Fungal Pools
After recovering from the Mimic, Safad, Nancy, and Dala’gse wended their way though the Ruby path of the spectrum trap back to the amphitheater where Ironica, Slothrop, and Zireael were camped with the goblins, Rya, and Po. When Safad emerged from the corridor, Kainin the stone golem left his post at the entrance, made straight for him. He punched the unwitting sorcerer right in the face, knocking him out. Ironica and Slothop giggled. The group subdued the creature and took a long rest so Safad could recover.
The next morning, Prex roused the group and gave a speech. Asked what the plan was, who was in charge, who the leadership really was. He couldn’t go back to mother with another dead goblin. How much longer would they stay in Myth Sveldin?
Rya and Po acknowledged the risks, but pointed out that no one from Lakeville had made it as far as they had, and there was still more to uncover. Think of all the Wonders they had uncovered! Dala’gse looked at them and said, “Fungal Pools.” Off they went.
Turning down the path indicated by their map, the air grew thick and humid. They approached cautiously, walking into a stagnant gloom. After a ways, they encountered a floating fungal orb the size of a large head. Nancy played with it a bit while the group backed off to observe. Ever the thrill-seeker, she decided to stab it. It exploded in a 30 ft. radius releasing a dense concentration of spores. Nancy choked on them and could feel the globs in her lungs immediately. It didn’t look good. She felt diseased.
Nancy decided to head back to Laxle Do’Ridd with a goblin honor-guard to look for some healing while the others forged ahead. Thankfully, Laxle had just the thing on hand, which she traded for a song. Feeling better, she set off for the party.
In the meantime, the group encountered a series of thick pools, littered with organic mattered and detritus, inside a cavern so humid you could almost swim in the air. The walls were lined with carved terraces full of strange and varied fungi—it must have been the svirfneblin’s mushroom farm. Any hope of stealth was quickly dashed when they learned some of the fungus shrieked in alarm at any nearby presence.
Zireael, Slothrop, and Safad (eventually), scaled the terraced wall and shuffled across, above the pool. Dala’gse and Ironica waded through the water, which only ever reached a waist deep. Nothing so much as swam past their legs. Inside the cavern there were a greater number of the floating fungal orbs, maybe thirty or so.
After the first pool they encountered a second, larger one, that looked deeper than the first. They saw an opening in the wall fifty feet around to the right and waded toward it, but just a few steps in a strange beast emerged from the water. It was a large monstrous creature made up mostly fungus and organic matter. It called to them in a deep voice: “Who disturbs my insomnia? Your oily skin and dirty boots and filth are changing the acid-alkali balance of my pools you fools! This is a damned ecosystem and you are disturbing it! Now I’m angry, and I have been hibernating far too long without a decent meal…”
The battle was soon underway, with a few ranged attacks getting fired , but the creature soon dove under the water, dragging Dala’gse with him. Ironica dove under to defend her friend and attack with her dagger. Safad submerged to fire off a few magic missiles. Zireael borrowed Rook and dove in as well. Slothrop edged closer to the mid-cavern turnout where he discovered a ledge underwater.
Nancy caught up and joined the fray. And sustaining an onslaught of hits the creature was barely held together by whatever tangled mass of plant material served as its body. It released Dala’gse and shot to the surface, placing one fungal hand on a floating orb, threatening to squeeze it and set off a chain reaction.
“DO ME NO MORE HARM. There are too many off you, I concede. If you go peacefully I will let you pass through as long as I am the guardian. If not, I will pop my little fungal friend here and you will all likely perish.”
“Have we a deal?”
The party agreed but wondered about a small cave they had noticed while submerged underwater. Guardian of what?
“The cave below? If you are to gain access to it, you must answer the usual questions to prove you are indeed a friend of Sveldin."
“We do not build with our hands, we build with our….what?”
Safad remembered the line from the play, “we build with our hearts.”
“Yes, he who builds with his hands has forgotten the sacrifice of Sveldin.”
“If we see the Drow we must send word on the wind to…where?”
Safad remembered the play and replied, “Evereska?”
“Yes, we must never forget our friends.”
“A secret is a…what?”
Dala’gse remembered the play and said, “burden.”
“Yes, that must be carried for the good of us all. Go then, friends of Sveldin, the Sveldinstone is yours.”
