"We can try to clear you of the blight if you wish Erado." She looks at the area around the pool carefully. As if waiting for the mushrooms to move.
"Clear me of the Blight? Now, why would I want you to do a thing like that..." Erado says slyly. "Glory to Arlantia!"
As she speaks, the pool suddenly churns as two rancid-smelling mounds of animated ooze emerge, appearing as half-melted men!
In an almost casual display of power, Rogar pours energy into his blasts, figuring they would rest before too long, and tries his best to annihilate both of the creatures.
Both of the slime monsters suddenly explode, Rogar's metallic blasts shredding them apart. Erado cries out in shock and falls to her knees. "No! Mercy, please, I beg you!" This time, her pleas appear to be genuine.
Wulfram loomed over the dryad, telling her, "You were trying to lure us to stare into the pool so your... whatever they are... could slay us! Time for the truth, I think! Where is the real entrance to Arlantia's throne room?"
"Yes, I was trying to lure you into the pool, but it is also the real entrance!" the dryad insists. "Simply recite the verse inscribed upon Dryad's Song and the pool will drain away, granting you access to Arlantia's throne!" Wulfram doesn't sense any deception from her.
"No!" Erado screams as Karla intones the rhyme. The dryad's body arches backwards as the fungal corruption is blasted away from her body! She gasps in shock as her natural beauty is restored, and she cries tears of relief to be free of blight.
At the same time, an audible rumbling and gurgling sounds throughout the level as the acidic pool at the cavern’s center drains and shifts, revealing a stairwell leading further down.
Erado takes a shuddering breath. "By my roots, I cannot thank you enough! It has been ages since I have been free from Arlantia's thrall. The passage down will be open for 5 minutes before the pool will refill. If you are not prepared to confront Arlantia, I suggest you retreat and come back when you are."
Rogar looks at his allies, "Wulfram, can ye summon yer glen here, or do ye need ta be outside?" he asks.
Wulfram couldn't believe that it had worked! He said to Erado, "I'm so glad we could remove the corruption! I think we should retreat, and return after a rest. Do you wish to come with us?
"One more thing I wanted to ask you — do you know what happened to Gendowyn? Is it possible that she's not dead?"
"Gendowyn! No, the true queen is not dead, merely imprisoned! Defeat Arlantia and you may set her free!"
Wulfram answered Rogar, "I can — the entrance looks like a circle of toadstools a bit more than 10 ft across. So someone familiar with the area might guess that something unusual is here. They wouldn't be able to enter, but they could wait for us until we leave."
"Could ah' jus' bury tha entrance? If we put tha circle in a hole in tha ground, and then cover i', ah can be tha first in and out, an' ah doubt tha' they woul' dig ta try an' find us." he suggests.
"I can hide the campsite with a spell. I cam make the area look like a grouping of the area." Eustoma stays well back from the stairwell.
After some consultation, Wulfram said to his comrades, "OK, pick a spot and I'll create the extradimensional meadow." He waited for Rogar to prepare a suitable spot.
Rogar quickly hollows out a section of the wall, creating a 10x15 area just off the main cavern, then seals it up after Wulfram finishes his spell and the others entered.
You enter the extradimensionsal meadow and are able to rest and recover without incident. You awake the next morning refreshed and ready to take on Arlantia!
After a long day of fighting blighted fey creatures, Wulfram took a well-earned rest. He awoke next morning renewed, and prepared for the climactic confrontation with Arlantia.
1st: Bless x2, Cure Light Wounds, Liberating Command, Remove Fear
2nd: Barkskin x3, Calm Emotions, Delay Poison
3rd: Daylight, Dispel Magic, Magic Circle against Evil, Sleet Storm, Thorny Entanglement
4th: Blessing of Fervor x2, Divine Power, Freedom of Movement, Greater Magic Weapon
5th: Breath of Life, Overland Flight, Quickened Divine Favor
6th: Greater Dispel Magic, Mass Bear's Endurance, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds
7th: Fairy Ring Retreat, Heal
8th: Stormbolts
Wandering Spirit: Battle
Wandering Hex: Battle Master (one extra AoO, weapon specialization longspear)
Wulfram replied to Karla, "Aye, that sounds like a good idea!" Before they recited the verse to open the portal, he intoned several prayers to prepare the party for the struggle ahead.
