Grol says to the group,

”I will take second position and draw attacks where I can.” He pulls his shield to the ready and grips the Wight sword tightly. “ 

He gives Ban a reassuring grin and a wink. “The might of Ilneval protects us!”

Realgâr stands up after a few minutes rest as you all partially eat a ration and take a drink from waterskins.

"Very well, let's get goin' then. You are indeed correct Ban."

Realgâr takes out his warhammer and shield as you all make your way down the trail and takes a position in the middle of the group. Due to the trail very rarely being used, Zephyros out in front, hacks away at the occasional overgrown brush or vines that impedes your movement as random birds in trees fly away and small animals on the ground scurry away at the sound of the group's heavy armor and footsteps.

Making your way deeper into the forest, you all do get a more foreboding feeling. Whether it's from the increasing claustrophobic feeling from the heavily forested surroundings, the dim light of the late afternoon sun barely penetrating the canopy that is starting to transition into twilight, or something more sinister—you are not sure.

For an hour you trod through down the trail and notice a fawn, a skunk, and a rabbit with exceptionally large feet scurry off into the forest together.

Further down the trail, suddenly *all* of the sounds of the forest go silent except your footsteps. A few moments later you think you can hear giggling all around you.

All of the colors of the surrounding forest start becoming very saturated and begin shifting their hue in a kaleidescope if different colors.

With passive perception, you all are not sure if the giggling is coming from one, or many, and are not sure what is causing the visual changes.

Realgâr clutches his warhammer and shield in alarm.

As they travel, Grol whispers back to Ban so as not to be heard clearly by the rest of the group.  “Excuse the personal question, but you seem to be quite at odds with our amphibious friend up there. Is there... “ He grimaces as he chooses his words carefully, ” ...a history there, or are you reading something about him that we need to be concerned over?”

Walking a little closer, giving him a clear look, "With him? Never. Mainly, I just don't like aristocratic blowhards. Ordering others around and thinking they're better than everyone else, just rubs me the wrong way. I mean, the guy just shows up, bringing his trash with him, and demands room and board? I may do things a little grey in the moral area, but there's just things you don't do, ya know?" 

Deeper in, Ban will take to scanning the edges of the clearing.

As we enter the forest deeper, a feeling of unease comes over Sarros. Uncannily, the moment before the laughter is audible, he instinctually raises his index and middle finger, which are joined together by his arcane focus ring. He utters a short, sharp Elven word before curling the tips of his fingers down in a slight twitch prompting a light blue haze to appear around his torso and shoulders, shortly solidifying into a transparent blue breastplate as he casts mage armor on himself.

Zephyros is awstrucked he's never seen a forest before and he begins to mutter to himself in Primordial.

As you're all standing in the kaleidescope of colors all around you, you feel as if it's more trickery in nature as opposed to being charmed. While standing around, none of you notice a vine that coils around (1 = Ban, 2 = Grol, 3 = Sarros, 4 = Zephyros, 5 = Realgâr) 3. 

A vine quickly wraps around Sarros and begins constricting him. Sarros please make an Athletics or Acrobatics check to avoid being constricted by vines (Grappled).

Roll Initiative as well everyone.

Realgâr Initiative 1

? Initiative 3

"What the--" Acro 6

Initiative: 18

Initiative: 21

(surprise round)

Sarros fails to tumble away and is grappled by a thorny vine about an inch thick as it wraps around his torso. He takes 5 piercing damage  from the thorns as they dig into his flesh.

You all turn around to see a malevolent tree-like monster uproot itself from the ground and move forward. As it moves closer it begins swaying back and forth with branches flaying.

Birds in nearby trees fly away in alarm as it stomps forward, with Sarros firmly in its grasp.

(Will post Initiative order when others roll. I also apologize for not posting for a few days. Still nursing a messed up forearm so typing is difficult at times.)

Initiative: 22

Initiative: 14

 OOC:  sorry I dropped off the earth. Have been dealing with a family emergency. Thanks for the patience! 

Initiative order (round 1) — The tree monster is about 15ft away on the right side of the trail, clustered in with the other dark, gnarled trees. It is moving towards the right side of the group and the ground trembles lightly as it stomps forward. There is a thick, thorny vine drooping from an overhanging branch that has coiled around Sarros (the only vine that you can see on the tree). There are 4 large branches that look like it could inflict bludgeoning damage to whomever they hit. The tree is also covered with dry prickly leaves, very dry looking moss and lichen, and its bark looks thick and might have resistance to certain types of damage.

Blue group may go, followed by Green group, then finally Red.

(Ban is up)

Ban

Zephyros

Sarros (grappled)

Grol

Forest Walker

Realgâr

Taking out a dagger from her thigh sheath, Ban readies to cut Sarros free as she moves forward quickly, yet unaggressively. As she approaches, she'll take a deeper look at the plant creature in search of sentience. Ban will state firmly, "We mean you no harm, but we're more than capable of defending ourselves and defeating you. Release him, or prepare yourself!" If the creature doesn't respond in kind, she will make an attempt at cutting him free. If he's released or the creature stops, Ban will stand down. Either way, she will use her cunning action to jump backwards as a disengage action.

Pending the need, Attack: 21 Damage: 6 + sneak attack: 9

Sarros awaits the treant's response.

Zephyros will move up with his longsword gripping it with two hands aiming to cut the vines. As he runs towards the tree thing he will rage and recklessly attack the vines.

Hit: 23

Damage: 6

Seeing the large Triton charging in, Sarros decides to bug out.

He mutters something in Elvish, throwing an annoyed look at the tree, casting misty step as a bonus action. He vanishes into a cloud of red mist, appearing 30' away from the tree behind the party.

He reels around, pointing his arm at the tree, shouting an aggressive incantation, and a spiral of fire coils around his arm before shooting at the tree, casting the fire bolt cantrip.

To hit: 13 dmg 5

Ban is successful at cutting Sarros free from the vine, you do sense sentience, however the tree is full of malicious intent (though you aren't exactly sure of its alignment). You may roll persuasion to see if it backs off, if you wish. In this case I don't think the tree is going to lose track of where Ban jumped, so I didn't count the bonus sneak attack, however, I am saying the vine is technically part of the tree, so you still did direct damage to it.

The only vine was cut by Ban, however, Zephyros's slash cuts into the tree itself. Some dark, amber colored sap oozes out of the wound as you hear a reverberating rumble come from the tree itself.

The vine harmlessly falls off of Sarros onto the ground, as he vanishes with a poof. When he reappears, his fire bolt hits the tree in its branches and some of the leaves catch on fire and smolder away. The fire damage appearing to be more effective than usual. (Vulnerable to fire)

Grol is up followed by the Forest Walker (15 dmg) and Realgâr, then Ban.

Grol places himself between the tree and his friends, his shield at the ready, and his sword down in a non-threatening posture. Grol says to the tree “We do not mean you harm, but if you continue to try to hurt my friends, I will fell you.”  Intimidation: 19

(If he’s allowed to, Sarros will cast prestidigitation on Groll as a reaction to make a faint aura of red appear around him and his eyes glow slightly. )