Sir Beauregard passes his sword through the water at his feet and says a prayer. He sloshes out of the water and walks up the stone stairs to join the myconid guardian.
”The battle is joined, guardian. Let us waste no time in debate. Take us to Sinensa and we will beg his leave to seek the source of the contagion.”
The creatures look to each other, passing thoughts between one and other that you can't untangle...
Finally, one of the larger ones moves closer to you and projects a clear communication of "FOLLOW."
The creature leads you through the northern passage where the sulfurous odor is even stronger, through a large chamber adorned with six clusters of giant mushrooms. An assemblage of mushroomfolk stand stock-still in semicircle... a communal gathering point of some sort... the consciousnesses of these creatures remains intertwined in a deep, dream-like shared transcendence that is beyond your comprehension.
They barely acknowledge your existence as your guide leads you further northward into the sovereign's sanctum. Here, two creatures, Auranta and Enok tend to the sovereign who you saw in your vision. He lies prone, barely conscious on a large stone slab while Auranta and Enok collect spores from a barrel-sized, glowing red fungus that vaguely resembles a human brain. They puff the spores around the leader’s head. You understand that the treatment is keeping the leader alive for now, but it is a losing battle.
The sovereign opens its eyes, barely aware of you, in a state of semi-delirum... though it seems to instantly synthesize all of the information gathered about you by the collective.
Suddenly focusing on your eyes, it brings your consciousness back to the wisps of magic Vinn saw seeping from the ground.... Magical outgassing from something ancient and evil buried deep below the surface... It seems to understand what you saw... and yes... yes... this is what's happening....
It closes its eyes and tears your consciousness away from your present location until all you know is...
Sharruth the Desecrator
Time before time... Ancient beyond comprehension...
You see vision of a gargantuan flaming dragon engaged in epic battle with three equally ancient metalic dragons... The bronze, brass and gold-scaled titans tear through the flaming dragon's defensive armor through to his flesh, hooking into him with massive claws and tearing him from the sky...
Downward they careen into the very depths of the ocean.... Miles upon miles... crashing into the ocean floor and continuing into the crust of the earth... deeper... deeper... deeper until all is darkness and stillness.
A blazing elemental seed is planted...
Defeated, slain, body broken, smothered under the earth... yet enveloped in a deathless wrathful heat.... the smoldering carcass churns beneath the ground for centuries... melting rock... boiling the sea... creating seismic cataclysms that lift an island from the sea... a living monument... teaming with life, and magic and fresh possibility.
Yet the baleful poisonous fumes still rise from below... Thickening the air... Poison... Into this cavern... Into our home... Worse than before... Worse than ever... Too much to stop...
Your mind is filled with a violent, panicked cacophony of images/sounds/smells/sensations... Firecrystalsunlightbreathecantbreathehelppleasehelp...
It almost begins threatening your psyche before Auranta and Enok administer another dose of spores that settle the sovereign back into a deep, catatonic slumber....
Your connection with the sovereign is severed as he returns to unconsciousness.
The other creatures explain that Sinensa went to investigate the source of the blight and came back in this state... Ravaged in mind and body... Possibly not long for this world... and if Sinensa dies, the colony will surely collapse... What could any of you do to stop this?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Vinn, shocked by the experience, turns to his two companions. "I don't think we're going to get Tarrak these heartcap mushrooms..." He says in a low voice. "Autumn... I know you were looking into dragons, but this is insane-- right?"
Vinn looks at Sir Beauregard. "Do you think it's worth trying to use detect magic and do some type of weird shroom diagnosis? I don't even know if I can do anything for the guy even with whatever information we have."
Sir Beauregard smiles at the guardians and nods. “What could any of us do? This question is our quest. Curing Sinensa will not stop the blight and we shall travel the path they took and find out what any of us could do.” The paladin removes his mailed gloves and lays his hands on Sinensa. “Lady Firehair, your servant asks you to drive the blight from Sinensa for the sake of all the myconids who need him and those above as well. I shall stand against the ugliness beneath us and end it if I can before it spreads further. This I vow.” He bows his head and a warm radiance glows beneath his palms.
