Above & Below

Brask takes his maul out.  If you turn into a crazed mushroom monster and attack us, I'll have to put you down.  No hard feelings.  He gives his maul a few practice swings as he watches Kurama closely.

The mushroom is earthy and sweet, with a tenderness akin to soft cheese. Kurama, you chew it up in a few bites, swallowing and hoping your instincts are right. Nothing happens for a moment...

Something flashes across your eyes, almost as if you had been staring at bright lights and blinked. Whatever energy the mushroom was holding is marrying itself to your own unique energies. You...don't necessarily see in the literal sense, but feel the mountain around you. The branching network the mushroom had created through the stone comes to you in a wave of information, revealing everything it has expanded into. You see that the network travels under the room you're in and back toward the doorway you just came from. The branching path to the right (where you all just went left) contains only one room with a small alcove, ending in a dead end.

Ahead of you, a rectangular room with no doorways. Only a large hole at the far end that seems to lead into a small cave or burrow. And on the floor of the room the fungus is starting to explore the feet of a few stone statues. As the energy pulses, you see the feet and legs of three stone statues in different positions. And then a fourth statue...but this one is lying on the ground and the fungus has crept up its back. 

Beyond this room, the fungus continues into the hole and down into a deeper, larger room. Although room might not be accurate. It's a massive cavern in the cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Finally, part of the way into this cavern, the fungus comes to an end, as do your visions. 

"Fascinating..." Kurama mumbles to himself as he stands up and leaves the room.  Heading back the previous hallway, he takes the other path to confirm if his vision was correct.  (Assuming it is)  "Truly fascinating!  For a few moments, I was able to sense everywhere the plant life had spread to.  It seems like there's a new cavern in the room up head."  He will then head off in the direction of the rectangular room and stop short right at the edge of the hole to examine the four statues.

Perception: 26

Kurama back tracks toward the other room, and enters it to survey exactly what he saw. A stone room with a small alcove, which he now notices has two wooden chests sitting on top of one another. Before he can get a good look around, though, something from the front corner of the room flicks out at him. A strange, orange-colored pseudopod comes directly for the monk...

Attack: 5 Damage: 12 + 6 acid damage if it hits.

The attack misses, allowing Kurama to observe the quivering mass of...what can only be described as jelly. It sucks back its pseudopod, appearing to rear back for another attack. Kurama calls out to the others (who I assume are probably right behind him or a few feet away in the other room).

Everyone, roll initiative.

Brask would definitely have followed Kurama, hoping to get a taste of the magical mushroom, but maul still in hand in case... you know.

Brask's initiative:  8

Ochre jelly: 8

Burik: 14

Pip: 21

Effort: 7

Cadmael: 7

Kurama Initiative: 22

Rd 1: Kurama > Pip > Brask > Burik > Ochre Jelly > Effort > Cadmael 

Kurama, you're up!

Kurama just manages to dodge out of the way as the... thing stretched out towards him.  Moving into range of the creature, he'll summon the energy inside of him once again in a pulse of force and strike at it to see what happens.

Attack: 17 Damage: 5 Force Damage

So converting to Tasha's version of the subclass, the following occurs when the Astral arms are activated: "As a bonus action, you can spend 1 ki point to summon the arms of your astral self. When you do so, each creature of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC: 14) or take force damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die (5)"

(Bonus Action: Summon Astral Arms (1ki); Action: Attack Action; Movement: move to within 10ft of the creature)

Dex save: 0

The large, quivery jelly is pushed back, smashing into the stone wall behind it. It appears stunned for a moment, as as it is gathering itself, Pip fires his short bow at it...

Attack: 10 Damage: 4

The arrow sinks about halfway through the jelly creature, ending its trajectory in the middle of the translucent mass. It reels back, seemingly in pain, but only for a moment.

Brask, you're up!

Good shot, Brask says to Pip as he runs up into the... face?... of the jelly and swings his maul down:

Attack: 26 Damage: 13

Hey, you reckon we can eat this thing?  he asks Kurama casually, mid-battle.

As the maul comes down, it *splats* a portion of the jelly, splitting it from the rest of the body and pulverizing it into little mounds of goo. Burik shakes his head at Brask's question and casts chill touch

Attack: 13 Damage: 1

The jelly responds, whipping out another tentacle at the dwarf. 

Attack: 9 Damage: 6 + 6

It smashes Burik up against the wall, pressing the mass of the pseudopod into his armor and burning his skin. Effort casts Eldritch Blast, sending a bright beam of energy at the jelly...

Attack: 11 Damage: 8

Cadmael swoops in front of it, distracting it as Kurama gains advantage on his next attack...at this point the strange creature has been pummeled into a much smaller size, but doesn't seem to know or understand how poorly it's fairing...

Rd 2: Kurama > Pip > Brask > Burik > Ochre Jelly > Effort > Cadmael 

(Is it back to Kurama's turn?)

Yup!

As Kurama lashes out with his arms once again, he tries to figure out if he knows anything about this... blob.

Attack: 17 Damage: 6

Bonus Action Unarmed Strike: 20 Damage: 7

Intelligence Check: 21 (+2 if Arcana check)

Kurama has absolutely no clue what this thing is. It's like nothing he's seen or heard of before, and he's really not even sure how it's alive. It's really just a big mass of goop.

But all that doesn't matter, because he absolutely demolishes the rest of it, until it's remaining mounds just kind of melt into little piles of dark orange mounds on the stone. 

Everyone seems okay, other than Burik, who casts Cure Wounds on himself. He heals for 4. Looking slightly better but still a bit battered, he begins looking around the room.

As Kurama saw when he first walked in, you all see that there are two wooden chests in the small alcove. They seem old, with the wood worn and dried, but the metal work seems solid and they are both held shut with locks. Along the edge of the room where the creature sprang from, there are a few mining tools - pickaxes, mostly - along with more bits of debris. Old wood planks, rudimentary nails, things of that nature.

"Well that was certainly... strange."  Kurama commented as he poked some remains with his extra "limbs".  Even seeing that the blob was seemingly dead, he kept the energy out for the time being in case another one suddenly appeared.  Then seeing the locked chest, Kurama will ask the group if anyone is capable of opening the locks without breaking anything.  If no one is able, he'll attempt to pull off the locks of the chest using his energy appendages.

Strength Check: 6

Brask indicates with a grunt that he cannot pick locks, and watches with approval as Kurama attempts to break it.

The astral arms rip the locks free, completely tearing off the mechanism that was holding them in place. The first chest reveals four pouches, each with 20 gold pieces (80 total), along with various small gems and jewelry that are probably worth about 120 gold total. 

The second chest is a bit more peculiar. In it you find a single arrow, a large iron key with a skull etched into it, a perfume dispenser with a tiny bit of pink liquid inside, and a large cloth bag with a drawstring. The bag is folded neatly at the bottom of the rest of the items. 

Pip looks over Kurama's shoulder and raises and eyebrow. "Weird stuff." He looks at Brask to see if he approves of his blunt declaration. 

Brask nods at Pip.  Might be good to sell, though.  Magic crap can be tricky, but rich idiots will pay a fortune for it, if you find the right buyer. 

Brask takes the gold and splits it five ways:  Brask, Burik, Effort, Kurama and Pip all get 16 gold pieces.  Brask hands the money over right away and pockets his own share.

Brask will also keep the jewelrey and gems - I've added '120 gold worth of jewellery and gems' to my inventory in 'Other Possessions', and we can split it when we get to a city I guess.