The broken gear

Deadly plant

Thomas and Nelle slowly walked to the plant again, they passed a sign with a warning symbol next to the name "Violet Eater". They stepped over the plant's tendrils and tried to not make any sudden vibrations.

"Where is the plant's head?" Thomas asked.

"Head?"

"Yeah, the flower or mouth or something."

"Oh, it should be nearby, the tendrils are getting larger."

"Can't you use the spell on the tendrils?"

"No, it has to be the stem or 'head' as you said."

Thomas focused on stepping between the small vines and tendrils as well as looking for the stem or petals. The vegetation got thicker the farther they went in. Vines were wrapped around the wooden fence on the edge of the path and they started to break open the fence, some of it even dragged it off of the path.

Thomas started to get nervous. "How long is the spell going to take and why can't you use it on the tendrils?"

"It should only be a couple of seconds and it would only work on the tendrils, not the plant as a whole."

Thomas felt something under his boot. He slowly lifted it up. It was a flower with purple petals and a flat yellow center.

"Umm, Nelle?" Thomas said pointing to the flower.

"Yea- oh no."

"What do we do?"

"Stay calm, it should be nearby."

"I've never fought a plant before."

"Just attack the tendrils and don't let them wrap themselves around you."

"Alright," Thomas focused on his surroundings. The vines had varying diameters of 1-2 inches, while the tendrils varied from 3-6 inches with some of them moving back and forth. There wasn't too much vegetation to where they couldn't see or walk but it was enough to where they had some trouble stepping between the plant. 

Suddenly, Thomas felt something grab his leg. He immediately sliced it with his sword and found out it was a tendril. The rest of them started to move as well, revealing the main part of the flower. It must have been about 15 feet tall. Its petals were jagged and purple which gradually turned pink towards the edges. The petals closed and it looked at them as if that was it's snout. Two narrow tendrils sprouted from above the plant, around the sepal area. They each were holding a black shiny sphere. The area around them cleared up revealing broken fences and dying trees wrapped in glimmering vines.

"Now would be a good time to get the spell ready!"

"Ok, buy me some time."

A tendril reached for Thomas but he managed to cut the tip. The tendril started squirming in the ground before shriveling up and dying.

"Nelle, I think someone interfered with the plant."

"Let me check something."

She shot a green flaming ball with small symbols resembling plants. It reached the stem but had little to no effect.

"Oh no."

"What is it."

"You were right, there must be an item, or curse, or something affecting it."

Thomas jumped back and sliced two more tendrils. The plant seemed to roar at them through its petals, revealing a glowing object stuck in its anther.

Some of its vines and tendrils instantly grew thorns. Some of them were dripping a purple liquid.

Nelle managed to create a dome of cold air around her and Thomas.