Tanic, with consideration, waits for the spider to complete its journey before stirring and then murmurs some words of encouragement after it, "An auspicious beginning, may both our days go well."
@Harro
"Well, OK. But there are some really nice mushrooms over there. And when I say nice, I mean nice in the way Talindra likes them. It's only a little mud!"
Snorting, Harro scratches and looks askance at the drow.
"Blessin'? When do a blessin' itch so much!"
"I'm sure if you ask nicely, someone'll carry you across to the land of magic shrooms," Akri said with a smirk towards the duergar.
Harro produces a very rude gesture towards Akri and moves to continue looking for a way around.
"Go 'an play wid' yar' shrooms!"
The crossing of the mud seems to go peacefully, with no hidden creatures emerging to attack and you are able to retrieve the mushrooms and reach the other side safely. Upon exiting the morass however Akri notices a number of large, leach like creatures have burrowed into Micar's flesh. Closer inspection reveals that Tanic, Jimjar, and Buppido also have these creatures burrowing into them.
The creatures can be detached by prying them out with something sharp (requiring a DC20 Heal Check and doing 1d6 slashing damage regardless of whether the check succeeds) or by applying acid to the leach like creatures (which will do half damage to the host). Remove disease or similar effects would also work.
"Wha? I TOLD you to stay outta' the water! BUTT' NO!!! Why list-en to Harro...Nobody LIST-ENS!"
"Nasty little things. Should have known they'd be in there. Dang painful to remove too. But, on the bright side, I think we have slowed our pursuit a bit, don't you. What luck! Since we don't have any acid - Hey, wait a second!"
Tanic pulls out his corrosive dagger and says
"Just the thing!"
If he can reach the leach he will perform the operation on himself and start applying the corrosive effect of the dagger to the leech on him, otherwise he will say
"So, who's first?"
with a cheerful smile on his face.
Micar swipes away the leeches as quickly as he can. Checking himself he asks, "Anyone see any more on me?"
Micar will spend the rest of the day randomly swiping the false leeches he still feels on him.
"There is one attached to you Micar. Its going to take more than a little swipe to detach it though. Now that is has a good grip we will either need to dig it out, taking some flesh with it, or apply acid which will probably burn you. Would you like me to start? Acid or digging? Either way this little dagger here will suit just fine! Are you the fainting type? You may need to lie down for this." All this is said with Tanic's usual grin and good humor.
"Good idea remembering that dagger Tanic" says Jimjar as Tanic applies the acid to the svirfneblin's legs.
"Thanks, Jimjar. I'm sure its going to prove to be a useful tool in the future." he says as he displays and eyes it appreciatively.
Micar winces a little bit at the acid burn as Tanic gets the last of the leeches off.
"Thanks Tanic. All right, if everyone is parasite free now; shall we continue?"
"Yes, let's move on."
"That's just nasty," Akri said with a wince as Tanic went around removing the leeches. "I really hope the magic mushrooms are worth it. Where to after this?"
Several hours later you come across a cavern where a number of tunnels converge. It contains a dead human wearing leather armour and a number of two foot tall toadstools with orange and red stripes. One of the toadstools has been uprooted.
There are a considerable number of footprints in the cavern and quite a few splatters of blood. The corpse is relatively fresh.
The Mushrooms are called Timmask. Uprooting them causes a cloud of poisonous spores to be expelled which has a similar effect to the spell Confusion
A group of 5 people entered the cavern. Only four left. The corpse has been here between 3 and 4 hours.
When they found the body, Vinexa was disturbed, it almost looked as if the fungi had tried to eat him or something. Then again, maybe the footprints had more to do with it than anything. Either way she was not sure if she wanted to run into what ever was here before they arrived.
Harro immediate searches the dead body for anything useful.
Cast Guidance
Cast Guidance
"Careful around those Timmask mushrooms. Properly harvested they make a good recreational drug, but improperly harvested then make a bad recreational drug. I've heard of a druid that accidentally uprooted one of those and then went bonkers and killed his pack goat. Scandalous. Somehow, Harro, I don't think you are into either variety."
Though I think slipping him some properly harvested mushrooms in dinner tonight might be fun. Nah. Probably a mean drunk.
