"After we search the chamber where the slime was lurking. There's probably good stuff there!" Liamae asserts. She leads the way back to the chamber to look around.
Liamae returns to the three bodies quickly spotted by she and Iagon before the ooze revealed itself. They are in varying stages of desiccation and decay, covered in a bouquet of black fungi. She sorts through their belongings with care, reading the objects she scans as magical. On them, she finds the following:
Scroll of Cure Light Wounds (2), Scroll of Entangle (2), Alchemist’s Fire (4), Masterwork Club, MW Leaf Armor, Grappling Hook, Healer’s Kit, Hemp Rope (50ft), Amber Necklace,
Wand of Cure Light Wounds ( ), Scroll of Spider Climb (1), Tanglefoot Bags (2), Darkleaf Cloth Hide Armor, Darkwood Heavy Wooden Shield, 75gp,
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, Scroll of Remove Disease, Green Dragonhide Breastplate, Thundering Darkoak Club, Red, Green, and Violet Garnets, Handy Haversack.
Iagon whistles at the bounty. My oh my...that's quite the haul there. I wonder who these three were, to have such items? He checks out the bodies to see if there are any identifying marks or symbols.
Although much of the organic matter has been rotted away by fungus, Iagon finds a spell component pouch or two filled with holly leaves. It's enough to lead him to believe these were druids, perhaps the three Kolondros and Grezhg were looking for.
Iagon steps aside, and waves his hands at the items as if to draw the attention of the two druids to them.
Good sirs, I'm sorry for this...but are these poor fellows familiar to you?
Kolondros and Grezhg, and even Ashilia join you at the decayed corpses and are able to confirm that these must be the missing Druids, "Although succumb to the Chaneque or the Black Rain, or both, is difficult to discern," adds Kolondros.
"Ashes ta ashes, dust ta dust, so it goes," offers Grezhg, "These fellas got no more use fer this gear. Seein’ as how ye saved our hides, seems right dat ye take what ye need."
"Even more to report back to the Wildwood," says Kolondros grimly.
"We’re supposed to be going that way too," Ashilia reminds everyone, "Although I suppose we should inform Lilacea that the chaneque are dead first. However, I’d much rather stay and explore this dank dark cave of mouldy death deeper than go to Arenway and fetch Violet! Err... once I regain my spells, that is."
Iagon is a bit surprised by the attitude, but having seen druids before, he understands their line of thinking - things come from the earth and return to it...cycle of life and all that. He looks up at his allies.
Shall we continue with our new friends here, or continue on with our previous mission? I fear that there may be dangers within this cave that prove to be more than these fellows, potent warrior though they may be. I'd rather not leave them here to face such dangers alone.
Kytes is hurt perhaps more badly than he let on. As he rests, he struggles to regain his footing, and the blood runs out from under his armor in rivulets.
"Would that I might have bit of that restoring potion or some other touch of magical healing?" he asks wanly. "My own powers of healing are used up for the day, and I may not make it much further without more rest otherwise."
After some of his wounds close up, the warrior looks admiringly at the darkwood shield and the dragonhide armor. "These look as good as the armor I trained in but are lighter and easier to move in. I think I will try them out, unless someone else has their eye on them. These are very fine indeed!"
After gathering and sorting through the forfeit belongings of the dead druids, it is decided to call it a day. Ashilia helps load up all unclaimed goods on the donkey, and everyone gnaws on what trail rations they have and bedding down in what passes as the most comfortable spot they can find in the dank cave.
Of course, watches are set. Between the eight of you, there’s plenty of coverage. However, the night passes without immediate threats. The place is uncomfortable, and eerie, and strange echoing sounds can be heard from the deeper passages throughout the night, their origins lost in the murky depths.
Whoever takes the last watch is in for a fright. Without warning, the cave is suddenly filled with the torrent of high pitched squeaks and flapping leathery wings as the resident colony of bats returns from its night out feeding. The cacophony of motion and noise wakes everyone with a start. As frightening as this might be immediately, the bats are no threat, their bellies full of fruit and insects from the vast buffet of the deep forest.
The more perceptive of the group sense the megaswarm move down the left tunnel, the one that the slime mold and dead druids were found, and deeper into the cavern to their roost. A few stray bats do end up entangled in the webs that choke the tunnel to the right. The more they struggle to free themselves, the more they become ensnared, until they are fully wrapped in webbing.
"Welp!" says Ashilia, "That was exciting! No better way to start your day than being woken by a giant swarm of bats!"
