MINI EVENT: GARDEN OF EVIL

[sticksandbonesmods]

GARDENING

Content Warning: Carnivorous plants in a very unconventional way, horror hunger, attempted violence towards animals

!

EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORNS

You've done well to avoid the flowers, haven't you? Though some hapless victims here and there may have nearly fallen to it, but even they've been rescued and taken to safety. And the flowers can't approach the General Store, the Trader's stalls, the inn or the house Elsword has built- something prevents the forest from creeping into it ever so softly, so of course it's minions couldn't either. But they're so hungry.

Starvation tears at the flowers like claws, and what should help them- the water and sunshine- burns like ice. The only thing that satisfies is flesh and blood and bone and they're hungry. And they've had enough of being told no.

As everyone goes about their day, the flowers still. They do not reach for and try to grab anyone, and for a moment all seems well. Up until Rusty begins snarling in a way uncharacteristic of him, trying to tear the nearest one out of the earth with his teeth. He is immediately ensnared in vines and leaves, with the full intent of tearing the old dog apart. The flowers shake and there's an odd hum in the air before they all seem to turn, looking at the denizens of the nest as if they had eyes. You will not look away. You can't look away. They are everywhere. On the ground, crawling up the walls of the fence, growing larger to block off the routes to safety, and always shifting to be in your line of sight. Look at them. Look at them.

Look at them.

The madness won't creep in slowly- as they force themselves into your vision, already you can see vines creeping at the edge of your vision, tearing into flesh that isn't there. Ravenous maws biting into the people around you and not letting go. Blood and sap pouring out like ichor. Blink once, blink twice, and it shakes away to reveal the truth but if you aren't careful the visions set in again. Misfortune radiates off of the flowers in waves, tripping you up and interfering with your aim and casting. Get ready, because the flowers aren't going away without some blood.

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Comments

QUESTIONS AND REPORTS

[sticksandbonesmods]

Any questions or status updates that you think may influence the event? Post them here!

[harmacy]

[A - remember to use protection when working with chemicals]

[Someone else can save Rusty because Add looks outside for about 5 seconds before closing the blinds. Ok, cool. That's enough of that bullshit

A short time later, he's left his room and moved down to the inn's kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets and pantry. On the counter he's piled up all the biggest buckets he could find, spray bottles, vinegar, table salt, dish soap, baking soda, bleach, a few vials of mystery chemicals that are either medicinal or extremely toxic or a worse third thing... you know, gardening stuff.

He has his six drones and a purple holoscreen floating next to him, mumbling off the ingredients on his list as he double-checks his stock. There are still bandages wrapped over his right eye. If anyone lingers near the kitchen for too long, he'll address them without even looking up.]

Keep the curtains closed. I'll be done in here before dinnertime... if you're not doing anything else, you can start by filling that bucket with vinegar. Three tablespoons salt, one tablespoon dish soap. Mix well.

[B - this is only slightly better than setting the grove on fire]

[Add takes his time with the preparations. There's enough spray bottles in the kitchen for everyone to help themselves to, and if that runs out, boiling water should still prove itself effective. He leaves a note of all his recipes in the kitchen just in case. Only then does he head out himself, Dynamo in tow.

There are still a few gaps he has to account for, and he's not sure how effective Mizuki's antidote will be... but if he's careful, it should be fine. He's already half blind, so at least that should help with hallucinations.

Anyway, it sure is handy that he designed Dynamo specifically for applying medicinal sprays. Weed killer is basically the same thing, right? He stands a safe distance away while his drones get into all the hard-to-reach spaces, deluging the walls of vines and flowers with a thick mist. Add himself is wearing a medical mask, but you really shouldn't stand downwind of it... on the other hand, he's a doctor, so it'll probably turn out fine.]

[C - wildcard]

((heyoooo i have a minievent plotting comment here or just hit me up wherever!!))

Re: QUESTIONS AND REPORTS

[harmacy]

as per his toplevel: he made extra batches of Every Weedkiller and left them in the kitchen for anyone else to use if they don't have a better strat. you're welcome.

but rly tho how mad are the flowers gonna be about weedkiller... im expecting him to get almost murdered again its fine its all part of the plan

[simplicitas]

I. The Battle
a.
cw: mentioned violence against an animal BUT WE'RE SAVING HIM DWBI— also light hallucinations

["Elsword your house is safe why not just stay inside" no he will not be doing that, thank you very much, there is a dog out there getting hurt and he will not stand for it. Even Leon will be joining him on the front today, and unlike Rusty, Leon is made of raw magical energy. He does not bleed when cut, does not back down when lashed, and more importantly, the lion is ripping any plants he can find out by their roots and shredding them with his claws. Still, there's a lot of work to be done to get him free. Elsword and Leon move like intertwined gears, an uppercut from the knight's sword at the same time Leon rolls to the side to avoid both that and a whipping vine.

