Wulfram told Karla, "They're immune to electricity, and resist other energy types!" He intoned a prayer, doubling his height and increasing his reach.
"That thing is horrible. Can anyone tell me about it?" Eustoma looks disgusted with the creature before them.
As Wulfram swells in size, Nik'o pounces on the nearest fiend, grabbing it and ripping into it with teeth and claws.
The beast reverses the grapple, getting the big cat in a headlock while the mouth in its chest chews on her. The other one throws out a quick spell to try to paralyze Wulfram before hooting and pounding its chest in an attempt to demoralize the shaman. Wulfram finds himself shaken despite himself, and the baregara surges with power!
Wulfram stepped hovered backwards and stabbed at the fiend in the rear, aided by Karla's spell. "Use good-aligned weapons to best pierce their hides!" he advised his allies, and then spoke a command word to give Nik'o an opportunity to break free.
Eustoma sends Sia into battle, and then casts Flame Strike on the creature in the back.
Sia bounds up and tries to bite the creature attacking Nicko.
Rogar, a bit slow to react, sends his normal torrent of mass at the monsters, starting with the closest and working his way from there.
Rogar's blasts slay the monster Nik'o was grappling with and wounds the other. The next fiend dodges most of Eustoma's flame strike, but Sia scores a good hit. Wulfram and Nik'o land only one hit each, but it's enough to push the monster over the edge and send it sprawling to the ground!
Looking down into the 50-foot-deep pit here, you can see two dwarven corpses are propped up against the wall, their legs clearly broken. On one, shoved deep into tarnished armor, is a magic item--a hunter's hand.
Ahead, ropy vines descend from the ceiling, concealing an entrance to a side cavern. The main passage curves to the southeast.
Wulfram took out his healing wand, and tended to Nik'o wounds.
Following Karla's gaze down into the pit, Wulfram replied, "I don't know. We could ask the quicklings to see if they have any idea. If we need to talk to the spirits of those two, I could pray for a spell to do so, but that would be have to be for another day."
He recited a prayer and scanned the pit for magic auras. "There's something magical down there! I'm going to fly down and retrieve it."
Using his powers of flight, the shaman descended into the pit. When he reached the bodies, he examined them more closely, before attempting to remove the item in question. He also checked the bodies to see if there was anything that might provide a clues as to their identity.
"Good work all. Those were nasty." She studies the vines. "That's too convenient. I bet they are going to try to eat us."
Unfortunately, there is nothing on the bodies that provides a clue to their identities. Neither Wendel nor Meril recognize the dead dwarves.
Now returned to his normal size, Wulfram flew back up out of the pit, and examined the magic item.
He stowed the magic hand in his backpack and flew ahead to have a closer look at the vines that Eustoma had mentioned, which were blocking the entrance to the side cavern.
Wulfram doesn't find anything unusual about the vines. He parts them to look into the cavern beyond. Red-and-brown mushrooms that stand fully ten feet tall and nearly half as wide clutter much of the chamber, but wide terraces littered with bone are carved into the walls above. Footprints the size of dinner plates dot the floor.
Without warning, an enormous creatures comes bounding through the thick foliage, unhampered by the difficult terrain. Barbed quills run along the back of this six-legged beast, and its eyes glow with a blue light. It leaps upon Wulfram, lashing out with its teeth, claws, and barbed tail, leaving the shaman barely standing! "Oh no! The bandersnatch!" Wendel shrieks.
Rogar is taken aback momentarily, then an eager gleam enters his eye, light catching in a way reminiscent of a gemstone.
"'Ere we go." he says, "Finally, somethin' worth tha fight." he extends his hands towards the ground, and in each of them, a massive amount of metal swirls into place. Though the effort visibly taxes him, his skin becoming rockier, he unleashes the double torrent of metal at the beast, eager for what promises to finally be a worthy opponent.
It all happened so fast, Wulfram didn't really know what had happened. One moment he was looking into the cave, and the next, he was gravely wounded. Only his magic amulet kept him conscious, crumbling to dust as it delivered its healing energy.