The knight turns to Vinn. “I know little of the mysteries of magic, but I think you have detected it already. Why delay the inevitable with more questions? Now we must walk Sinensa’s path.”
Vinn considers Sir Beauregard's words. It made sense-- if the fire crystal deep inside this structure is a supposed concentration of this magical poison, of course its effects would be weak closer to the cave entrance.
"Why can't you just leave?" Vinn asks. "Sinesa is still breathing in the poison, because it's gas chamber in here with that fire crystal. Maybe the medicine will work better outside. Your people were able to leave to make a fungal fiend out of the octopus. Just do that. Maybe the Tarrak and the kobolds know a good place to move the colony."
A sputtering, spasmodic neural response occurs the moment Beauregard says the words "...walk Sinensa’s path.”
A barrage of half-formed memories gathered from the elder by the collective... Council chamber garden crystal cavern harvest sanctum council chamber crystal cavern sanctum council chamber larder harvest garden crystal... before going dark.
It takes a moment to reorient your senses to where you are... Inside Sovereign Sinensa's sanctum.
By the time Vinn finishes asking the question, "Why can't you leave?" the answer is obvious to him, as if he knew it the entire time... An awareness of the deep mycelial network extending deep within the earth of this cavern... Of course they can't leave. This place is literally a part ofthem. Their mind, memory, individual and cultural identity is rooted underfoot. Environmental toxins may poison it... but they cannot "leave" here any more than a normal mortal humanoid can leave its own body.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Vinn stood in silence, contemlplating the newfound understanding that was given to him. The mushroom people were certainly strange, but their attatchment towards home reminded him of his druidic clan. Particularly, the older ones, who finished their pilgrimages and more deeply appreciate the village and its clanspeople upon their return. If danger were to come, they would choose to not abandon home either. And while Vinnn was missing home, he became aware that he could always go back, and it would still be safe and unchanged. He tries to telepathically share these sentiments back.
"Sir, I'm going to join you and your Lady on this path to help the mushroom folks out." Vinn says.
"Auranta and Enok, do you have any extras of those red spore-thingies to help Sir and Autumn breathe or get better when the poison gets thicker? Preferably travel-sized. For myself, I can always hold my breath indefinitely."
“Sinensa seems unable to give us a clear path due to the blight, or I simply do not understand. Either way, we must walk the path and hope some fragment of his memory seems clearer to us when we reach a crossroads.” Sir Beauregard crosses to the door and looks expectantly at his companions. “Shall we go and see where that tunnel we passed leads?”
As you move in that direction, the fungalfolk open your awareness to where you're going... The crystal cavern.
You understand that the colony stays away from that cave, but the reason is a little muddled. The sense you get is something about "withering" or "poison".... at first you assume they're referring to the blight, but this aversion they have of the cave is much older and less extreme...
You see the image of sunlight filtering through a small vertical fissure in the rock, that exposes the cavern to the open air. You can physically feel the mushroom people recoiling from that sunlight as something unpleasant and toxic to their biology. They require darkness and moisture to survive. Sinensa is the only one of them strong enough to risk the sunlight exposure from the crystal cavern but even the sovereign does not step into that cavern lightly.
All of this information fuses into your consciousness as you pass through the corridor into...
The air in this cave is choked with thick smoke that assaults your nostrils with a pungent odor of brimstone. Strange, flickering orange light illuminates the smoke. This area is free of fungal growth; instead, crystals grow from the rock.
To your right, a large cluster of purple crystals juts from the stone. On the far wall, a glowing orange crystal wedged into a fissure in the cave wall seems to be the source of the light. Streaks of soot trace a path along the cave walls between the purple crystals and the fissure.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Sir Beauregard uses Divine Sense and then moves forward and to the side about ten feet to have a chance of scanning most of the room.
