charisma vs. int or be     utterly enchanted by it, and dedicate your life to protecting it.     Aldryami who make their plant lore, and Stormbulls who make their sense     chaos are, of course, immune. There are already several other devotees     at the shrine of the sacred shrub, who are all wearing garlands made of     fallen leaves (well, in the broo's case the leaves are stuck in the mud     he has caked on his head, and the leaves just stick to the dragonsnails     gooey skin). All of the plants within 10 meters of this shrub have been     burnt away.

    The guardians are:

    Delch:    Broo             regenerate 5 hp/rnd.
    GlockToz  Ogre             None
    Ethal     Dragonsnail      +d6 pow, Vomits fire 7 times/day
    Dontz     Scorpionman      None
    Jontz     Scorpionwoman    None


    Pomegranate Tree

    This is a normal pomegranate tree, except that the red stain one     normally gets from eating pomegranates is permanent. One will have red     hands and chin unless something exotic is done to clean it. (regrow     limb will work, but it's a bit pricey)

    Blood Plum Tree:

    Normal red plums, with thick red juice, which looks and tastes like     human blood. It is also at body temperature.

    Hypnotic Tree

    This tree attracts many different colored insects which crawl all over     the tree in fascinating patterns. The result is that more intelligent     people are likely to be fascinated by the complex interlocking patterns.

    Roll (21-int)x5% or less, or stand hypnotized by the tree. People will     probably recover when they faint (con hours later). If the PCs are     unlucky (and are all trapped) they may be found by the scorpionmen who     know of this tree as a great source of insects.

    Crab Apple Tree

    Another of the Chaos woods family of apple trees. The apples here taste     like crab meat (which the PCs won't recognize unless they are from     coastal towns, and they cook the apples). If left for several days the     apples will "hatch" to let several nasty crabs loose.


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