They could both use help, though. It's only a matter of time until the hallucinations take hold of both of them while they're in the thick of it — really, it's already started, vines creeping at the edges of his vision and blacking out his sight. His hits lessen in their strength, at times missing, and Leon is no better. Somehow, the lion has wandered away from Rusty's prison and found himself fighting off something that isn't there.

It's going to be a long afternoon.]

b.
cw: body horror, hallucinations, madness-induced self-harm I'm so sorry about this one guys

Move!

[That is the only warning you get before Elsword comes shooting out of the sky like a star and slams his greatsword into a flower that was quite literally sprinting after you seconds earlier. He manages, through some miracle, to cleave it in two, even though he can't see properly. The Grove is pitch black, swirling, there are claws closing in over his eyes and suddenly he's no longer sure if his sword is embedded in the grass (it is) or if he lost it somewhere.

Elsword staggers, head spinning, and as the world turns sideways it occurs to him that he's falling over — not with enough time to catch himself, though. The magic maintaining his wings wanes, causing them to strobe intermittently. Unable to fly now, the plants see this as an opportunity, and they are on him. Floral teeth rend through his armour, tear away fabric, shred flesh. Elsword does not feel them, too focused on his right arm, the same that had been infected by the forest months ago. The same that he tries to keep bandaged because it has started to sprout, to bleed black.

To an external viewer, Elsword is simply collapsed under a heap of plants. From his vantage point, he sees twisted vines bursting from his bicep, roots crawling down his arm and into the soil and embedding him to the forest floor. A voice laughs in his ear, and Elsword thinks to himself: Get it out. I need to get it out.

His free hand shakes free of the carnivorous plants just long enough for him to embed his clawed gauntlets into his skin, and he scratches, blindly trying to dig out whatever root has infected his system. The deeper he digs, the more he bleeds, red mingling with black.

Somewhere deep within him, a dam breaks, and he shrieks his fury to the heavens.]

II. The Aftermath

I'm fine, [Elsword says, and you're free to not believe him because the boy has been Not Fine all month and this is only making it worse,] thanks for checking.

[He looks tired and pale — it's definitely the blood loss, because the blood on his clothing is clearly his own. His armour is fractured in places where the plants chewed through the metal to get to his skin, his left sleeve is torn, he's missing some of the claws on his gauntlets, and even the light of his halo is dim. Elsword might be having what one could feasibly call "a rough day". Might even say he had "the worst day ever".]

Are you okay?

[sticksandbonesmods]

Of course he's going to get almost murdered again, what kind of mod team do you take us for? As discussed, they will not go down easily, but weedkiller is very bad for a bunch of angry weeds. He will have a bad time. They will have a bad time, but they will try to make his time worse. Please do not resist the worsening time. Thank you.

SECRET BONUS D PROMPT (the d stands for divorce) (closed)

[harmacy]

[The flowers are being stubborn, but it feels like he's starting to finally wear them down. Bit by bit, the wall of vines is forced to draw back, petals and leaves closing up. If he can spread the poison to their the roots, he won't even have to deal with the rest—they'll wither on their own, given time to bake in the sun.

but really... that would be too easy, if it were that simple.

The dynamos working up close keep malfunctioning, but that part is expected. It's annoying, but a little bad luck isn't enough to shut him down for more than a few minutes. Each time, he checks his scanners for a safe path forward, eyes down to avoid getting distracted by hallucinations, only going as far as he needs to meet the drone halfway and pull it out of there. Quick repairs, a refill, a swap with his drone on standby...

But he's made a dangerous assumption. Hallucinations are restricted by line of sight and wear off quickly, but he's mistakenly lumped the misfortune aura along with it. He doesn't expect a delayed malfunction, an incorrect reading off the standby drone that should be safely out of range. He's too complacent in his routine, following the path mapped out by Dynamo without checking it by sight. He's too comfortable in his own blind spots.