”The crystals do not seem consecrated to evil and I sense nothing lurking. If nobody objects, I’ll go see what happens to me if I do what Sinensa did.”
Vinn nods. "I never knew crystals could be evil. Heard from some people in my clan that they can be fun though."
Vinn follows Sir Beauregard, and is immiediatey distracted by the glow of the purple crystal. "That evil fungi was violet..." He comments before gettijg closer to examine it.
As Vinn gets closer to the crystals, he realizes the fumes are seeping from below-- discoloring the crystals.
"I think these are sick like Sinesa is. Purple really is bad. And all the fumes are coming below..." vinn pauses. "I was thinking a plug, but i dont think that will work. Maybe something is rotten and dead underneath? It smells like it."
Sir Beauregard looks at the blocked fissure. “The myconids used to avoid this place because the sun shone in. Where is it now? Perhaps we can reopen that vent? I am happy to risk my life approaching the blocked vent, but if the man who does not breathe wanted to go first this time, I would let him.”
"Whoa there!" Vinn exclaims at Sir Beauregard. "What are you doing?"
He gets closer to the knight to exam what's happening. He had not see anything yet, so distracted by the glow of the purple crystals. "You think something's blocking the sun thats causing this? I thought it was underneath that was getting worse because of that vision... but I guess both can be true?"
The javelin strikes dead center and a cascade of fractures begin spider-webbing throughout the crystal...
As Vinn says his peace, still focused on the purple crystals, he fails to notice the status of the orange crystal until the fissures hit a critical mass and the entire thing shatters!
The cave is immediately filled with shimmering sunlight refracted through the crystals that line the cave and a rush of fresh sea air begins drawing out the cursed miasma.
When the crystal breaks, a two-foot-diameter sphere of smoldering obsidian falls to the floor amid the other pieces and breaks open... a moment later, the obsidian sphere cracks and a glowing red serpentine figure slithers out... its tongue licking at the air while its weird, oddly human-like eyes roll around in its head, trying to orient itself...
The image of the monster's strange birth is so shocking and unsettling that you're almost taken off-guard when it finally focuses its eyes on you and launches itself in your direction...
INITIATIVE
Fire Snake
Party
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DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
(After a daring battle that saw the formation of two fume drakes who added to the attack...)
Sir Beauregard's javelin tears open what is left of the fire snake's form. Boiling ichor pours out, creating small flames on the ground... As the magma-like substance quickly cools, so does the air around it. No longer able to hold their form, the two fume drakes dematerialize, their vapor sucked out of the chamber by the newly formed vent.
The knight sags forward gasping for breath and supporting himself by leaning on his shield. “I had not thought to leave this battlefield.” He stands and claps Vinn on the back. “I am bound by my oaths, but it takes true bravery to cast oneself into such a flame of evil for such as I. You, Vinn, are a hero.”
Vinn wedges himself underneath one of Sir Beauregard's hulking shoulders and tries to give him more support to stand from under the armpit. "I'm not so much a hero, but more like the fool you've mentioned. Always has been." Vinn then points to the scattered crystal. "Anyway, you're a genius... I thought we needed to clog the fumes to stop the leak and here you are, clearing it out. I would've made it worse."
“Or maybe plugging the floor with compost would have done the job without the fight. We’ll never know.”
"If by compost you mean our dead bodies or me shitting the floor once the snake took you out... maybe."
As the two adventurers sit for a moment, catching their breath, they finally have a moment to absorb the beauty of this place as golden sunlight filters through the crystals, refracted into a glorious kaleidoscopic cascade of color. Impossible to tell if the effect is magical or natural, or if it exists somewhere in the ephemeral horizon between the two.
