You all pile into the rowboat and set off into the Sullen Sea. The water here is somewhat smelly, but no more so than the docks of Greyhawk, and those of you used to life on the water would probably feel at home. After about 10 minutes of rowing, you come into view of the isle, and you note that the smell is getting worse. Sprouting up through a layer of turgid black ooze near the beach are small, yellow protrusions as wide as thick human fingers. Luminescent green mushrooms with blue caps crowd the island, probably knee-high to a human near the water's edge but slowly increasing in stature inland. They reach heights of 40 feet or more at the isle's crowded center. A blue haze lights the air around them.
As you row up to the beach you see it is composed of a finely intertwined mesh of fibers from which the fingerlike protrusions grow. The ground is spongy but firm. The smell of yeast and citrus commingled, bracing in intensity, issues from the ground. Thin at the island's boundary but thicker beneath the luminescent mushrooms, a blue glow suffuses the air and stings the throat. You feel as though the longer you stay on the island, the worse this feeling will get. And you don't see any of the black and red spotted mushrooms on the shore.
Xanrym and Syllen can be excused from rowing as they have weak elfy arms."She says with a smirk.
Xanrym is happy to be compared to an elf. He has always thought of himself as somewhat gangly because he's been tall and thin ever since he was young. Xanrym says something about admiring the soldiers, but he has spent more time in libraries than in the training yard. He graciously thanks Coriana and Theldrin for rowing The Company to the island.
As you row up to the beach you see it is composed of a finely intertwined mesh of fibers from which the fingerlike protrusions grow. The ground is spongy but firm. The smell of yeast and citrus commingled, bracing in intensity, issues from the ground. Thin at the island's boundary but thicker beneath the luminescent mushrooms, a blue glow suffuses the air and stings the throat. You feel as though the longer you stay on the island, the worse this feeling will get. And you don't see any of the black and red spotted mushrooms on the shore.
(OOC: @drumdigby - I'll assume that the scale on the Great Grotto Map is accurate and that Rikaryon's Isle is ~1000 feet across.)
Xanrym shoves on the spongy ground with the butt of his spear to see how much it gives. He wouldn't want Avery or Khessa to sink down into the grounds as though into mud! He also wants to ensure that the island doesn't sink or roll into the water. That is, he hopes that it's more like an island and not a shallow raft of fungi.
As Xanrym wraps the handkerchief that Khessabought them around his face, he reminds The Company: "Es Sarch said that the spores that cause the blue glow slowly destroy the flesh. Their only advice was to be fast, so let's spend as little time here as we can. We need to find the black mushrooms with red spots in the shape of tiny hands and gather what we can before this glowing blue spores harm us too badly."
Since it sounds like haste is critical for this job, Xanrym proposes that they eschew stealth and scouting and all move forward together as quickly as the terrain allows. Before they start, Xanrym offers to cast magically enhance Syllen's powers of perception so that they don't miss anything. "If we're here to gather mushrooms, it seems like a good idea to empower our druid!"
(OOC: Syllen probably already gets Advantage for any checks to gather mushrooms if he's using his Herbalism Kit. But boosting Syllen's WIS skill checks with Enhance Ability should help with Perception checks to find the mushrooms and spot anything else that may be lurking among the mushrooms.)
Avery nods in agreement as he ties his scarf around his nose and mouth. "I appreciate your checking to see if it is solid enough for me to stand, hate to sink in that muck. Let's see to this quickly and find or objective so we can be away from this place. Be on guard though, we already know there are foul beasts about in this region, who knows what we'll come across that could delay us here."
Khessa shielded her face with her handkerchief as soon as the island came into view.
The blonde arcane warrior agreed with Xanrym: "Yes, we're together. Let's hurry and hope we find what we need soon. There shouldn't be too many monsters on the island if the spores destroy the skin... but if there are any, we'll try to get rid of them quickly."