They haven't been worn down as much as he thought. They've been patient. Biding. Spiteful.

The scanner reads him a safe route, but he doesn't spot the mistake. Add steps forward, proximity alarms failing to trigger, a vine coiled up in the grass on his right—by the time he notices it's already made a lunge for his legs, thorns digging in deep as he's dragged further back. He shouts, fingers clawing into the dirt.

The tangle of flowers twist their way up his waist, eager to tear him apart before he can scream for help.]

[simplicitas]

[It's probably a good thing that, at some point after pulling himself out of the mess of vines and biting flowers, he managed to regain enough of his senses to hear that shout. That ever-familiar shout. Arguing or not, Elsword wishes Add and his genius ideas would stay inside for once — but he knows better than to think Add won't hit him with the same, if they both make it out of this with their limbs attached.

Elsword reminds himself that Add is not allowed to die again, not a third time, not while he still breathes. Despite everything, he won't collapse here. He cannot.

His vision wobbles, whether from blood loss or the hallucinations he knows not, but he surges toward Add's mangled figure anyway. A spell is on Elsword's lips before he can think about which one he's casting in the first place — the longer he looks, the blinder he gets, so going for the nuclear waste of mana option is probably for the best. Pure, golden light in the form of chains and swords swarm, some attempting to cut Add free, some attempting merely to cut off the other plants crawling toward them.

The bad luck aura is troubling. That mixed with the visual noise and with Elsword's general dizziness might lead to some of the magic slicing Add instead, and he can only hope it's surface-level enough to not be the worst of it.]

Add!

[Please, please do not die again, not while he's still here.]

[devilishkouhai]

Do the plants seem interested in Elswords Lion/Dynamo as at all?

cw: hallucinations mean i can be as gory as i want

[harmacy]

[He's already halfway buried in thorns, scraping against his armor and digging for gaps as he's drawn deeper, deeper into the bramble. The flowers scream in his eye, and he's too close to avoid it now. The vines swarm and coil like a turbulent sea of snakes—biting, gnawing, tearing past cloth and flesh and burrowing through the hole in his skull. they grind against his throat, warm and wet and snarling. he's already drowning, lost to the tides, roots in his back and soil in his lungs, give up, surrender, surrender—

a blinding light slams down, decapitating the flower pressed to his face. Add inhales sharply, snapping back to reality just long enough to pull his arms free. He struggles blindly, eyes clamped shut, clawing against the thorns for a voice in the darkness.]

Elsword!

[Add is no longer buried, but the flowers won't release their catch so easily. The largest of the blooms raise their heads high, the dizzying hum growing louder in Elsword's ears—the illusory sea rises, impossibly wide and deep and full of blood.]

if we aren't fucking the boys up who are we as people really

[simplicitas]

[Stop stop stop stop stop, are the words Elsword thinks are in the back of his head, but he's saying them aloud unbeknownst to him — demanding that the flowers let Add go, knock it off, haven't you taken enough from him? He's seeing red, literally, and there's no time for him to parse if it's because he's hallucinating or if it's blood dripping into his eyes.

Elsword doesn't care to find out either way. Not when he's pretty sure the gouges in his parasited arm are now sprouting, plant-controlled tendons bursting from the open wound to coil around Add. A voice whispers to him, asking if Elsword is quite tired of their little fight, if it should end it, and Elsword shouts—]

No! Don't touch him!

[There's nothing happening, not from Elsword's arm at least, but he momentarily grabs at the open space — the illusory tendons — to "tear" them. In his mind, his left hand hits sinew and it burns, agony shooting into his muscles and down his spine. He dare not stop until a momentary blink clears the hallucination away, temporarily, but that's only one of the many. He can barely see through the others as his attention shifts back to Add.

Elsword takes a shuddering, deep breath. His right arm is almost useless right about now, too injured to hold his sword, so the left it is — he raises his sword one-handedly overhead to slam it down on one of the blooms, narrowly missing taking Add out with the swing. He... thinks, anyway, because his vision goes wobbly seconds after the hit lands.]

[harmacy]

[The blood pounds in his ears under the sounds of writhing, flashes of light burning red through the backs of his eyelids. He doesn't dare try to look—he can already feel the thrum of another flower pressing against him. He digs his fist into its maw, shoving it aside.