In time, you gather your gear and return to the mushroom folk whose relief and elation is (literally) intoxicating to your senses. Empathic tears of joy and gratitude come unbidden to your eyes as they tend to your wounds, provide you with (barely palatable but much appreciated) food and sing together in a transcendent, neuro-harmonic symphony of shared experience.
The colorful forest of non-sentient fungi responds quickly to the fresh air, blooming in bright, exotic patterns like nothing you've ever seen before. Sinensa, however, takes a bit longer...
It's not until the wee hours of the morning, as you lay in your sleep dreaming the collective dreams of the colony, that you sense the consciousness of the sovereign folding in with the rest of the mycelial symphony.
As you arrives in your mind, you naturally feel affection towards him, like a beloved grandfather... while also retaining your own individual reactions to this wholly alien experience.
He regards you as friends, family, heroes of the colony. You will be given all that you came here for and more... Including all that the colony knows of another evil plaguing this island... an evil you've encountered before...
The information you receive is vague and disjointed.
The most you can gather is that these creatures are attuned to the island enough to recognize the presence of some great evil in the northern archipelago... It's a different type of evil than the red dragon below... something colder and more perverse... but the mushroomfolk dare not question it further.
At Sinensa's instruction, the colony give you the heartcap mushrooms you came here for along with an even rarer specimen - the ruby morel, which is the fungus the mushroomfolk were using to treat Sinensa. It's a gift rarely given to outsiders - a unique honor granted to the saviors of the colony. You're also given the remnants of the obsidian that formed the fire snake's egg sac... The assemblage of elemental-touched semi-prescious stones will easily sell for 250 gold on the open market, making them a fine treasure to return with.
Is there anything else you'd like to do before returning to Dragon's Rest?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
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Sir Beauregard passes his sword through the water at his feet and says a prayer. He sloshes out of the water and walks up the stone stairs to join the myconid guardian.
”The battle is joined, guardian. Let us waste no time in debate. Take us to Sinensa and we will beg his leave to seek the source of the contagion.”
Vinn leans over to the mushroom person and vaguely gestures towards Sir Beauregard. "Excuse him, his accent is kind of hard to understand."
The creatures look to each other, passing thoughts between one and other that you can't untangle...
Finally, one of the larger ones moves closer to you and projects a clear communication of "FOLLOW."
The creature leads you through the northern passage where the sulfurous odor is even stronger, through a large chamber adorned with six clusters of giant mushrooms. An assemblage of mushroomfolk stand stock-still in semicircle... a communal gathering point of some sort... the consciousnesses of these creatures remains intertwined in a deep, dream-like shared transcendence that is beyond your comprehension.
They barely acknowledge your existence as your guide leads you further northward into the sovereign's sanctum. Here, two creatures, Auranta and Enok tend to the sovereign who you saw in your vision. He lies prone, barely conscious on a large stone slab while Auranta and Enok collect spores from a barrel-sized, glowing red fungus that vaguely resembles a human brain. They puff the spores around the leader’s head. You understand that the treatment is keeping the leader alive for now, but it is a losing battle.
The sovereign opens its eyes, barely aware of you, in a state of semi-delirum... though it seems to instantly synthesize all of the information gathered about you by the collective.
Suddenly focusing on your eyes, it brings your consciousness back to the wisps of magic Vinn saw seeping from the ground.... Magical outgassing from something ancient and evil buried deep below the surface... It seems to understand what you saw... and yes... yes... this is what's happening....
It closes its eyes and tears your consciousness away from your present location until all you know is...
Sharruth the Desecrator
Time before time... Ancient beyond comprehension...
You see vision of a gargantuan flaming dragon engaged in epic battle with three equally ancient metalic dragons... The bronze, brass and gold-scaled titans tear through the flaming dragon's defensive armor through to his flesh, hooking into him with massive claws and tearing him from the sky...
Downward they careen into the very depths of the ocean.... Miles upon miles... crashing into the ocean floor and continuing into the crust of the earth... deeper... deeper... deeper until all is darkness and stillness.
