Fenchurch grimaces as the infected kobold's strike hits home, but she shrugs it off. The situation still looked manageable for the group.
Her hopes fell somewhat as the armored kobold approached and unleashed the spore cloud over the area. Fenchurch had hoped the infection spread through fluids or wounds. This was much worse.
Managing to hold her breath as the spores initially blanked the area, her gaze fixes on the blue kobold as she lifts her huge, emerald green axe overhead and brings it down with every ounce of force she can muster.
Then, she backs away out of the spore cloud.
"The cloud is probably how it spreads!"
Iagon covers his face with hood and ducks out of the spore cloud. He thrusts an arm forward and blasts the fungbolds.
More direct, but still lacking in force.
Hearing Moira hack and cough inside the spore cloud, Khari moves forward and prepares to cast Resistance on Moira when the bard steps back and out.
The fungal guard hisses out:
and points to Moira.
Red obeys and swings.
And misses.
Liamae lodges another arrow into her target.
Liamae drops her target and the first of the fungbolds falls, giving Moira a chance to step out unharmed.
Moira stops singing for the moment, counting on her Lingering Performance to keep helping her team.
She moves out of the cloud of gross and stands between Fenchurch and Liamae.
"Discretion, valor, etc." She coughs. "I don't feel very good. Again."
Khari sneaks a hand between Túrante and Fenchurch and touches Moira.
Moira feels even worse.
Whats worse, the remaining fungal kobold miner chases after her with pick in hand.
Why they always picking on Moira?
The guard moves in the other direction after Iagon, having singled him out.
Maybe Moira doesn’t feel so bad when she sees what Iagon got.
Feeling a pang of guilt as she realizes she left Moira to fend for herself, Fenchurch navigates through the rocky terrain around the bard and attempts another overhand swing with her greataxe.
Noticing Iagon isolated on the other side of the spore cloud, she calls out to him: "Stay on the defensive! We're coming!"
Fenchurch fells the other miner with one clean hit.
Iagon is left on his own on the other side of the spore cloud. He takes another step, but now his back is against the wall, "Hurry!
He thrusts his other arm forward and blasts again.
The fungbold guard is blasted back 15 feet to the other side of the spore cloud!
Liamae shoots at and misses the fungbold!
Stuck because of the cloud of spores, Túrante really can't do anything.
Khari reaches out and touches Moira again, this time protecting the bard with Mage Armor.
Moira will poke at anything that comes close enough to stab... and if there's nothing close enough, she'll get ready, just in case.
So far, the opportunity Iagon created goes astray.
The fungbold guard uses its fungal intelligence to weigh its options.
Moira misses the timing of her strike as the fungbold spins around and swings at Fenchurch!
Sturdy armor keeps Fenchurch safe and primed to strike back.
But first…
Moira hacks up a piece of lung, and her lingering inspiration ends.
Moira starts tapping on her drum and moves out of range of danger.
Liamae shoots! She scores (a hit)!
Túrante does her best to slide into a position from which she can bring her blade to bear again, and manages to find a little luck.
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Fenchurch swings for the fungbold!
And misses!
Iagon blasts from the other side of the spore cloud!
And the fungbold guard falls!
As Moira scoots passed Khari, she gives the drummer a sympathetic look, "I wish I could help."
Moira’s heart skips a beat.
Moira stops tapping her drum and concentrates hard on a twist of magic music...
With a flourishing drumroll, Moira happens to not feel worse.
Moira suddenly stops feeling worse. The poison spores have run their course.
Not long after, the spore cloud dissipates, and Moira no longer feels fatigued. Three fungal kobolds lie twice dead, their black mycelium bodies slowly falling apart.
The ranger-princess makes a quick circuit of the room for any other hidden threats.
"Shall we continue?" she says. "Or did the spores sap too much of our vitality?"
Looking past the crumbling wall, Túrante see the room opens up to the south. Another crumbling wall divides the room. Rubble lies strewn across the floor. The eastern wall of the cavern seems to be carved in another bas relief mural, and the cavern narrows into another passage to the south.
Three more dead kobolds lie on the ground, unmoving.
Nothing seems threatening at cursory glance, however something tiny seems half buried in the muddy cavern floor just at the entrance of the tunnel to the south.
Moira says, "Just a minute."
She attempts to chant out the Lesser Restoration scroll. First, to be wise:
She manages to calm down and look wise and serious enough that the scroll respects her.
