This Could Get Dicey

We start off this one with an eight-foot-tall piece of gnarled wood hurling debris at our heroes. There’s this pedestal from which a nasty-looking black moss-type plant is growing – the target of this expedition. As the fight continues, those who get near the pedestal feel a strange pull toward it. Lü’mis feels it first, and he’s off – he has to get to the hole in the pedestal that the plant is coming from. Emil feels it too and they hear it say “feed me”. When Emil tries to do that, it hurts him! So rude!

Meanwhile, Emil has sent his hand as a mass of vines into the ground and that has entangled the golem for a bit. Ellis fights off the magical effects of the pedestal and stays engaged with the golem, casting Silvery Barbs to avoid some costly hits of that flying rubble. They’re going at it, Ellis mocking it, the golem swinging fists. Emil finishes the golem off, meaning Lü is regrettably unable to absorb any of its life force. 

They finish the fight with the pedestal, too. Scorched earth style, they pour oil over it and burn it to the ground, but before they safely grab a sample of the plant. It grows crazy fast, and they try to contain it inside of a chest. Ellis casts Thunder Wave on the pedestal and a wave of force and this wild scream echoes out, pushing everyone back and hurting them psychically, too (don’t worry, Gertrude isn’t close enough to get hurt). The presence of this scream sticks with them as they leave the scene. 

As they leave this relatively weird scene – an even weirder thing happens. A crow with dark, golden eyes is following them, so Ellis shoots it with his crossbow. It’s a direct hit, but the bolt doesn’t affect the bird. Instead, it swoops down and flies through Ellis’ chest??? And that’s where the episode ends???