As we find the toadstools, Micar looks over at the oread for guidance on what we're looking out.
As the others investigated the mushrooms and dead body, Akri wandered off to the side to see if he could find any evidence of people making trips back and forth.
@EmEss
Is there a way around the mushrooms? Is it safe enough to pass through them or are we inviting disaster if we try?
The corpse appears to have been fairly thoroughly searched already and other than the damaged armour it is wearing has nothing of value. The corpse looks slightly malnourished and has the scars to suggest an exciting life as a sword for hire or other adventurous type. There is no sign that this is a trap of any sort, although it is conceivable that whoever killed the human is still fairly close (But not in the cavern close). There are no signs of any single set of tracks making multiple trips to the cavern.
Harro 'hrrumps' and stand back up, hefting his chest and club.
"Nuttin.' Stu'pid human made it this far somehowl...mays'be we go where he been come'in from? Most of the dangers should be taken care of when his groop'ed passed by.
Thinking of the man's malnourished look, Harro hesitates.
"Coulda' be bad for finding foodstuffs' h'ever."
Jimjar responds to Harro's comment.
"What do stupid surface dwellers know about finding food down here? I bet you this shiny necklace that we find plenty of food if we follow the tracks."
"We don't need any food. We have these rings and there is plenty of food to be found if you know where to look. If we poke our noses into every corner with a cricket, we will never get ho... away. I say leave the body where it is, sneak past, and be on about our business."
"Dis'away way? I t'ink? Let's go."
"Except that they may be being chased. If they fled down here from topside, that is a very real possibility. Following them or backtracking them - either could lead to unpleasantness."
Relieved that they would be able to continue on Vinexa noticed the beginnings of Talindra's prayer for guidance and stepped up close behind her. Reaching out the half-succubus wrapped her arms around Talindra's waist and began to kiss her neck to contribute some additional lust to the prayer.
You follow the path the human and his group came from, fortunately it leads roughly in the same direction you were heading anyway. You make camp in a cavern in which the old remains of a small fire are clearly visible, probably lit by the group of surface dwellers.
You are now about a day and a half's travel away from the Darklake and the Kuo Toa village of Sloobludop. Shuushar speaks a little of his people and their mad religious fervour and how he found inner peace through self reflection. He speaks at length of the numerous 'Gods' the community have worshiped over the years and how the power of various priests rose and fell as one 'God' surplanted another.
"Archpriest Ploopploopeen ruled in the name of Blibdoolpoolp, the Sea Mother, when I left. He might still be the leader of the village now. The people will never be happy, never cease to want something new, however, until they find peace with themselves."
Harro shakes his head at the lizard-fish-man as he talks.
"Liken' this lesser and lesser. Water! BAH! Listen now and good! We get to this lake, and I'm sure we be 'greting it! Do his kind 'et our kind?"
"I do wish you would have told us this sooner. Are all civilizations this messed up? I have to admit that I've rarely gotten together with more than, say, a score of people. Perhaps we should just go around."
Reluctantly, Tanic says a brief and hesitant "OK"
Harro grumbles, but concedes the points Talindra has made.
Vinexa listened to the description of the village and it's leadership and couldn't help thinking she may have hit the jackpot. She moved to Talindra and wrapped a wing around her as she said, "Yes, this place has a great deal of...potential." If she could garnish some worshipers for herself, or her mother, it would make her life much more pleasant. As various schemes began to percolate through her mind Vinexa realized one particular problem, one that rather distressed her. She looked over to Shuushar worriedly and asked, "Will they have a problem with Glabagool there?"
Knowing we need to get to some kind of civilization, Micar just observes the grumblings of going to the Kua Toa village. He then, as an after thought, turns to Shuushar, "How big is your village? How do you feel the folks of Sloobludop will react to us?"
Why would anyone want a bunch of worshipers? These ladies are a bit obsessed. This is bound to go bad. Bound to... Hey, stop it! you're starting to sound like Harro!
As the others debated the merits of the upcoming town, Akri just thought of the real food and hopefully real beds they could get. "Let's just hurry up already. Live or die, we'll at least hopefully do it in comfort for a bit."