With Pax and Sekkar taking the lead, the motley group explore the larger tunnel. The reason for the lack of recent traffic in this passage soon becomes apparent, as after just a few dozen feet it becomes little more than a jagged rift in the rock, and the faerzress fades out to almost nothing. There is no floor to speak of, but only two rough walls on almost the same angle that meet irregularly at the base, forming a narrow diagonal gap. Traversing the shaft requires shuffling along using both hands and feet, clambering over frequent obstacles, and trying to avoid getting legs stuck in the join between the walls. The only ones that have no trouble are Pensive and Useless, who simply fly through the rugged passage.

Everyone make a DC 12 Acrobatics check and take 1d8 damage from caving injuries on a fail (none on a pass).

The tunnel heads roughly north before slowly curving to the west. About 300 feet down there is another small tunnel branching off to the right, heading north. The main tunnel continues onward for another 200 feet or so before leveling out and branching. The faerzress increases again, and there is more sign of recent traffic in this area.

 Rhayna Acrobatics: 19

Rhayna looks suspiciously at the shaft. "Humm... Stool, and Rumpadump. I think it's best that I have you guys in my backpack. This might be tricky." After making sure that the Myconids are comfortable in her backpack. She takes a deep breath, and makes her way to the other side. She surprised herself with how well she was able to make her way through the obstacles. She thanks the Goddess for safe passage, then something in the back of her mind suggest that it may have been the Lady that gave her good luck.

Kastix: 11

Damage: 2

Acrobatics : 19

Potential Damage: 2

Pax stops them at the branch.  She checks her armor, taking a moment to adjust several plates and tie things down after them getting jostled by so much scraping. She looks back at the group, making sure they're all still managing to keep up.  "Spelunking is not my favorite." she mutters to the group.  Thinking for a moment she adds, "But it beats the heck out of spell un-king.  That's where you use a spell to eliminate an evil king."  She looks around, her face flat with no sign of humor. Then she shrugs, "Just trying to keep morale up." 

 She heads down the smaller northward tunnel. 

Sekkar Acrobatics: 12 (potential damage 7 )

Sekkar navigated the obstacle course (not without difficulties - he was still injured even if he did not want to admit it) but stopped e little past the branching tunnel, to see if he can get anything from the obvious tracks left around:  Survival 15 When he noticed that Pax tried to get lost again, he cursed quietly and followed the stubborn girl to the northern tunnel.

Acrobatics 22

 Recovered from her emotional reaction to having put Pensive in danger Kaylyn is more composed.   Staying light on her feet she easily navigates the rocky area. 

Dusting himself off, "Ever feel like we're going to die by a thousand cuts?" He stretches out some of his limbs as he looks back at the mess they had to squeezed through, "Looks like we'll have company sooner or later," 

Zeno Acrobatics; 8

Zeno felt confident as they moved through the cave, given his experience climbing into places for his, uh, work, and he took a running leap toward the shaft and shuffled along pretty well until his foot suddenly slipped and his leg scraped along the wall, send rocks and debris tumbling, and taking 8 Damage.

Pax looks back at Zeno as he checks out his scraped leg. "Infections down here will kill you."  She closes her eyes, holding out her palm, and healing energy flows into Zeno's leg. 5 healing light. Then she turns and continues up the narrow tunnel.

Pax and Sekkar don't have to travel far (barely 20 feet) down the north tunnel before it tightens to a thin bore too small to pass. The myconids or pseudodragon could manage it, but after the last experience, Rhayna and Kaylyn seem reluctant to allow them to attempt it alone. It is only slightly narrower than the passage Sekkar took to apprehend Droki, and could be traversed reasonably easily with the help of the shrinking fungus (which Useless says is called pygmywort by the other denizens of the caves).

Pax looks to the group, "So, about this shrinking and growing fungus. Does it wear off on it's own?  How long does it last for? And...can we take some more with us just in case?  Suddenly growing large while in a space too small for my body sounds like a rotten way to die." 

"You are the one who spent days here - you tell us." Sekkar was not by any means a courteous man. "Did not have time to test myself, but locals use both shrooms, so, must be permanent. And you can not keep them for very long - again, do not know for how long, but they wither pretty fast."

"Useless, why don't you check what is down there? Or may be you already know?"

(Did Sekkar identified the tracks in the main tunnel? Where "traffic increased"?)

(Yes, sorry. Sekkar could identify them as mainly duergar and derro tracks, with possibly some other larger humanoids... orc maybe?)

Kaylyn checks her bag as she had gathered an number of the different mushrooms in case they needed them.  She hopes they are still good to use and if they are she offers them to the group.

"I hope I collected enough for all of us."

All the pygmyworts that were previously collected are still good, despite being a bit shriveled. They also require only a nibble to be effective, and a single 'shroom is sufficient for the whole group. Sekkar already established that the other type of mushroom does the opposite - enlarging someone back to their normal size - although he hasn't tested what the effect is if eaten while already normal-sized...  Useless also identifies this mushroom as being called 'bigwig'.

If it's ok, Pax has collected some of each mushroom?  

Pax raises an eye at Sekkar but doesn't respond.  She looks down the narrow crevice, then back down the main tunnel. She glances around the group, trying to figure if any of them have any particular route they'd prefer.  After a moment she seems to make up her mind and turns back to the main tunnel. "No crazy mushroom experiments yet."

She continues down the main passage. 

As Rhayna bites into a mushroom, she looks at Stool and Rumpadump. "I hope you guys don't mind..."

Did Useless go into the tunnel as asked?

Quote from NathanPizazz >>

If it's ok, Pax has collected some of each mushroom?  

 

 Let me check ... yes, that's okay.