"And I am Vinn-- the last to strike the Octopus!" Vinn pipes in with. He then whispers to the group. "What if the octopus are their version of guard dogs... and we just killed their pets?"
He picks up the turnip he dropped. "We also brought gifts with us-- the best of the best, turnips and a fine bag of shit! We also accept tip for the great delivery service too."
Sir Beauregard steps past Vinn to shelter him in case there is an attack while he examines the tracks. The knight looks into the darkness both with the vision granted by his orcish father and the divine sense provided by his god.
As you move up the stairs you get a better look at the entire chamber. This fifty-foot-high cavern is a forest of multicolored fungi, ranging from tiny filaments to tree-sized mushrooms. A natural staircase of stone columns along the east wall leads up ten feet to a higher cave area in the north. Water burbles down from that upper cave and collects in a large pool. A sickening smell, like sulfur, hangs in the air. Two Humanoid Mushrooms stand guard at the base of the stairs.
It's hard to read their expression, since they don't have normal humanoid features, but their body language suggests a state of alarm. Two small baskets filled with some sort of refuse lay discarded on the shore of the southern pool. Two smaller mushroom folk cower on the ledge above, equally alarmed by your presence.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Sir Beauregard slings his shield on his back and sheathes his sword. He pulls off the pack of compost and opens it so the compost can be clearly seen. He then walks forward slowly to half way between the mouth of the cave and the stairs. He places the bag on the ground and backs away to where he began.
”Those are an offering from your neighbors,” he says.
Vinn stares, mouth agape, when he sees the mushroom people. He watches Sir Beauregard present the compost, and from where he stands follows suit by rolling the turnips towards open bag like bowling balls.
"Well, sort of an offering. Tarrak sent us for some heartcap mushrooms, and hopefully they're not attached to you...?" Vinn shares. With his foot, he draws on the groubd a heart shape with a stubby stem.
The two mushroom folk at the door storm briskly in your direction, though their stride falters a bit when you mention Tarrak. One hangs back while the other closes to within 30' of you before quivering its gills and releasing a dust-like cloud in your direction.
Before you have a chance to react (ie. the mushroom folk won the initiative) a lot of things seem to happen at the same time...
You are engulfed by the cloud. Suddenly, you feel tapped into some sort of collective consciousness. You receive a very clear extra-sensory communication from the mushroom folk. It's not exactly translatable into words, but the idea is something like,
The intense, para-linguistic communication isn't the only signal you recieve, however. The message cuts its way through a cacophonous jumble of indecipherable thoughts you pick up from dozens of other nearby mushroom folk in adjacent chambers.... as well as from one and other.
(Feel free to share any thoughts, ideas, images that your companions might pick up from you, if you want)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Vinn instinctively holds his breath (the spore dust reminding him of a fart), but it's too late.
He is startled by the mushroom people and Sir Beauregard's thoughts.
Vinn then tries to share images of the group making an effort to not fight the octopus-- Sir Beauregard's pleas, the original turnip offering, and their measured movements to try and not cause aggression.
USMAGICCANHELP.
He pauses, and Vinn remembers the strange magic they felt at the mouth of the cave entrance.
Having responded instinctually to the initially overwhelming barrage of thought, Sir Beauregard becomes quickly flustered. Since he always feels as though he must keep the bestial part of himself in check, this lack of control scares him.
AFRAID
Sir Beauregard stammers, “We were sent by Tarrak to make peace as you had before. We asked you to save that octopus but you let it die. It is my duty to give you what aid I can.”
The mushroomlike humanoids do not shift from their present position, though the one guarding the stairs turns towards the sprouts who, looking scolded, quickly hopscotch over the stream and start running towards the northern passage.
Although it still refuses to budge, the mushroom creature standing closer to you continues its communication... First, it brings your awareness to the sulphureous stink that fills the air and the patches of sickly, shriveled, blackened fungi that fill this room. Then it flashes to the image of Tarak handing over compost in exchange for harvested heart cap mushrooms. You observe as the mushroomfolk use Tarak's compost in their cultivation of mushrooms which they "farm" in this very chamber as an essential part of their food supply... but then your awareness turns back to the blight that is now spreading like a cancer through this cavern....
The image of the spreading blight carries you directly to the image of a large, regal-looking mushroom-like humanoid with wise eyes and a strong form. You watch as dark patches of the blight begin forming on the sovereign's cap. The trademark withering begins to set in the sovereign's gills... Other mushroomfolk attend to their sovereign's illness, but none of their known remedies seem to help stop the spreading decay.
All the while, the blight continues to grow in expanding veins throughout the cavern... With their food supply threatened and their leader in sudden ill health, panic begins to overtake the colony... DEFENSE... The colony dispatches a salvage party the nearby shores to find a worthy vessel.