A blazing elemental seed is planted...
Defeated, slain, body broken, smothered under the earth... yet enveloped in a deathless wrathful heat.... the smoldering carcass churns beneath the ground for centuries... melting rock... boiling the sea... creating seismic cataclysms that lift an island from the sea... a living monument... teaming with life, and magic and fresh possibility.
Yet the baleful poisonous fumes still rise from below... Thickening the air... Poison... Into this cavern... Into our home... Worse than before... Worse than ever... Too much to stop...
Your mind is filled with a violent, panicked cacophony of images/sounds/smells/sensations... Firecrystalsunlightbreathecantbreathehelppleasehelp...
It almost begins threatening your psyche before Auranta and Enok administer another dose of spores that settle the sovereign back into a deep, catatonic slumber....
Your connection with the sovereign is severed as he returns to unconsciousness.
The other creatures explain that Sinensa went to investigate the source of the blight and came back in this state... Ravaged in mind and body... Possibly not long for this world... and if Sinensa dies, the colony will surely collapse... What could any of you do to stop this?
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Vinn, shocked by the experience, turns to his two companions. "I don't think we're going to get Tarrak these heartcap mushrooms..." He says in a low voice. "Autumn... I know you were looking into dragons, but this is insane-- right?"
Vinn looks at Sir Beauregard. "Do you think it's worth trying to use detect magic and do some type of weird shroom diagnosis? I don't even know if I can do anything for the guy even with whatever information we have."
Sir Beauregard smiles at the guardians and nods. “What could any of us do? This question is our quest. Curing Sinensa will not stop the blight and we shall travel the path they took and find out what any of us could do.” The paladin removes his mailed gloves and lays his hands on Sinensa. “Lady Firehair, your servant asks you to drive the blight from Sinensa for the sake of all the myconids who need him and those above as well. I shall stand against the ugliness beneath us and end it if I can before it spreads further. This I vow.” He bows his head and a warm radiance glows beneath his palms.
The knight turns to Vinn. “I know little of the mysteries of magic, but I think you have detected it already. Why delay the inevitable with more questions? Now we must walk Sinensa’s path.”
Vinn considers Sir Beauregard's words. It made sense-- if the fire crystal deep inside this structure is a supposed concentration of this magical poison, of course its effects would be weak closer to the cave entrance.
"Why can't you just leave?" Vinn asks. "Sinesa is still breathing in the poison, because it's gas chamber in here with that fire crystal. Maybe the medicine will work better outside. Your people were able to leave to make a fungal fiend out of the octopus. Just do that. Maybe the Tarrak and the kobolds know a good place to move the colony."
A sputtering, spasmodic neural response occurs the moment Beauregard says the words "...walk Sinensa’s path.”
A barrage of half-formed memories gathered from the elder by the collective... Council chamber garden crystal cavern harvest sanctum council chamber crystal cavern sanctum council chamber larder harvest garden crystal... before going dark.
It takes a moment to reorient your senses to where you are... Inside Sovereign Sinensa's sanctum.
By the time Vinn finishes asking the question, "Why can't you leave?" the answer is obvious to him, as if he knew it the entire time... An awareness of the deep mycelial network extending deep within the earth of this cavern... Of course they can't leave. This place is literally a part of them. Their mind, memory, individual and cultural identity is rooted underfoot. Environmental toxins may poison it... but they cannot "leave" here any more than a normal mortal humanoid can leave its own body.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Vinn stood in silence, contemlplating the newfound understanding that was given to him. The mushroom people were certainly strange, but their attatchment towards home reminded him of his druidic clan. Particularly, the older ones, who finished their pilgrimages and more deeply appreciate the village and its clanspeople upon their return. If danger were to come, they would choose to not abandon home either. And while Vinnn was missing home, he became aware that he could always go back, and it would still be safe and unchanged. He tries to telepathically share these sentiments back.
