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.)
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.)