You see through the salvage party's perspective as they find the carcass of a giant octopus, surrounded by buzzing flies... Assigned members of salvage party collectively release a cloud of spores that set into the creature's mortal wounds, taking root and spreading mycelium deep into the remnants of the octopus's ruined nervous system, "awakening" it and giving it some artificial semblance of life. With a simple command from he collective, the mindless fungal colony that operates this "spore-servant" octopus sends it back into the water where it swims to the cavern. There it takes its post and begins executing its one and only directive "LETNOONEINSIDE".
But now, the servant is gone. You are here. You may not be danger but you cannot help. Safer for you to go now before you cause more problems.
Vinn's mind is buzzing with the images. "We're all tripping together... right?" Vinn asks Sir Beauregard and Autumn, trying to anchor himself to some piece of reality.
Although Vinn never understood how it worked, he recalls the other druids in his clan who had magical talents in manipulating spores and their control over decay. The young genasi wonders if this blight is anything similar.
Vinn shares images of the peculiar wisps of evocation magic he witnessed the night before with the mushroom folks and the group.
IS THAT NORMAL?
Vinn then exhausts his final spell slot to cast detect magic once more, and cautiously examines the shriviled and rotting mushrooms. He continues holds his breath, careful if the disease is contagious, and not wanting to fall ill like their Mega Mushroom Monarch.
PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ME SPORE SERVANT. ALSO WOULD RATHER BE CALLED A FUNGI FIEND IF IT HAPPENS? OR SOMETHING COOL LIKE TOADSTOOL TEMPLAR?
Sir Beauregard raises his hands. His mind is filled with a fresco of Sune during disease and restoring beauty. He tries to imagine the mushroom king superimposed into the place of a supplicant being cured by the goddess.
”Take me to your king and I will pray for him. If your love for him is strong Sune may cleanse him of his disease.”
The mushoom folks seem curious about Vin's images of the whisps, and interested in Sir Beauregard's vision... but the moment they see Vinn begin his incantation, they move into a defensive posture and communicate an urgent message of "STOPDONTMOVEDANGERWHATDOING!?" The abrupt distraction is enough to interrupt Vinn's casting of the spell (but Vinn can resume it if he wishes).
However, before any of you can react, you suddenly see a flash of violet-colored movement in the corner of your eyes, toward the northwest area of the room where the sprouts were running. You look and see a mishappen looking purple morel with long, whiplike tendrils lash at sprouts, slashing across its small form, causing a dark sort of decay to rapidly fester across the wound...
As the violet fungus falls still, the mushroom-person who's been communicating with you radiates with an expression of impassioned gratitude. The other continues racing to the northwestern passage, presumably to check on the spouts.
A moment later, a half dozen other mushroom creatures emerge from various passages, drawn by the battle. You watch as your "guide" silently communicates to them in a way that remains beyond your comprehension... though you all receive the impression that it is vouching for you in some capacity. You sense their collective fatigue and fear.
This is not the first hostile fungus to attack innocents. It's a part of the blight... Whatever it is, it's unnatural... angry even, transforming normally docile plants into wrathful monsters.
You catch just the edges of a debate between the mushroomfolk... The question seems to be - Should you be brought to Sinensa, the sovereign? It seems downright blasphemous for outsiders to see the sovereign in the condition they're in... But what is the risk? The risk might be something they can't even imagine. Can you possibly help? Might you even make things worse? They don't understand much about outsiders. Fighting monsters is one thing but how could you cure what the great Sinensa could not?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
"I've seen Sir Beauregard heal crew members who had some real gnarly diseases," Vinn pipes in. He wonders if the telepathic spores were still in effect and tries to share images of the half orc tending to The Platinum Plume's crew-- Autumn's music softly playing in the background.
He then motions to the dormant mushrooms that surrounded them. "I'm not very good at figuring how or why something's happening... but I'm good at noticing when things are weird. I detected some real strange magic earlier, when we were at the cliff's edge outside, and if it's possible... I'd like to do it again here? I can maybe even use it on your Mega Mushroom Monarch."
"And I am Vinn-- the last to strike the Octopus!" Vinn pipes in with. He then whispers to the group. "What if the octopus are their version of guard dogs... and we just killed their pets?"
He picks up the turnip he dropped. "We also brought gifts with us-- the best of the best, turnips and a fine bag of shit! We also accept tip for the great delivery service too."
The corpse of the octopus slides back into the water following Sir Beauregard's final words.
You hear no response to your greeting, which echoes through the cavern beyond.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
"Something's here," Vinn immediately shares, hearing distant scurrying further into the cave. "I don't think an octopus can scurry..."