This is bad, he thinks. The fact that he's still on the ground means Elsword is struggling, probably fighting with his own illusions. Add can't do more than crawl from his position, and even that won't last much longer. Dynamo is unresponsive thanks to the misfortune aura. If it continues like this—

A sword slams down mere inches from Add's neck, cutting the disorienting hum by several notches. Elsword is close.

Think, stupid, think.]

Elsword, I'm right here. Whatever it's saying, don't listen to it! Aim high!

[simplicitas]

[There's truly no moment of clarity, nor is there a moment where the illusions disappear, where he doesn't feel the weight of the world weighing on his shoulders. There's only Add shouting for him, aim high, and enough of a semblance of sanity left for Elsword to act on it.

He knows (thinks) he's close-by enough to make his usual AoE lightshows too dangerous (as if Dies Irae earlier wasn't bad enough; there are still magical chains lingering). It means there's only a few things he can do, and recklessly aiming isn't one of them. Elsword decides on a simple uppercut, firing off a golden crescent of magic in his blade's arc. He thinks, maybe, either the sword or the burst of El energy might've cut something, but he's unsure.

The longer this goes on, the more exhausted he gets, the more he feels like he's about to fall over and then the plants will get them both and — no, no, not like this. Not again. If he loses his ground here, everything will be for naught.

Elsword hefts his sword into his grip a second time, feeling its weight far more than he usually does, but through sheer force of will alone, he swings it in a copycat of the attack he just launched. Just in case.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

They are not interested in either; Leon is made of only magical energy and doesn't bleed, and Dynamo doesn't taste very good (metal — blech). Similarly they would not care to eat other constructs (Gnosis' Arts unit, Rennuid's hairpin, etc), they're only interested in things that are organic and bleed.

[devilishkouhai]

Does BB who is a servant and technically not bleed and is not organic - would they be interested in her body? this is important bc more or less i am asking does she now have a physical body? which will mean a cool rp things i will do and have to write - but im just wondering if her body is physical now or if she has her servant / energy body?

[harmacy]

[Frankly, Add is making blind guesses here, but it pays off well enough—a shuddering rattle of thorny teeth, something bounces off his back and onto the nearby ground. Two more heads thunk down after the second blow. He wriggles in his net of vines, freeing one of his legs.

Progress.

Unfortunately, the flowers aren't stupid enough to keep their heads up after Add loudly announces their plan... and if he swings low, well, he's going to chop Add's head off instead. If he can just get his other leg free, then...]

Listen to my voice, Elsword—put a Detention right here. I'll be fine! Do it now!

[It's a weak spell, focused more on control than damage... if they can slow the vines, if they've cut down enough of them, if they don't have a chance to recover, Add should be able to break free this time. He braces himself against the ground, waiting for the magic to hit.]

[simplicitas]

[Ordinarily, Elsword might protest this. It's an outward burst of magic before it's a bubble that protects, and putting it on Add might be more trouble than it's worth. Ordinarily, but these are dire straits, and so Elsword purses his lips and gives an "mmhmm" of affirmation. He's not sure if Add hears it or not, but it'll become abundant he got the memo in a moment, when that golden magic of his blooms in his palm and spreads outward in a patterned, swirling orb. What damage it causes is minimal, to Add himself and the vines wrapping around him.

They have a short while until Detention detonates and sucks everything nearby into it in something of a black hole, but Elsword thinks he can hold onto this spell for long enough to give them a break. Thinks being the operative term, as everything caught within it slows to a crawl other than the two of them.

He's exhausted. He feels nauseous, in that way getting heavily injured always makes someone feel nauseous. He feels sticky with sweat and blood and plant grime. He thinks he wants to hug Add and never let him go. It's a lot all at once, for someone who normally struggles to just exist.

Elsword squeezes his eyes shut and sits down on the ground, kicking away a root within his reach. His sword sits embedded in the soil, and he turns his attention to Add, blindly trying to feel for him.]

I don't know how long I can maintain it, [he murmurs, as a warning,] but we can make a break for the inn if we need to. They can't get in there.

[sticksandbonesmods]

The mod team has discussed this and came to the conclusion that BB has a physical body now :) She will surely have a lot of fun with this one.

[amhran]

𝐀 ♫ ♩ . I'm caught, between. the wind, aaand parts of the unknownnn ♫
⇥ Before . cont of thread / casually wandering. Prelude, flowers start up right after.

