#21 Primordial Breath

Skill Room: Herbology

It was jarring, to leave a stone tower through a previously-locked door -- only to be surrounded by sunshine (enchanted ceiling) and an abundance of nature. If there were walls, they were covered in vines with colourful leaves. The floor remained stone, but everywhere in the massive room was green and lush with life.

There were shelves of small seedlings and flowers, then pots in the corners that were as big as a chair. It was impossible, no matter one's knowledge, to name or categorise everything. In was almost a sensory overload, yet smelled sweetly fresh.

The plants were healthy and kept to themselves, except a row of large pots in the middle of the room. Sprouting from the damp soil were huge succulents with gold thorns resembling fangs. They wriggled, aware of the company -- or hungry for it. Wedged in the center of each, surrounded by sharp thorns / fangs, was a glass box containing a viable yet difficult-to-obtain ingredient: fish eye.

A plaque reads:

"Beware: one Alowort bites."

• Choose an Alowort to retrieve the ingredient container from. There's a 1 / 3 chance it's the biter. The numbers are for your reference only; they don't appear to your character.

• If it's a safe one, pick another -- which has a 1 / 2 chance of being the biter.

• Don't get bitten, and you win.

The Alowort wriggled when she extracted the container, then stretched as if relieved to be done with it. The item was completely sealed though, refusing to allow its contained ingredient to be collected yet.

The other two Aloworts were unresponsive, giving Kassia no clue as to which of those were the biter.

She made the right choice. The Alowort also wriggled, then was glad to be rid of the container. The one remaining attempted to gobble up its container, but it vanished by magic.

The two containers Kassia had retrieve also vanished -- but left behind two viable Fish Eye ingredients for her to keep. Bit slimy, but in perfect condition.