He ventures forward to the stairs, and attempts to examine any tracks that could tell more of what is beyond.
Sir Beauregard steps past Vinn to shelter him in case there is an attack while he examines the tracks. The knight looks into the darkness both with the vision granted by his orcish father and the divine sense provided by his god.
As you move up the stairs you get a better look at the entire chamber. This fifty-foot-high cavern is a forest of multicolored fungi, ranging from tiny filaments to tree-sized mushrooms. A natural staircase of stone columns along the east wall leads up ten feet to a higher cave area in the north. Water burbles down from that upper cave and collects in a large pool. A sickening smell, like sulfur, hangs in the air. Two Humanoid Mushrooms stand guard at the base of the stairs.
It's hard to read their expression, since they don't have normal humanoid features, but their body language suggests a state of alarm. Two small baskets filled with some sort of refuse lay discarded on the shore of the southern pool. Two smaller mushroom folk cower on the ledge above, equally alarmed by your presence.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Sir Beauregard slings his shield on his back and sheathes his sword. He pulls off the pack of compost and opens it so the compost can be clearly seen. He then walks forward slowly to half way between the mouth of the cave and the stairs. He places the bag on the ground and backs away to where he began.
”Those are an offering from your neighbors,” he says.
Vinn stares, mouth agape, when he sees the mushroom people. He watches Sir Beauregard present the compost, and from where he stands follows suit by rolling the turnips towards open bag like bowling balls.
"Well, sort of an offering. Tarrak sent us for some heartcap mushrooms, and hopefully they're not attached to you...?" Vinn shares. With his foot, he draws on the groubd a heart shape with a stubby stem.
Autumn beams at mushroom guards and waves. "Tarrak seemed to think it'd be mostly alright if we just swung by like this. Sorry if we scared you-"
The two mushroom folk at the door storm briskly in your direction, though their stride falters a bit when you mention Tarrak. One hangs back while the other closes to within 30' of you before quivering its gills and releasing a dust-like cloud in your direction.
Before you have a chance to react (ie. the mushroom folk won the initiative) a lot of things seem to happen at the same time...
You are engulfed by the cloud. Suddenly, you feel tapped into some sort of collective consciousness. You receive a very clear extra-sensory communication from the mushroom folk. It's not exactly translatable into words, but the idea is something like,
"LEAVEDANGERKILLEDSERVANTWHYKILLEDSERVANTSHOULDNOTBEHEREDANGERBLIGHTNOTSAFESICKNESSDANGERGO"
The intense, para-linguistic communication isn't the only signal you recieve, however. The message cuts its way through a cacophonous jumble of indecipherable thoughts you pick up from dozens of other nearby mushroom folk in adjacent chambers.... as well as from one and other.
(Feel free to share any thoughts, ideas, images that your companions might pick up from you, if you want)
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
STAYHELPDEFENDWHYATTACKCUREBLIGHT
Vinn instinctively holds his breath (the spore dust reminding him of a fart), but it's too late.
He is startled by the mushroom people and Sir Beauregard's thoughts.
Vinn then tries to share images of the group making an effort to not fight the octopus-- Sir Beauregard's pleas, the original turnip offering, and their measured movements to try and not cause aggression.
USMAGICCANHELP.
He pauses, and Vinn remembers the strange magic they felt at the mouth of the cave entrance.
WEIRDMAGICVIBESNORMAL?
Having responded instinctually to the initially overwhelming barrage of thought, Sir Beauregard becomes quickly flustered. Since he always feels as though he must keep the bestial part of himself in check, this lack of control scares him.
AFRAID
Sir Beauregard stammers, “We were sent by Tarrak to make peace as you had before. We asked you to save that octopus but you let it die. It is my duty to give you what aid I can.”
TARRAKPEACENODEATHHELP
WHAT
NODIEPLEASE
WAITCANYOUHEAREVERYTHING
OHNO
NOTLOOKINGFORTREASYRE(WOULDTHEYKNOWITSALIE)
WEIRDWEIRDWEIRDDONTLIKETHISTOOMUCH
SORRYOCTOPUSSORRY
The mushroomlike humanoids do not shift from their present position, though the one guarding the stairs turns towards the sprouts who, looking scolded, quickly hopscotch over the stream and start running towards the northern passage.
Although it still refuses to budge, the mushroom creature standing closer to you continues its communication... First, it brings your awareness to the sulphureous stink that fills the air and the patches of sickly, shriveled, blackened fungi that fill this room. Then it flashes to the image of Tarak handing over compost in exchange for harvested heart cap mushrooms. You observe as the mushroomfolk use Tarak's compost in their cultivation of mushrooms which they "farm" in this very chamber as an essential part of their food supply... but then your awareness turns back to the blight that is now spreading like a cancer through this cavern....