"Sir, I'm going to join you and your Lady on this path to help the mushroom folks out." Vinn says.
"Auranta and Enok, do you have any extras of those red spore-thingies to help Sir and Autumn breathe or get better when the poison gets thicker? Preferably travel-sized. For myself, I can always hold my breath indefinitely."
The mushroom folk cannot spare any of the ruby morel. If the slightest bit of it can prolong Sinensa's life, they must cling to every last drop.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
“Sinensa seems unable to give us a clear path due to the blight, or I simply do not understand. Either way, we must walk the path and hope some fragment of his memory seems clearer to us when we reach a crossroads.” Sir Beauregard crosses to the door and looks expectantly at his companions. “Shall we go and see where that tunnel we passed leads?”
Vinn nods. "You can keep leading."
As a note, Vinn will continue his indefinite breath (I guess that's why his face is naturally blue lol).
As you move in that direction, the fungalfolk open your awareness to where you're going... The crystal cavern.
You understand that the colony stays away from that cave, but the reason is a little muddled. The sense you get is something about "withering" or "poison".... at first you assume they're referring to the blight, but this aversion they have of the cave is much older and less extreme...
You see the image of sunlight filtering through a small vertical fissure in the rock, that exposes the cavern to the open air. You can physically feel the mushroom people recoiling from that sunlight as something unpleasant and toxic to their biology. They require darkness and moisture to survive. Sinensa is the only one of them strong enough to risk the sunlight exposure from the crystal cavern but even the sovereign does not step into that cavern lightly.
All of this information fuses into your consciousness as you pass through the corridor into...
The Crystal Cave
The air in this cave is choked with thick smoke that assaults your nostrils with a pungent odor of brimstone. Strange, flickering orange light illuminates the smoke. This area is free of fungal growth; instead, crystals grow from the rock.
To your right, a large cluster of purple crystals juts from the stone. On the far wall, a glowing orange crystal wedged into a fissure in the cave wall seems to be the source of the light. Streaks of soot trace a path along the cave walls between the purple crystals and the fissure.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Sir Beauregard uses Divine Sense and then moves forward and to the side about ten feet to have a chance of scanning most of the room.
”The crystals do not seem consecrated to evil and I sense nothing lurking. If nobody objects, I’ll go see what happens to me if I do what Sinensa did.”
Vinn nods. "I never knew crystals could be evil. Heard from some people in my clan that they can be fun though."
Vinn follows Sir Beauregard, and is immiediatey distracted by the glow of the purple crystal. "That evil fungi was violet..." He comments before gettijg closer to examine it.
As Vinn gets closer to the crystals, he realizes the fumes are seeping from below-- discoloring the crystals.
"I think these are sick like Sinesa is. Purple really is bad. And all the fumes are coming below..." vinn pauses. "I was thinking a plug, but i dont think that will work. Maybe something is rotten and dead underneath? It smells like it."
Sir Beauregard looks at the blocked fissure. “The myconids used to avoid this place because the sun shone in. Where is it now? Perhaps we can reopen that vent? I am happy to risk my life approaching the blocked vent, but if the man who does not breathe wanted to go first this time, I would let him.”
Sir Beauregard throws a javelin at the orange crystal.
"Whoa there!" Vinn exclaims at Sir Beauregard. "What are you doing?"
He gets closer to the knight to exam what's happening. He had not see anything yet, so distracted by the glow of the purple crystals. "You think something's blocking the sun thats causing this? I thought it was underneath that was getting worse because of that vision... but I guess both can be true?"
The javelin strikes dead center and a cascade of fractures begin spider-webbing throughout the crystal...
As Vinn says his peace, still focused on the purple crystals, he fails to notice the status of the orange crystal until the fissures hit a critical mass and the entire thing shatters!
The cave is immediately filled with shimmering sunlight refracted through the crystals that line the cave and a rush of fresh sea air begins drawing out the cursed miasma.