"Noble creatures," adds Kolondros.
Iagon looks into the depths of the caverns beyond, and then at his fellow employees. I don't think we can go on without making sure that this cavern holds no more hidden dangers. What if one of these Chaneque had found its way into the trading post before we had gotten here? Especially with the Marquis here, physically now, I feel as if we need to make sure there's no further threat here. He looks as if he may take a step towards the darkness, then hesitates and turns. So...anyone with me?
"Of course," says the ranger-princess. "I will aid you."
"Lead the way!" Liamae says, moving to support her princess.
Attai moves in line with Iagon and calls on the Harrow to light their way.
"I am with you Iagon!"
Kolondros and Grezhg inform you in the morning that they will be returning to the Wildwood immediately to report their findings. Ashilia gazes longedly after them as they depart the cave.
When it is decided you will be venturing further into the bog cave, Ashilia stammers, "I should stay here, I guess, and, you know, watch the donkey. I mean, now that we have all this stuff, someone’s gotta watch it, right?"
The goods secured under Ashilia’s watchful eye, the party return to the tunnels of the bog cave. Past the murky pool where the slime mold emerged and the Druid remains lay, the passage slopes slightly upward. A dark trickle of black liquid flows down the muddy cavern floor into the pool from above. The dank smell of something musty and rancid permeates the air.
At the top of the curved, sloping passage, the cavern opens up again into a large chamber. The floor here is covered in giant, low and broad mushrooms of the deepest velvety black. So, black, they hardly seem to reflect back Attai’s light. The biggest caps are nearly ten feet in diameter, but sit only a foot or two above the cavern floor. Just at the edge of Attai’s light, on the left wall of the cave, this chamber opens up again into another chamber. A gigantic, dark, moist mass seems to be spilling out of that chamber into this one. That pungent odor absolutely fills the air here, making it uneasy to breathe.
Iagon wrinkles his nose, then covers it with a sleeve. By the gods, does anyone know what these things are?
"You mean, besides disgusting?" Liamae says distastefully. "Beats me!"
”No idea. But given that every environment we investigate, be it rocky defiles, rivers, river shores, marshes, bogs and, most importantly and often, caves; something stinky, disgusting and quite definitely untoward tries to do us harm, I would hazard a guess that yonder roiling mass of slime means us no good will and will in fact shortly try to smother, slime or otherwise attack us.”
Iagon pauses to ponder Attai's direct and to the point words, and can only nod in agreement. Right....great. Iagon rips off a strip of cloth and ties it around his mouth and nose to make a makeshift mask, then throws a pebble at the mass of moss, to see if it moves, turns into a nightmare beast, or explodes. He feels as if one of those is probable.
Some in the party may recall Lilacea mentioning the Black Mushrump, and the three sacks of dried black mushrooms found in the chaneque lair. Piecing it all together, one can deduce that this chamber is where the chaneque came to gather the Black Mushrump for use in their dark, soul-stealing, arts.
Iagon's pebble sails over the mushroom garden and lands in the dark mass with barely a sound. But then the surface begins to shimmer, and some of the dark substance tumbles forward like a small landslide. Two giant centipedes, with oily black carapaces and sharp mandibles, come crawling out of the mass and hungrily move toward the group.
Iagon chokes down bile at the sight. I hate things with more than a few legs... Immediately thinking these things to be terrifying enemies, he looses a blast of swirling particles of wood.
Liamae sticks her tongue out as she shoots the nearest centipede!
Not wanting to get any closer to the slimepile or the centipedes click-clacking frenziedly toward him, Attai squeezes off a bolt from his heavy crossbow, aiming for the centipede on the left...his aim is poor and the bolt seems to have little power.
[+1 BAB, +2 Dex]
Iagon and Liamae quickly dispatch the giant centipedes from a safe distance. The commotion seems to have stirred something else in the room with the dark, stinking, mound. The sound of many rustling wings and high pitched chirping erupts and then quickly settles down. The sound is recognizable, its the sound of the bat swarm. That next chamber over must be their roost, the big stinking pile, guano.
Just as the realization comes that the dark mass is not some sort of hideous slime monster but the accumulation of hundreds of generations worth of bat droppings, just as you think the threat of this room is neutralized, the legs of the centipedes begin to twitch. Suddenly, black fungal growths erupt from their slick carapaces, antler-like mushrooms sprout from their heads, and their eyes turn a milky white. In the matter of a few heartbeats, the centipedes become reanimated.