The image of the spreading blight carries you directly to the image of a large, regal-looking mushroom-like humanoid with wise eyes and a strong form. You watch as dark patches of the blight begin forming on the sovereign's cap. The trademark withering begins to set in the sovereign's gills... Other mushroomfolk attend to their sovereign's illness, but none of their known remedies seem to help stop the spreading decay.
All the while, the blight continues to grow in expanding veins throughout the cavern... With their food supply threatened and their leader in sudden ill health, panic begins to overtake the colony... DEFENSE... The colony dispatches a salvage party the nearby shores to find a worthy vessel.
You see through the salvage party's perspective as they find the carcass of a giant octopus, surrounded by buzzing flies... Assigned members of salvage party collectively release a cloud of spores that set into the creature's mortal wounds, taking root and spreading mycelium deep into the remnants of the octopus's ruined nervous system, "awakening" it and giving it some artificial semblance of life. With a simple command from he collective, the mindless fungal colony that operates this "spore-servant" octopus sends it back into the water where it swims to the cavern. There it takes its post and begins executing its one and only directive "LETNOONEINSIDE".
But now, the servant is gone. You are here. You may not be danger but you cannot help. Safer for you to go now before you cause more problems.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Vinn's mind is buzzing with the images. "We're all tripping together... right?" Vinn asks Sir Beauregard and Autumn, trying to anchor himself to some piece of reality.
Although Vinn never understood how it worked, he recalls the other druids in his clan who had magical talents in manipulating spores and their control over decay. The young genasi wonders if this blight is anything similar.
Vinn shares images of the peculiar wisps of evocation magic he witnessed the night before with the mushroom folks and the group.
IS THAT NORMAL?
Vinn then exhausts his final spell slot to cast detect magic once more, and cautiously examines the shriviled and rotting mushrooms. He continues holds his breath, careful if the disease is contagious, and not wanting to fall ill like their Mega Mushroom Monarch.
PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ME SPORE SERVANT. ALSO WOULD RATHER BE CALLED A FUNGI FIEND IF IT HAPPENS? OR SOMETHING COOL LIKE TOADSTOOL TEMPLAR?
Sir Beauregard raises his hands. His mind is filled with a fresco of Sune during disease and restoring beauty. He tries to imagine the mushroom king superimposed into the place of a supplicant being cured by the goddess.
”Take me to your king and I will pray for him. If your love for him is strong Sune may cleanse him of his disease.”
The mushoom folks seem curious about Vin's images of the whisps, and interested in Sir Beauregard's vision... but the moment they see Vinn begin his incantation, they move into a defensive posture and communicate an urgent message of "STOPDONTMOVEDANGERWHATDOING!?" The abrupt distraction is enough to interrupt Vinn's casting of the spell (but Vinn can resume it if he wishes).
However, before any of you can react, you suddenly see a flash of violet-colored movement in the corner of your eyes, toward the northwest area of the room where the sprouts were running. You look and see a mishappen looking purple morel with long, whiplike tendrils lash at sprouts, slashing across its small form, causing a dark sort of decay to rapidly fester across the wound...
BEGIN INITIATIVE
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
As the violet fungus falls still, the mushroom-person who's been communicating with you radiates with an expression of impassioned gratitude. The other continues racing to the northwestern passage, presumably to check on the spouts.
A moment later, a half dozen other mushroom creatures emerge from various passages, drawn by the battle. You watch as your "guide" silently communicates to them in a way that remains beyond your comprehension... though you all receive the impression that it is vouching for you in some capacity. You sense their collective fatigue and fear.
This is not the first hostile fungus to attack innocents. It's a part of the blight... Whatever it is, it's unnatural... angry even, transforming normally docile plants into wrathful monsters.
You catch just the edges of a debate between the mushroomfolk... The question seems to be - Should you be brought to Sinensa, the sovereign? It seems downright blasphemous for outsiders to see the sovereign in the condition they're in... But what is the risk? The risk might be something they can't even imagine. Can you possibly help? Might you even make things worse? They don't understand much about outsiders. Fighting monsters is one thing but how could you cure what the great Sinensa could not?
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
"I've seen Sir Beauregard heal crew members who had some real gnarly diseases," Vinn pipes in. He wonders if the telepathic spores were still in effect and tries to share images of the half orc tending to The Platinum Plume's crew-- Autumn's music softly playing in the background.
He then motions to the dormant mushrooms that surrounded them. "I'm not very good at figuring how or why something's happening... but I'm good at noticing when things are weird. I detected some real strange magic earlier, when we were at the cliff's edge outside, and if it's possible... I'd like to do it again here? I can maybe even use it on your Mega Mushroom Monarch."