Eustoma casts several spells. "I am ready."
As you prepare to depart, Wendel and Meril hail you, sounding more serious than you have ever heard them. "This is where we part ways. Wendel and his sister can go no further," Wendel says. "The evil-evil-evil one must die! But she is powerful like a goddess! We are no gods, no-no-no!"
"You are strong, yes-yes-yes," Meril says. "You can face her! You can defeat her! We will wait here for you to succeed!"
Once you are fully ready, Karla recites the chant and the acidic sludge drains away again, revealing the passage down. This time, you descend the stairs to Arlantia's throne room.
An enormous clot of green, black, and white fungus—pulsing as if a thousand hearts beat beneath its fleshy surface— dominates this massive cavern. Innumerable thick, fibrous strands sprout from the cavern walls, suspending the massive growth fifty feet in the air. At the very pinnacle of the mighty fungal bulb is a throne made from wilted yellow flowers braided into twining wicker. Large ledges perch at the cavern’s east and west ends, overlooking a cavern floor dotted with stands of mushrooms and rancid, bubbling pools of goo.
You stand on a large ledge at the western edge of the cavern, and narrow bridge-like strands of fungal matter run from this ledge to the mass itself. The strands have no railings, making the passage seem perilous indeed.
An audible gong sounds throughout the chamber as you arrive. Seated on the throne is a dryad who might be beautiful were she not thoroughly corrupted by the Darkblight. This can only be Arlantia. She cradles a blood-spattered scimitar and cackles in a voice that reverberates throughout the cavern.
"At last, my pitiful admirers have found me! I did worry you'd gotten lost along the way. Did you think your pitiful illusions would fool me? Welcome to a rather summary end! I admit, I'm impressed at your passion. Perhaps I should recruit you to my lovely prince's cause—the First World knows I'm missing enough minions all of a sudden. Shall I turn you into my latest pets? Make you obedient as I did my precious little hobgoblins? Or maybe you'll choose to sacrifice yourselves to my lord, the Prince of the Blasted Heath, who shall soon frolic in the festering playground that is the Fangwood?"
Rogar steps in front of his allies, staring at the dryad with his gem-like eyes, gauging the distance, "Or, ye could surrender. Ah kind of hope ye don' choose tha, though, ta be honest. Ah haven't had a good figh' in months." around him, the ground begins to swirl and distort, and a faint rumble begins to fill the chamber.
Arlantia bursts into uncontrollable laughter at Rogar's suggestion.
Wulfram did his best to breathe though his mouth, lest the stench of corruption overwhelm him. He addressed the foul dryad queen, "Arlantia, I presume? What have you done with Gendowyn, the benevolent ruler of these lands?"
All the while he observed the dryad, looking for clues about her nature, although what powers of illusion she might have to alter her form, he did not know.
"It’s the precious earth pretender you seek, is it?" Arlantia points toward a mass of twisting vines and massive, yellow cysts at the eastern end of the cavern. "I have taught the once-proud ‘goddess’ her place. Once so superior. Once so oblivious to the talents of those around her. And now she’s oblivious to all as my favorite trophy! If you like, I’ll kill her in front of you, and then I’ll drown you in your own pitiful tears as you mourn the loss of your poor, wretched impostor!"
Wulfram knows that, as a dryad, Arlantia is likely to wield plant-based and enchantment magic. There's no telling what additional powers her patron, the Demon Lord of fungus Cyth-V'sug, may have granted her.
The ground swirling around Rogar's feet reaches a swirling pace as he steps forward, to the edge of the chasm, "Then, ye have chosen death!" he cries, leaping from the edge of the chasm, trailing earth behind him, midair, he crystallizes both himself and the flurry of earth around him into metal, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye, materializing in front of the dryad with a bladelike arm through her chest, "For ye face Rogar Befin, tha Stonemaster an' Dragonslayer." he says with a suddenly calm voice.
As Rogar prepares to attack, Arlantia acts first, calling a flame strike down upon you all!