Attai looses a crossbow bolt, but the shock of seeing the centipedes come back to... life?... must have thrown his aim off.
Kytes too will fire off his crossbow, then move forward to intercept the reanimated centipedes.
The centipedes display intelligent thinking and each take the wide way around, being able to navigate the mushroom growth easily, and close in on either side of Kytes.
Despite their tactics, they fail to bite the paladin.
Liamae fires at the same centipede she previously felled, but this time she fails to hit.
Iagon sees the terrible creatures close on Kytes and, without thinking, he charges forward towards the action. He stops himself short, and lets loose at one of the creatures.
Túrante brings her sword up into a guard position, shield low, waiting for the centipedes to close in - and strikes as soon as one is close enough.
Attain drops his crossbow, and draws forth the club found with the druids, bringing it to bear in a massive swing...
Move Action: Move to flank with Kytes at I7.
Standard Action: Bash redtipede with thundering club
[+1 BAB, +2 Star, +2 flank, +1 enhancement; +3 THF, +1 enhancement]
Túrante holds back to protect the back line, but the centipedes seem preoccupied with Kytes for now.
Liamae and Iagon's joint assault fails to be effective, but Attai wooshes in and puts his new club to good use. He bashes the nearest centipede good. It continues to unlive, but is on its last 100 legs.
Kytes takes the flanking opportunity to try and finish the fungal critter.
As Attai bashes the centipede from behind, it rears up, raising itself to just about Kytes' height. Just as it does, Kytes takes an expert swing and lobs the creepy crawler's head right off.
Seeing its partner go down, the other centipede moves back and around Kytes and interposes itself between Kytes, Iagon, and Attai without drawing any attacks. There, it releases a cloud of black spores from pores in its back.
Attai and Iagon hold their breath, but Kytes, jubilant and grinning from his display of martial aptitude, fails to notice in time. He gets a nostril full of the spore cloud, and begins gagging and choking.
Liamae fires another arrow that misses the centipede.
Attain swings at the last undeadtipede...
[+1 BAB, +2 Star, +2 flank, +1 enhancement; +3 THF, +1 enhancement]
Iagon leaps backwards, away from the spores. When he lands, he pushes out in front of him, sending a hail of wooden splinters at the creature. He takes special care to avoid hitting Kytes, as the poor fellow vomits on the ground.
Turante moves around in in front of Iagon to flank the centipede with Kytes, then attacks.
Her blade cuts across the carapace, spilling more of the slimy black fungus now taken over its segmented body.
Liamae misses, while Iagaon and Attai's attacks lack the power to break through the centipede's hardened shell. Kytes, stands his ground, and lifts his shield to, as a courtesy, hide his vomit from Turante.
The centipede lashes out at the last person to hit it, Turante.
It's mandibles fail to connect with anything fleshy, and the princess is spared from its poisonous bite.
Attai redoubles his efforts, lashing again at the undeadtipede...but his swing is poorly timed even with the obvious advantage afforded him by flanking...
[+1 BAB, +2 Str, +2 flank; +3 THF]
The princess' next attack isn't so precise, though; hopefully her allies can finish the job.
Liamae fires another arrow, this one finding its mark.
Iagon holds out hope, seeing the bravery of his comrades, that he hasn't let them to their final resting places. With renewed vigor, he attempts to drive a precise line of wooden chunks into the creepy crawly's flank.
First Liamae fires an arrow into the fungal centipede, then Iagon shreds into it with a wooden blast. The second centipede is now twice dead. Kytes loses his breakfast a second time. In a few seconds, though, he's feeling better.
In the stillness of the cave once the centipedes are vanquished, Attai notices more movement at the corner of his eye. At the opposite end of the midnight mushrump chamber, a small creature is trying to sneak out the far exit unnoticed. It's no wonder it's remained hidden up until now, as it seems to be a mushroom with legs and arms.
Attai’s arm describes a lightning arc, his sylph-slender index finger a needle of incrimination.
”You! Halt!”
Iagon moves up to stand with Attai, readying another blast before the creature retreats. We don't want to hurt you, but we will!
The mushroom creature turns to face the group as Attai calls it out. It's mismatched eyes are wide with fear, its large maw turned with a fearful frown. It throws its trembling hands up in an act of surrender.
Iagon looks to the left and right, seeking answers. What did he call me?
"Its name is Gurp!" Liamae explains. She steps forward and smiles at the mushroom creature.