The spell falters.
"Dammit. Wait. Bless it. Bless, bless the sweet lil scroll and the goody good gods and whatnot." She gets her wise and religious game face on for another attempt.
She feels better immediately as the scroll crumples and the godly magic washes over her battered frame.
"Ok, I'm ready. Let's go."
Moira says, "Well, shall we see what's buried in the mud over there? I'm... I'm right behind you."
It looks like a small glass vial, with stopper, purposefully buried in the mud.
"I've got this."
Túrante nudges forward slowly to see if she can remove the vial without breaking it or unstoppering it accidentally, and makes sure that the mud doesn't have any hidden metal fragments or triplines or other things that might set it off.
Túrante does not see any trip wire or other mechanical trigger that would otherwise activate this trap. She gets the sense that the vial would be triggered simply by the proximity of any creature or being. So, carefully she digs the vial out with the tip of he blade, revealing it is filled with a glowing blue admixture. However, as soon as she has it safely in hand, the solvent within loses its glow and becomes inert.
"Splendid, your highness!" Liamae says, praising Turante. She leans forward and gives the other elf a kiss on the cheek. "Let's press on!"
Moira's wan face breaks into a smile. "I bet that was poison. Right behind you."
Fenchurch pushes forward into the tunnel and everyone falls into line. In the rear, Khari taps Liamae on the shoulder and whispers, "I have another s-s-secret." As Liamae watches, Khari's face begins to distort. Her jaw distends and forms into a pair of spider-like mandibles. Three more pairs of small eyes open in rows along her forehead, and bristle-like hairs sprout along her arms.
Within the tunnel, Fenchurch quickly comes across another kobold body lying facedown in a patch of black fungus (very much like the type found in the Bog Cave). The forest knight steps forward to inspect the body, but as she does, it begins to stir and rise to its feet. Just then, another fungbold appears further down the winding tunnel, stepping out of the darkness at the edge of Moira's illumination.
Khari quickly reaches out and touches Liamae, chanting "Vive la Resistance!"
"Hooooowow, um, Khari, are you... ok?"
Without waiting for an answer, Moria starts singing, "Creepy crawly, creepy crawly..."
Fenchurch curses as the kobold reanimates in front of her, her frustration slowing her adoption of a battle-ready stance.
The fungbold before Fenchurch does not have a pick, and so simply throws itself upon the warrior.
Not quite yet on her guard, Fenchurch takes the hit.
The other fungbold stays put and slings a stone at Túrante.
It sails by harmlessly overhead.
Iagon in return sends a blast down the tunnel.
In return, it is also harmless.
"EEEK!" Liamae shrieks as Khari suddenly transforms into a spiderlike monstrosity! She backpedals away from the woman, hurling a blast of fire from her gloves!
Túrante moves up to help Fenchurch with the fungoid, bringing her elvish blade up, but she pauses for a moment as she hears Liamae's shriek and glances over her shoulder. Spotting the spider, she gives a sigh and keeps moving to fight the fungoid, figuring that she's committed now and will have to break off once the fungoid is finished.
WHOOOSH
Fenchurch grunts in frustration, batting away the fungoid's claws. She'd suffered worse wounds - far worse - but she worried that the group was already on the losing end of attrition.
Situational awareness told her a commotion had started up to the group's rear. Had some of the previous reanimated kobolds survived?
With a grunt, she brings her massive axe down on the wretched creature in front of her.
"What's going on back there!?", she shouts to the rest of the group. "Did they get behind us?"
Fenchurch regains her footing and focuses her strength. Her mighty axe cleaves through the fungbold, a sludge of black mold spills forth from the kobold husk.
From the darkness of the tunnel, a voice hisses:
Khari’s eight eyes grow wide as Liamae fires update her, "No! I was just trying to help!" she cries, then turns and runs back through the cavern.
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Moira singsongs an inspiring tune about catching the scared spider girl and calming her down...
"I know a young lady who swallowed a spider
"Has she gone evil? What's the decider?
"Down tunnel a runnin' we all have espied her
"Will now chase 'er down, keep swingin' it, fighter!"
As she leaves the room, she cuts the song and yells, "Khari! Come back! It's all just a horrible misunderstanding! You just looked a little startling, that's all!"
Moira calls out after Khari’s echoing footsteps. The remaining fungbold exchanges volleys with Iagon.
Iagon takes a stone to the brow and his blast scatters wild.