"From time to time, I'll cast a cleansing spell on us..." the tall adventuress warns, lastly: "If the spell can remove the dirt from the skin, perhaps the spores will be removed as well. They are dirt, after all. Perhaps that will be enough to preserve us—or perhaps at least buy us a little more time."
Xanrym suggests heading straight toward the center of the island first, where the blue glow is the strongest. That way, The Company can deal with the worst exposure when we're fresh: "If we don't find the mushrooms we need there, then we can spiral back out toward the shore, moving into the less contaminated parts of the isle and hopefully limiting our exposure if we find what we need in the middle of the island."
Theldrin & Xanrym (rear guard Perception in case anything sneaks up from behind)
If the blue glow isn't very bright, Xanrym asks for Theldrin and Khessa to provide Light. Or Xanrym is happy to light his bullseye lantern which has a little more range.
The blonde arcane warrior agreed with Xanrym: "There shouldn't be too many monsters on the island if the spores destroy the skin...
Xanrym hopes she's right, but as Avery said, they've met strange monsters since arriving in the Great Grotto. Perhaps the island is home to some monster that doesn't have "skin" or that's immune to the spores, like some sort of monstrous ooze.
Khessa agrees with Xanrym's proposal and is ready to march alongside Syllen.
Now that the island has been reached, the blone arcane warrior sends Anator back to the safety of his pocket dimension, to prevent him from being poisoned.
The tall adventuress willingly uses Light when necessary; she also periodically casts Prestidigitation on party members (including herself) in rotation, to try to keep everyone clean (and consequently also clean of spores—or so she hopes).
Syllen also puts on the handkerchief on his face. If light is useful Syllen will tell Xanrym to use his lantern and cast Control Flame to double the range of bright and dim light. Syllen agrees with Xanrym's marching order. As they continue, Syllen will cast Guidance on himself to help with the search. Syllen will lead the group towards the center of the island and attempt to search for the needed mushrooms.
Theldrin will fall in line with the others, keeping a watchful eye on the party's back and the boat as long as he can see it. If Sentry is with the group he suggests leaving him to guard the boat, and possibly the flying familiars could keep an eye on things from above as well.
Regarding potential monsters on the island, he frowns thoughtfully as he looks around at the strange surroundings then ventures, "We should be prepared for attack, there's no telling what type of creature might inhabit a place such as this..."
You all put on your masks and enter the forrest of mushrooms, Syllen leading the way with your familiars lending support. The trunks of the green mushrooms grow in thick clumps, but the spaces between clumps are wide enough to squeeze through. After an hour of this you feel you're getting close to the island's center, but you also begin to cough and splutter from the tiny spores they produce. Everyone makes a DC 15 CON Save with advantage because of the masks (rolling in game log):
Khessa, Theldrin, Xanrym, and Syllen all take 3 Poison damage, while Avery and Coriana only take 1 Poison damage. You get the feeling if you stay here for another hour, you'll need to make another save.
Eventually the island's mushroom trees give way to a wide space that is roughly circular. Within this clearing, the blue haze hangs particularly thickly. Broad, tall stems covered with short, stiff bristles share the center of the clearing with tiny black mushrooms that sport red spots in the shape of little hands. Theldrin sees the undergrowth rustles in some unfelt wind.
You all put on your masks and enter the forrest of mushrooms, Syllen leading the way with your familiars lending support. The trunks of the green mushrooms grow in thick clumps, but the spaces between clumps are wide enough to squeeze through. After an hour of this you feel you're getting close to the island's center, but you also begin to cough and splutter from the tiny spores they produce. Everyone makes a DC 15 CON Save with advantage because of the masks (rolling in game log):
Khessa, Theldrin, Xanrym, and Syllen all take 3 Poison damage, while Avery and Coriana only take 1 Poison damage. You get the feeling if you stay here for another hour, you'll need to make another save.
Eventually the island's mushroom trees give way to a wide space that is roughly circular. Within this clearing, the blue haze hangs particularly thickly. Broad, tall stems covered with short, stiff bristles share the center of the clearing with tiny black mushrooms that sport red spots in the shape of little hands. Theldrin sees the undergrowth rustles in some unfelt wind.