Then Rogar becomes one with his metallic blast, flying across the cavern to impale Arlantia's chest. He bursts out from her back, spraying gore and rotten fungus across her throne. The dryad stares with wide eyes at the gaping hole in her torso before she collapses in a lifeless heap!
As she falls, a lanky hobgoblin wielding twin short swords steps out from his hiding spot behind the throne. Mold clings to his head and body, and for a moment, it looks like he is about to avenge Arlantia's sudden death. But then the mold detaches and falls to the floor, moving to slither away. The hobgoblin blinks and lowers his blades, but he keeps them drawn.
"I am grateful for the freedom you have granted me. I am Commander Taurgreth of the Ironfang Legion, and I am a man of honor. Please, allow me to leave without further incident."
Rogar pulls out his arm from the dryad's chest, then his expression shifts from one of concentration and anger to one of surprise and annoyance as his body returns to its normal appearance, his temporary shape-shift wearing off.
"Tell us. How the Iron Fang is honorable? You destroyed our home without provocation. Came up through a black spire you did, and tried to take over our Forest." Eustoma doesn't look like she is interested in letting him leave but will allow him to try to convince her.
Wulfram healed his companions, touching each one of them in turn.
He addressed the hobgoblin, "We'll see about that. How about you tell us how many of you came here, and when? And I want to hear all about the Stone Road!"
Rogar stays silent, simply glaring at the hobgoblin.
Taurgreth narrows his eyes. "I am not at liberty to divulge any intelligence. I will ask once more for you to step aside and allow me to leave in peace."
Taurgreth sighs and reaches for a spherical object strapped to his bandolier! His cloak thrums with energy, somewhat displacing his true location.
[spoiler=Initiative]
Wulfram intoned a prayer and flew forward across the massive chamber.
Rogar reaches out with his power, sending a pair of blasts casually at the hobgoblin.
Taurgreth twists out of the way, just barely dodging both of Rogar's blasts!
Even though Rogar already attacked Taurgreth, Karla's charm takes effect. The hobgoblin's stance relaxes and he nods gruffly. "Very well. Tell the dwarf to stop attacking me and I will stay and speak to you."
Assuming Rogar relents, Taurgreth continues. "Genearl Azaersi dispatched me and my team to try to secure an alliance with Arlantia. That she would deign to traffic with faeries shows just how much she is worried about the victories you lot have managed against her. I knew it was a mistake, but it was not my place to say anything. And indeed, as soon as we arrived, the faerie used her plants and elf magic to ensnare our minds and make us her slaves.
"I brought with me a powerful artifact as an escape plan, but was unable to use it before being enslaved. The sardonyx shard can open a passage to the Stone Road. Arlantia fashioned it into a bauble for her prisoner to wear."
Rogar begrudgingly lets his arms fall to his side, eyeing the hobgoblin and looking for an excuse to finish the job.
Taurgreth leads you to the far eastern end of the cavern. A gloomy recess in the cavern’s eastern edge holds a grotesque tangle of slimy vines and human-sized cysts. Vaguely humanoid forms float within some thick, bubbly syrup within the ocluded cells. All told, nearby five dozen fey—mostly atomies, dryads, nymphs, pixies, and satyrs—are imprisoned here, comatose and magically preserved. In one isolated cell floats a woman of strange, primal beauty. A crown woven from thorny vines on her brow sports a blood-red gem. This can only be the glaistig Gendowyn.
A touch from Dryad's Song opens the fungal cyst, causing the strange fluid to drain. Gendowyn looks around her surroundings in a disoriented furor. She then looks to you and a combination of relief and anguish blooms on her face as she begins to realize what has happened.
"Free? Am I… free? How long I have languished in the dark. How much suffering my forest has endured... My vain little child resented standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my other servants, so she sought to grind us all beneath her heel. Pity such wit and potential could putrefy in the boundless font of entitlement. It seems I owe you some enmity over slaying my favorite handmaiden, but also gratitude for freeing me from an intolerable confinement. I wonder which should carry more weight?"
Wulfram bowed to the fey queen, "Greetings Gendowyn! I am Wulfram of Phaendar. The dwarves of Kraggodan told us that they had not heard from you in a very long while! We came to see if we could find out what had happened to you."