When the crystal breaks, a two-foot-diameter sphere of smoldering obsidian falls to the floor amid the other pieces and breaks open... a moment later, the obsidian sphere cracks and a glowing red serpentine figure slithers out... its tongue licking at the air while its weird, oddly human-like eyes roll around in its head, trying to orient itself...
The image of the monster's strange birth is so shocking and unsettling that you're almost taken off-guard when it finally focuses its eyes on you and launches itself in your direction...
INITIATIVE
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
(After a daring battle that saw the formation of two fume drakes who added to the attack...)
Sir Beauregard's javelin tears open what is left of the fire snake's form. Boiling ichor pours out, creating small flames on the ground... As the magma-like substance quickly cools, so does the air around it. No longer able to hold their form, the two fume drakes dematerialize, their vapor sucked out of the chamber by the newly formed vent.
The knight sags forward gasping for breath and supporting himself by leaning on his shield. “I had not thought to leave this battlefield.” He stands and claps Vinn on the back. “I am bound by my oaths, but it takes true bravery to cast oneself into such a flame of evil for such as I. You, Vinn, are a hero.”
Vinn wedges himself underneath one of Sir Beauregard's hulking shoulders and tries to give him more support to stand from under the armpit. "I'm not so much a hero, but more like the fool you've mentioned. Always has been." Vinn then points to the scattered crystal. "Anyway, you're a genius... I thought we needed to clog the fumes to stop the leak and here you are, clearing it out. I would've made it worse."
“Or maybe plugging the floor with compost would have done the job without the fight. We’ll never know.”
"If by compost you mean our dead bodies or me shitting the floor once the snake took you out... maybe."
As the two adventurers sit for a moment, catching their breath, they finally have a moment to absorb the beauty of this place as golden sunlight filters through the crystals, refracted into a glorious kaleidoscopic cascade of color. Impossible to tell if the effect is magical or natural, or if it exists somewhere in the ephemeral horizon between the two.
In time, you gather your gear and return to the mushroom folk whose relief and elation is (literally) intoxicating to your senses. Empathic tears of joy and gratitude come unbidden to your eyes as they tend to your wounds, provide you with (barely palatable but much appreciated) food and sing together in a transcendent, neuro-harmonic symphony of shared experience.
The colorful forest of non-sentient fungi responds quickly to the fresh air, blooming in bright, exotic patterns like nothing you've ever seen before. Sinensa, however, takes a bit longer...
It's not until the wee hours of the morning, as you lay in your sleep dreaming the collective dreams of the colony, that you sense the consciousness of the sovereign folding in with the rest of the mycelial symphony.
As you arrives in your mind, you naturally feel affection towards him, like a beloved grandfather... while also retaining your own individual reactions to this wholly alien experience.
He regards you as friends, family, heroes of the colony. You will be given all that you came here for and more... Including all that the colony knows of another evil plaguing this island... an evil you've encountered before...
The information you receive is vague and disjointed.
...wingedhorrors... deathharvest... sailforestgraveyard... sunkenlives...walkwheretheycannot... CompassRose... greatevil... poisondeathneverdeath...
The most you can gather is that these creatures are attuned to the island enough to recognize the presence of some great evil in the northern archipelago... It's a different type of evil than the red dragon below... something colder and more perverse... but the mushroomfolk dare not question it further.
At Sinensa's instruction, the colony give you the heartcap mushrooms you came here for along with an even rarer specimen - the ruby morel, which is the fungus the mushroomfolk were using to treat Sinensa. It's a gift rarely given to outsiders - a unique honor granted to the saviors of the colony. You're also given the remnants of the obsidian that formed the fire snake's egg sac... The assemblage of elemental-touched semi-prescious stones will easily sell for 250 gold on the open market, making them a fine treasure to return with.
Is there anything else you'd like to do before returning to Dragon's Rest?
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"