Wulfram stepped back and prayed to the spirits to heal his considerable wounds. The battle spirits granted his request, and he was ready to face the terrible beast once more.
Eustoma sends a Flame Strike at the Bandersnatch.
Sia heads into the fray.
Just as suddenly as the bandersnatch appeared to wreck Wulfram, the rest of you descend upon it with furious and swift vengeance. Though it dodges some of Eustoma's flame strike, it is still burned. Sia bites down on its leg, while Nik'o pounces upon it, scoring several strikes with her mighty natural weapons. Rogar's first blast only scrapes the thick hide of the mighty foe, but his second one tears through its body. Already badly injured, the powerful blast is enough to finish it off, and it collapses to the ground!
There is a brief moment of stunned silence, then at the same time, both Wendel and Meril shout, "Holy s%*!!"
"If you can slay the frumious bandersnatch in seconds, then the evil one stands no chance against you!" Wendel proclaims with a cheer.
Rogar nudges the fallen beast, almost disappointedly, "Was tha' it? Ah was hoping for a bit more o' a fight." he bemoans. Still, he creates a small metal knife and uses it to cut off a quill and a tooth from the beast, pocketing them as trophies.
After taking a moment to reassure himself that the great beast is dead, Wulfram asked, "Is anyone else hurt?
After confirming that everyone else was OK, he dug into his pack and took out another of the precious amulets, and hung it around his neck. Then he looked around the chamber, scanning for magic auras.
Wuflram does not detect any magic in the area. You continue down the tunnel and into another room. The scent of must and decay permeates this room, overlaid by the reek of decaying flesh. Wicker frames support ratty bedrolls along its northern and eastern walls, and a large cauldron in the center bubbles with foul liquid. A rack along the southern wall holds an array of vicious weapons.
A few of the stitched-together blightguards are here, but you make swift work of them.
The racks here hold many weapons: a +1 cold iron wounding greatsword, a +2 shocking burst scimitar, a gloom blade, a Large masterwork scythe, and a Medium masterwork scythe.
Beyond the room, the cavern narrows and begins a steep decline. The walls’ woody growths plunge into total gloom ahead.
Wulfram agreed with Karla, "That's probably a good idea. I'm not up to being ambushed by another bandersnatch right now!"
He peered ahead and listened for signs of activity in the darkness.
Rogar nods, "Aye. Give me a minute, then."
Wulfram doesn't spot anything nearby. Rogar slips into the walls and sneaks ahead to scout out the tunnel. The tunnel leading down twists for several hundred feet at a steep, downward angle before finally opening up into a large cavern. Massively tall mushrooms spiral up toward the ceiling above, their fanlike gills stirring gently on an unfelt breeze and nearly reaching the loamy soil coating the floor. The air here is moist, claustrophobic, and cloying.
Rogar spots three fiendish plant creatures lurking about. These filthy creatures resembles small, wide-mouthed fat children made from leaves, vines, tree bark, dirt, and pallid tubers. They have glowing red eyes and batlike wings.
The creatures spot Rogar peeking out of the wall and fly towards him, unleashing horrid shrieks! They flail ineffectually at the dwarf, unable to harm him through his damage reduction. The dwarf dispatches them at his leisure. However, their loud shrieks may have alerted other creatures nearby.
Rogar, at least partially looking and hoping for a decent fight, carries on with his scouting.
A hill of twisted wicker and gore rises above the canopy at the center of the cavern, presenting an oasis-like pool surrounded by fetid plant life. A stream of greenish liquid rhythmically drips from the ceiling into the roiling pool at the center, releasing a caustic smell. Beside the pool, patches of ridge-like mushrooms tower ten feet tall. The flickering glow of phosphorescent insects occasionally illuminates ominous shapes.
A single corrupted dryad lounges by the pool, idly looking down at the fungal jungle below. She doesn't notice Rogar.
Northwest of the pool, blooms of bright red, yellow, and purple mushrooms line the walls of a swelteringly hot chamber, intermixed with vibrant, healthy stands of snow flowers, sugar stick, and various orchids. To the north lies a disarrayed campsite, with a bedroll, a pot positioned over a smoldering fire, and other supplies strewn about. Pages of yellowed parchment are scattered messily across the loamy floor.