[ Madness takes form in many different ways, for the one who broke days before the ravenous plants decided their onslaught. She had stood there, and let their roots wrap along her body and do with her as they pleased. It had been but contentment and peace wrought onto her, the warm winds welcoming her home. The sounds of Tuatha De singing warmly in the after evenings, as the dancing lights would float all around her. She perhaps, goes missing at some point. Then when she does turn up, there seems naught out of the ordinary for one who always acts out of kindness and care for others.

Though tired she seemed now. Sleepy... A daze always in her expression, a foggy haze cast within her once sparkling clear eyes. Only to return to the Grove, finding herself often in the woods on her own, and speaking warmly to the plants that spoke back to her in turn. A loneliness that was filled whole, and take then from her they did.

After all, the pain along her body that they elicited was -in some ways, better then nothing. Or rather, to her... In this state of Madness - felt like nothing. Despite her stomach constantly churning, and her inability to eat at times becoming an issue - and where was the Goat?

Where Did Cinnamon Go...

Where Did Cinnamon Go...? ]

Cinnamon...?

[ He's gone. And... For a moment clarity finds her, she is confused - where is she...? The plants seem to... Go Restless... It's about time for Gardening. ]

𝐁 ♫ ♩ . It feels like everything is moving, Aroooound me ♫
⇥ During .

[ Caoimhe... Get lost again - how misfortunate. She stands there watching - not entirely sure what she is watching, but the flowers seem to be unafraid of this victim running off. They are unaggressive to her, and are no longer are snacking on her body like they had been up till now. Having been using her as a subtle source of food until their anger came, and now they are upon everyone.

As the world plays off like a movie around her, she watches - unable to ascertain what is going on. Locks of her brilliant red hair moving as Elsword pierces the world with his weapon and the lion commits to its justices. She watches, and sees what seems to be ocean water flowing all around them. It fills in quickly, the weight of it seems to offer a comforting presence, and rather then stand in the water she begins to settle down within it. Sitting upon the floor then... Starts to eventually lay down and.... Her voice carries a soft song... Humming... And... In her madness see herself under the ocean shores, can hear the waves crashing over her (the sounds of arduous battles) -

But reality is far different. Roots find her, and she lays in them thinking that the waves of the ocean have come to take her back home. ]

Ah... Finally... The Ocean has come for me at last..?

𝐂 ♫ ♩ . Every particle in syyyyyynch, Coooooooooome on and guuuuuuuuide me ♫
⇥ After .

[ Pending, I will open up another top level for anything afterwards! ]

[devilishkouhai]

𝐀 . Misery Loves Company .

[ BB has to eat, because her tummy hurts!! She has to Bathe, because she is smelly!!!! She has to brush her hair - BECAUSE IT GETS KNOTTED!! She has to sleep, because her head hurts. She DREAMS??? She has never ever ever dreamn't in her life before. What is this mess!!! _What is this mess? _What is this mess? _What is this mess? _What is this mess? _What is this mess? _What is this mess?

The Plants are chaotic, but she doesn't seem to care. She is too busy mixing something with some herbs she found to make a shampoo - when. One bites her hand, and BB is all but pleased by this alteration. Within the bowl, the shampoo carries a tint from the crimson droplet that has merged into its liquid.

BB stares, the sound of aching metal echoes and suddenly a barrage of tentacles form out from shadows and whip in such a frenzy the flowers that had bit her are reduced to nothing but dust. As fast as it had happened, the tendrils from the shadows subside and BB is left staring mesmerized by the red dancing down her hand. ]

Ahhh, how pretty...?

[ She cants her head and looks over to perhaps, someone who had just walked in on this... Estrange moment. ]

Do you bleed like this too?

[ A threat? A innocent question? She knows the answer, she is simply being... Friendly. ]

Ahahaha~! Of course you do, BB is just being silly. Are you ready then~? For the Evil Villian's next stage of their plan?

[ Just who is she talking about? ]

𝐁 . Ai stands for Love .
Warning: BB becomes a little yan here, your character is Hakuno/Master ( in a sense ) - but rather the way I conceptualize it. Is more that in now becoming a 'human,' and her 'processes' as a AI are effectively fucking up. Not to mention her Core as a Goddess of Pele as well. Technically 4 systems are bombarding one another in this madness going on. So she is AWARE exactly of who you are. Youre not Hakuno or Master, but the problem is her default to love someone is now falling onto you - or whoever she sees immediately. Interacting here, means she will possibly still hold those feelings even after the event is done.

