Sage snarled as a thorn jammed into his shoulder. He didn't stop charging Vine, though. He couldn't get up the tree, though, before a heavy branch knocked him down again. Johnathan recovered enough to produce some more of his long needles, and apparently Vine was making enough noise that he got lucky when he threw them. One caught Vine in the arm. He cackled. "What's this, Mist, what's this? Did you forget who I am? A few more drops of poison in my blood aren't going to make a difference, no, not a difference!" He pulled the needle out and threw it back down, narrowly missing the newcomer.
Then things got complicated. Sage was just regaining his footing for another try at scrambling up the tree when a wall of fire ripped through the vines and the trees. He dropped flat just in time to keep from igniting himself. Vine wasn't so lucky, and he screamed as the fire hit him. He caught on fire, and fell out of the tree, still screaming. The vines and branches that had been attacking writhed, then shriveled and collapsed, smoldering. The fire burned out quickly, the sheer violence of the blaze extinguishing it. Sage got to his feet, and staggered over to where Vine had fallen. A high pitched keening noise was issuing from him, but after being stabbed a couple of times with Sage's sword, it stopped.
Johnathan struggled to sit up, still breathing raggedly. Blood trickled out of his mouth. Sage dropped down next to him. "Are you all right, Master?" Johnathan just nodded. Sage winced as he pulled the thorn out of his shoulder and looked at it. "Egh, he would throw that." He reached into one of the bags that they had brought and fished some small labeled bottles out. He peered at them, muttering under his breath. "Foxglove... Bloodroot... Purple rose." He uncapped the third bottle, shaking a little, and swallowed about a third of the contents. "Did anyone else get hit with those thorns? They're poisonous." If either of the others looked at his shoulder, they'd notice that his shirt had a large tear in it from the thorn. The wound was bleeding, but just above it was an old scar. It actually looked like he'd been branded, once.