A small creature sits by the campfire. This pale yellow humanoid has blank, bulging white eyes and gangly arms and legs. An icy pickaxe is strapped to her belt, and she wears a hooded vest over a breastplate.
The creature notices Rogar peeking out of the wall and stands up, pointing at the kineticist. "A dwarf? Hmph! What could you possibly want? Don’t seem like the type to come sniffing my pretty flowers. I’m very busy—very busy, indeed, though that blasted dragon scoffs at my work for our mistress’s schemes. I assume you aren’t here on that scrabbly pretender’s behalf. You here to mock me, is that it? Or maybe someone finally appreciates my brilliant plans and important work?"
Meanwhile, Karla and Nik'o arrive at the cave entrance. They can see the blasted remnants of the fiendish plant creatures Rogar destroyed.
It's unclear which way the dwarf went in the dark, sprawling cavern.
Rogar isn't sure how to respond, so he doesn't, instead pulling back into the stone and returning to where his allies were waiting. On his way, he notices they've moved, and rises from the floor next to them, relaying his findings.
"How rude!" the creature scoffs as Rogar retreats.
When the dwarf tells the others about her, both Karla and Wulfram recognize the creature as a pech, a fey with ties to earth magic. Pechs are skilled miners and stonemasons, and are at times employed or enslaved as such by other subterranean races.
Wulfram listened to Rogar's description of the fey creature and responded, "Very interesting! I think I should try to talk to this creature — it sounds like a pech, which has ties to earth magic. That was supposed to be practiced also by Gendowyn, the ancient ruler of these parts."
He glided forward slowly, making sure not to get ahead of the others, and tried to find the pech that Rogar had met.
Rogar directs the group through the mushrooms to give the pool a wide berth and return to the cavern with the pech. The little fey taps her foot impatiently. "Hmph! There you are! Brought friends with you this time, did you? Well, what do you want?"
Wulfram introduced himself politely, "Greetings, I am Wulfram of Phaendar; we are visitors to this land. My friend tells me that you are hard at work here."
The pech puffs out her chest. "Yes, very busy, indeed! Stay and chat a while, and I'll tell you all about it! Would you like some tea and cakes?"
She bustles over to a table and presents you with a decanter of foul-smelling liquid and tiny cakes made from pounded mushrooms and bitter wine. As you glance around the room, Karla and Wulfram realize that all of the plants growing in this hothouse are parasites--—species of plants that grow only from living fungus. Carved multiple times on the walls in Abyssal is a line that reads: "Shall stand proud to station earned."
"My name is Orellie," the pech says. "I serve the great dryad Arlantia and an even greater master--Cyth V'sug, Prince of the Blasted Heath. I've spent years trying to earn my rightful place in the palace, but that stupid dragon Naphexi ascended to glorious fungushood before I could! Now I've been redoubling my efforts to prove my worth to Arlantia.
"The dragon might have lucked into maturation, but she still is dumb! I stole a ring from her years ago, a piece of Dryad's Song. I've been researching how to create fungal creatures of my own using its magic. No luck yet, but I have learned to influence a variety of creatures of rot, like my beautiful babies up there." Orellie gestures to the ceiling, and only belatedly do you realize a trio of gargantuan scorpions are nesting in the tangled ceiling above.
Eustoma sits down and takes the tea and cakes. She holds them as she listens to the pech. She doesn't actually drink or eat. "I'm Eustoma. I like the woods and green things above the ground. I've never heard of Cyth V'sug, Prince you say? And a great dryad? Can you tell me more? They sound like very interesting creatures."
Wulfram tried not to react to the name of Cyth V'sug, which he knew as a demon lord of fungus. The mention of a ring from Dryad's Song drew his attention — they needed that ring! But how to get it?
He glanced up at the massive scorpions above; trying to distract Orellie from Eustoma's faux pas, he told the fey, "Yes, that is very impressive work! Have you showed them to Arlantia yet? I'm sure she would be pleased."