Does my necklace of adaption help against the poison or the spores?
Khessa was focused on the mushrooms, trying to determine if they were indeed the ones the party had come looking for, but at Theldrin's warning, she looked suspicious: "If undergrowth can rustle even in the absence of wind... it might not be simple undergrowth! Does anyone want to attack it from a distance, to make sure it's not a plant predator of some sort? I could blast it with magical fire, but I don't want to risk starting a fire..."
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You all pile into the rowboat and set off into the Sullen Sea. The water here is somewhat smelly, but no more so than the docks of Greyhawk, and those of you used to life on the water would probably feel at home. After about 10 minutes of rowing, you come into view of the isle, and you note that the smell is getting worse. Sprouting up through a layer of turgid black ooze near the beach are small, yellow protrusions as wide as thick human fingers. Luminescent green mushrooms with blue caps crowd the island, probably knee-high to a human near the water's edge but slowly increasing in stature inland. They reach heights of 40 feet or more at the isle's crowded center. A blue haze lights the air around them.
As you row up to the beach you see it is composed of a finely intertwined mesh of fibers from which the fingerlike protrusions grow. The ground is spongy but firm. The smell of yeast and citrus commingled, bracing in intensity, issues from the ground. Thin at the island's boundary but thicker beneath the luminescent mushrooms, a blue glow suffuses the air and stings the throat. You feel as though the longer you stay on the island, the worse this feeling will get. And you don't see any of the black and red spotted mushrooms on the shore.
Theldrin pauses from rowing as soon as the first mushrooms come into view, and puts his handkerchief over his face before resuming.
Xanrym is happy to be compared to an elf. He has always thought of himself as somewhat gangly because he's been tall and thin ever since he was young. Xanrym says something about admiring the soldiers, but he has spent more time in libraries than in the training yard. He graciously thanks Coriana and Theldrin for rowing The Company to the island.
(OOC: @drumdigby - I'll assume that the scale on the Great Grotto Map is accurate and that Rikaryon's Isle is ~1000 feet across.)
Xanrym shoves on the spongy ground with the butt of his spear to see how much it gives. He wouldn't want Avery or Khessa to sink down into the grounds as though into mud! He also wants to ensure that the island doesn't sink or roll into the water. That is, he hopes that it's more like an island and not a shallow raft of fungi.
As Xanrym wraps the handkerchief that Khessa bought them around his face, he reminds The Company: "Es Sarch said that the spores that cause the blue glow slowly destroy the flesh. Their only advice was to be fast, so let's spend as little time here as we can. We need to find the black mushrooms with red spots in the shape of tiny hands and gather what we can before this glowing blue spores harm us too badly."
Since it sounds like haste is critical for this job, Xanrym proposes that they eschew stealth and scouting and all move forward together as quickly as the terrain allows. Before they start, Xanrym offers to cast magically enhance Syllen's powers of perception so that they don't miss anything. "If we're here to gather mushrooms, it seems like a good idea to empower our druid!"
(OOC: Syllen probably already gets Advantage for any checks to gather mushrooms if he's using his Herbalism Kit. But boosting Syllen's WIS skill checks with Enhance Ability should help with Perception checks to find the mushrooms and spot anything else that may be lurking among the mushrooms.)
Avery nods in agreement as he ties his scarf around his nose and mouth. "I appreciate your checking to see if it is solid enough for me to stand, hate to sink in that muck. Let's see to this quickly and find or objective so we can be away from this place. Be on guard though, we already know there are foul beasts about in this region, who knows what we'll come across that could delay us here."
Khessa shielded her face with her handkerchief as soon as the island came into view.
The blonde arcane warrior agreed with Xanrym: "Yes, we're together. Let's hurry and hope we find what we need soon. There shouldn't be too many monsters on the island if the spores destroy the skin... but if there are any, we'll try to get rid of them quickly."