Ne... What are you doing to senpai~~~☆? [ A dark look over comes the woman as she walks laden in this air of depravity hanging all around her. Every step is heavy that she takes, and callous are the tendrils as they flicker about under her evident obedience. Each one dark, with red sharp shapes decorating along its back, and yellow diamond like jewels that look dull even in the light. Each one of these tendrils look heavy in weight, and sit there coming out of her shadow. Almost threatening to overflow any minute seemingly bound together by a greater strength then they exude. ] Do you think - you get to have the chance to kill senpai again~✩?

No I wont let you. Either I'll kill senpai first, or I'll cleanse this Grove of your disgusting existence. [ It's funnier when - BB knows they cant kill Hakuno. Knows how the mind of a villian works, but its funnier that she is also enchanted by all of this. So... She decides to play along. After all, when does she get to play Hero?

A hand goes up and.... It seems now your life may be between the balance of this crazy woman, or the flowers trying to grip you. Either way, BB seems that her attention is on the flowers in the grove and will destroy THEM first. However she also attempts to grab you all the same, with her menacing tentacles. ]

[devilishkouhai]

BB is destroying plants like crazy w tentacles, i imagine they are like slap fighting each other. but they also bit her and vampire succ some of her blood so there is that.

[amethystic]

a. icicles don't soften when they die

( it starts when something cuts into her leg as she's heading to the river to get some apples. stardust wafts through the air for a moment and the world turns ravenous- some might feel lightning in the air as the fight begins, and that would be for no reason other than her own fury, a snap of her fingers summoning bolts of pale pink lightning to strike down everything around her, fire manifesting in her palms to launch like a particularly vicious game of dodgeball.

but that doesn't help when she starts seeing grandfather- and so panicked is she, that she can't help but launch a spell at the dead man walking. it's just that... it might be overlaid on you. )

YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD-

b. glory and gore go hand in hand

( amidst the grove, a purple-silvery dust wafts through the air before it suddenly liquifies and drops to the ground. that is the only warning that felicity is in the area, working her way through bloodthirsty foliage like a shadow. one of the larger flowers rears its head at you, but then it stills

and

rots.

the remains of the stem crumble away in her hands, as she breathes heavily, arms and legs covered in cuts from the razor-sharp vines and leaves. despite everything, and the black staining her hands, she's smiling just as sharply. )

Stupid things...

i.b

[amethystic]

( in the frenzy it's almost hard to keep track of everything- between magic launching about and the flowers and the hallucinations, it's all so much- too much. she's going to soak in a tub for hours after this. but it's impossible to miss elsword when he's like a comet even during the day.


quite literally at this point.

it's also hard to miss the results- and how he desperately begins to claw at his own arm (she sees the sprouts and tiny blooms, she sees the black just barely) and the flowers are regrouping, fuck- fuck. with a sharp inhale, felicity swipes her hand out and a pink sphere surrounds the two of them, blocking the flowers' path with it's sheild. she has to act fast-

crouching beside him, she grabs his shoulder, letting the other hand squeeze one of his own, regardless of the blood and black substance. )

Elsword! Elsword, listen to me, I'm here-

[sticksandbonesmods]

Does she have any passive effects or abilities?

[devilishkouhai]

DO whatever you want with that!!

[harmacy]

[The burning light washes over him, swirling into an orb that thrums with pure El. If he had PCA, he would've been completely fine. Without it... he's taken worse hits, but for that brief moment it's like jumping through a fire. He holds back a hiss, focusing all his attention on the task of freeing himself.

The flowers are slowed and hindered within the golden sphere. In a unconventional way, he's protected—they can't close in around him without being slowed further by Detention's power. Add kicks his feet, fighting the last stubborn vines that still twist around his leg, dragging himself through the dirt... with mixed results. The vines are too slow to drag him back, but they're still strong. He can't break their hold.

Even from his position, he can hear more vines slithering about... Elsword can maintain the sphere as long as he wants, but they'll regroup if they wait too long. No, it's better if they let the sphere collapse, drag the ensnared vines back... if he can just make it a little further out...

Add reaches forward again, but this time time his hand grasps something metal and pointed—he digs in his fingers, entwining them with the knight's, only wincing a little bit when one of those stupid claws jabs into a joint.]

Pull me out, quickly!