Sveldinstone? Safad dove under and swam through the opening to find a small room with a simple stone dais at its center. Upon it was a plain stone ring. He put it on and felt the power an odd sensation surge through him. He sunk a meter into stone, and felt in time he could learn to use it...
The next morning, Prex roused the group and gave a speech. Asked what the plan was, who was in charge, who the leadership really was. He couldn’t go back to mother with another dead goblin. How much longer would they stay in Myth Sveldin?
Rya and Po acknowledged the risks, but pointed out that no one from Lakeville had made it as far as they had, and there was still more to uncover. Think of all the Wonders they had uncovered! Dala’gse looked at them and said, “Fungal Pools.” Off they went.
Turning down the path indicated by their map, the air grew thick and humid. They approached cautiously, walking into a stagnant gloom. After a ways, they encountered a floating fungal orb the size of a large head. Nancy played with it a bit while the group backed off to observe. Ever the thrill-seeker, she decided to stab it. It exploded in a 30 ft. radius releasing a dense concentration of spores. Nancy choked on them and could feel the globs in her lungs immediately. It didn’t look good. She felt diseased.
Nancy decided to head back to Laxle Do’Ridd with a goblin honor-guard to look for some healing while the others forged ahead. Thankfully, Laxle had just the thing on hand, which she traded for a song. Feeling better, she set off for the party.
In the meantime, the group encountered a series of thick pools, littered with organic mattered and detritus, inside a cavern so humid you could almost swim in the air. The walls were lined with carved terraces full of strange and varied fungi—it must have been the svirfneblin’s mushroom farm. Any hope of stealth was quickly dashed when they learned some of the fungus shrieked in alarm at any nearby presence.
Zireael, Slothrop, and Safad (eventually), scaled the terraced wall and shuffled across, above the pool. Dala’gse and Ironica waded through the water, which only ever reached a waist deep. Nothing so much as swam past their legs. Inside the cavern there were a greater number of the floating fungal orbs, maybe thirty or so.
After the first pool they encountered a second, larger one, that looked deeper than the first. They saw an opening in the wall fifty feet around to the right and waded toward it, but just a few steps in a strange beast emerged from the water. It was a large monstrous creature made up mostly fungus and organic matter. It called to them in a deep voice: “Who disturbs my insomnia? Your oily skin and dirty boots and filth are changing the acid-alkali balance of my pools you fools! This is a damned ecosystem and you are disturbing it! Now I’m angry, and I have been hibernating far too long without a decent meal…”
The battle was soon underway, with a few ranged attacks getting fired , but the creature soon dove under the water, dragging Dala’gse with him. Ironica dove under to defend her friend and attack with her dagger. Safad submerged to fire off a few magic missiles. Zireael borrowed Rook and dove in as well. Slothrop edged closer to the mid-cavern turnout where he discovered a ledge underwater.
Nancy caught up and joined the fray. And sustaining an onslaught of hits the creature was barely held together by whatever tangled mass of plant material served as its body. It released Dala’gse and shot to the surface, placing one fungal hand on a floating orb, threatening to squeeze it and set off a chain reaction.
“DO ME NO MORE HARM. There are too many off you, I concede. If you go peacefully I will let you pass through as long as I am the guardian. If not, I will pop my little fungal friend here and you will all likely perish.”
“Have we a deal?”
The party agreed but wondered about a small cave they had noticed while submerged underwater. Guardian of what?
“The cave below? If you are to gain access to it, you must answer the usual questions to prove you are indeed a friend of Sveldin."
“We do not build with our hands, we build with our….what?”
Safad remembered the line from the play, “we build with our hearts.”
“Yes, he who builds with his hands has forgotten the sacrifice of Sveldin.”
“If we see the Drow we must send word on the wind to…where?”
Safad remembered the play and replied, “Evereska?”
“Yes, we must never forget our friends.”
“A secret is a…what?”
Dala’gse remembered the play and said, “burden.”
“Yes, that must be carried for the good of us all. Go then, friends of Sveldin, the Sveldinstone is yours.”
Sveldinstone? Safad dove under and swam through the opening to find a small room with a simple stone dais at its center. Upon it was a plain stone ring. He put it on and felt the power an odd sensation surge through him. He sunk a meter into stone, and felt in time he could learn to use it...
The goblins set up camp at the edge of the third pool, and the group rested.
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