"From time to time, I'll cast a cleansing spell on us..." the tall adventuress warns, lastly: "If the spell can remove the dirt from the skin, perhaps the spores will be removed as well. They are dirt, after all. Perhaps that will be enough to preserve us—or perhaps at least buy us a little more time."
Xanrym suggests heading straight toward the center of the island first, where the blue glow is the strongest. That way, The Company can deal with the worst exposure when we're fresh: "If we don't find the mushrooms we need there, then we can spiral back out toward the shore, moving into the less contaminated parts of the isle and hopefully limiting our exposure if we find what we need in the middle of the island."
Marching order something like this?
If the blue glow isn't very bright, Xanrym asks for Theldrin and Khessa to provide Light. Or Xanrym is happy to light his bullseye lantern which has a little more range.
Concentration: Enhance Ability (WIS) on Syllen
Xanrym hopes she's right, but as Avery said, they've met strange monsters since arriving in the Great Grotto. Perhaps the island is home to some monster that doesn't have "skin" or that's immune to the spores, like some sort of monstrous ooze.
Khessa agrees with Xanrym's proposal and is ready to march alongside Syllen.
Now that the island has been reached, the blone arcane warrior sends Anator back to the safety of his pocket dimension, to prevent him from being poisoned.
The tall adventuress willingly uses Light when necessary; she also periodically casts Prestidigitation on party members (including herself) in rotation, to try to keep everyone clean (and consequently also clean of spores—or so she hopes).
Syllen also puts on the handkerchief on his face. If light is useful Syllen will tell Xanrym to use his lantern and cast Control Flame to double the range of bright and dim light. Syllen agrees with Xanrym's marching order. As they continue, Syllen will cast Guidance on himself to help with the search. Syllen will lead the group towards the center of the island and attempt to search for the needed mushrooms.
Perception Roll: 24
Theldrin will fall in line with the others, keeping a watchful eye on the party's back and the boat as long as he can see it. If Sentry is with the group he suggests leaving him to guard the boat, and possibly the flying familiars could keep an eye on things from above as well.
Regarding potential monsters on the island, he frowns thoughtfully as he looks around at the strange surroundings then ventures, "We should be prepared for attack, there's no telling what type of creature might inhabit a place such as this..."
Perception: 19
Coriana goes along with the plans discussed so far, and has her scimitars drawn.
Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain
Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards.
DM - The Old Keep
You all put on your masks and enter the forrest of mushrooms, Syllen leading the way with your familiars lending support. The trunks of the green mushrooms grow in thick clumps, but the spaces between clumps are wide enough to squeeze through. After an hour of this you feel you're getting close to the island's center, but you also begin to cough and splutter from the tiny spores they produce. Everyone makes a DC 15 CON Save with advantage because of the masks (rolling in game log):
Khessa, Theldrin, Xanrym, and Syllen all take 3 Poison damage, while Avery and Coriana only take 1 Poison damage. You get the feeling if you stay here for another hour, you'll need to make another save.
Eventually the island's mushroom trees give way to a wide space that is roughly circular. Within this clearing, the blue haze hangs particularly thickly. Broad, tall stems covered with short, stiff bristles share the center of the clearing with tiny black mushrooms that sport red spots in the shape of little hands. Theldrin sees the undergrowth rustles in some unfelt wind.
Theldrin will quietly point out the strange rustling to the others.
Does my necklace of adaption help against the poison or the spores?
Avery looks to where the rustling is coming from and goes on guard, weapon at the ready
(Well Avery already had advantage on the save because of the mask.)
Khessa was focused on the mushrooms, trying to determine if they were indeed the ones the party had come looking for, but at Theldrin's warning, she looked suspicious: "If undergrowth can rustle even in the absence of wind... it might not be simple undergrowth! Does anyone want to attack it from a distance, to make sure it's not a plant predator of some sort? I could blast it with magical fire, but I don't want to risk starting a fire..."