Ryan channels Abadar's energy to help the party before Marigold makes her magic.
You observe the waterfall, it's waters jumping from rock to rock, producing a resounding roar. It's waters are of the same violet of the lake waters, product of the light the violet fungi produce.
"Maxim, do you see anything, looks like a waterfall to me? Maybe the next one will be what you're looking for."
<letting Maxim respond>
Afterwards Ryan will head towards the northern tunnel with the
others .
Maxim eyes the fall and the cavern with a grim set;
"Matches the description... but yer right Taskerhill... Could be the next one..."
He walks toward the edge of the lake, nearest point to the fall as he can get, then yells out in the gnome tongue;
"Hallo oude timer! Jij daar Hackbus? Het is mij Maxim. Jonge Fulcrumforge ... Geen trucs. Ik ben het. Lange tijd komen."
"Hey old timer! You there Hackbus? Its me Maxim. Young Fulcrumforge... No tricks. It is me. Long time coming."
The gun-mage lets his shout echo throughout the chamber.
Hell's Teeth! Hope that don't attract nothin' untoward...
"Well, if Hackbus isn't here, Maxim, he could be at one of the other spots on our map."
"We were attacked recently by a band of seven morlocks."
"They're nasty pieces of work, they are!"
"Only their leader survived and babbled something to us as he ran away."
"Maxim told us his mentor, a gnome named Hackbus, might be down here too."
"With any luck we can rescue both Zenith and Hackbus."
"Tell Shensen that we are all alive and well."
"We're making good progress with the map we have."
"It's eerie here too. Strange fungus down here that makes dim light."
Marigold flinches as Maxim's voice echoes out across the water and throughout the caverns. "If he d-doesn't hear that even over the w-waterfall then your H-Hackbus is as d-deaf as a p-post!"
Maxim flashes a wry smile;
"He is. Happens when you spend you're life creatin' explosions big an' small..."
"If he's deaf... and you're barking..." Kikinnin half-frowns, shaking his head. "Wouldn't it be more likely to get his attention if you shot off one of your flares or spells that's more likely to catch an eye than an ear?"
"How long you want to wait and watch?"
Well done Juraan. Take care of the fungus. Some of them might be dangerous. Copy
At first nothing answers back Maxim, but then two bulbous mushrooms emerge from the waters! Deep violet tendrils slither out of the dozens of fissures in their pointed caps.
Vs stealth 13
Everybody in the party sees the mushrooms emerge, but Maxim is too focused in the waterfall and his inner thoughts to realize!
Juraan shouts a warning to the two dwarves:
… and then quickly casts a spell: « ערלעכקייט בויגן » . .
"Ewwww" coughs JJ as the horrible things appear from the waters.
He stands ready to strike them if they get within range.
Juraan cast a spell while JJ readies his sword against the mushrooms.
Before Maxim and Kikinnin are able to react a couple of tentacles spring out of their bulbous head and attempt to grab them!
But they seem to hinder with the waters and slide over the rocks almost falling in front of the dwarven line!
Time for the heroes to counter attack!
Surprise round
Ryan raises the crossbow that he'd retrieved, aiming for the red marked creature that was closer to him.
But rushes the shot....
Marigold cries out with alarm and disgust as the two mushroom creatures burst from the water. Unsure of what they might be, she draws her longspear and readies for a fight!
Feeling unusually brave, Marigold steps towards the nearest of the two creatures and attempts to skewer it on her spear!
Unable to strike her target, the halfling desperately tries to recall anything she might've heard about these creatures.
______
Lacking any effective missile fire, JJ stands ready with his swords.
AC = 23
HP = 64/64
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
"Maxim, watch where you're going, you stepped on my..."
Kikinnin considers giving the blond beard a faux shove towards the waterline, which gives him just enough heads-up to recognize something rippling in the lake.
He lays a quick but powerful smack at the nearer mushroom thing, as it tries to feel him up with a slimy arm.
As the group react en masse to the fiendish fungoids, Maxim is jarred from his thoughts of Hackbus and where he may be...
Flailing tentacles and Kikinnin's bellowed warning make him snap to;
"Skit! Was miles away!"
His tactical acumen restored, the gun-mage side-steps away from the red-tinted creature to give himself a sole dance partner.
The dwur draws his shortsword then invokes words of magical power;
"Schokkend Grijpen!"
Juraan moves up closer to where the Dwarves are and tries to shoot one of the moving purple fungi [color=red](red)[/color]:
… but misses , for fear of hitting Kikinnin
Ryan and Marigold fail to hit the fungoids while Kikinnin easily succeed to cut one of the tentacles as it attempts to reach him.
JJ moves up to the same fungoid and stabs his sword on the bulbous head making some spores to spur out fortunately without any harm for the team.
Juraan attempt to shot an arrow misses by far over the fungoid.
Maxim retreats and casts a spell, the fungoid takes profit of the action in an attempt to stop the dwarven wizard.
But fails, moment Maxim profits to complete his spell, his hand suddenly loading with sparkling electricity.
With a brave movement the dwarf touches the fungoid in the exact point its body is controlled and discharges a powerful wave of electricity. The sparks jump around the fungoid body that ignites in fire and is suddenly pushed back to the waters putting out the flames and making disappear the destroyed body.
Like summoned by the sudden blast of energy, no less than six more fungoids emerge from the waters and attempt to lash out with their tentacles.
One tentacle cuts Marigold's right cheek, while other of the fungoids slashes Ryan's left leg!
These are violet fungus, one of the most notorious and feared dangers of the world's caves, able to eat and decompose living meat.
Their most feared capacity is the hideous affliction they transmit through the poison in their tentacles, that damages Strength and Constitution of their prey.
Marigold yelps as the tentacle slaps her across the face; it wasn't the pain of the blow itself (which was minor) but the sudden burn and the draining sensation that follows it that surprises her.
"ನಾನು ದುರ್ಬಲವಾಗಿರುತ್ತೇನೆ! ಈ ವಿಷಯ ನನಗೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡಿದೆ!?" she gasps as she staggers away from her two attackers. Without thinking, she attempts to conjure a shielding spell for herself.
"I feel weak! What did this thing do to me!?"
______
Round 1
Ryan hisses as the tentacle slices into his leg, dropping his xbow he steps to the south to drawing mace and shield as he goes. Three on one, this isn't going to be much fun."
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"I thought people ate Fungi, not the other way around!" calls out the young man as he tries dicing the creatures.
His swords slice the blue fungus several times.
:
As more of the fell fungus erupt from the lake, Maxim curses under his breath and infuses his blade with energy .
"Hell's Teeth! What are these things!? I ain't got a clue!"
Seeing he flanks with his fellow dwur on one of the creatures, he hacks at that fungoid ;
:
:
:
"These things are nasty, whatever they are."
Juraan moves back down, closer to Ryan, and casts a spell:
« მჟავე ხელები » . .
AC = 23
HP = 64/64
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
Kikinnin works on bringing down the damaged, doom shroom, before working on the new one sprouting up between him and Maxim.
"If they keep coming, we need to press forward and out, now, so we don't wear ourselves down needlessly!"
Marigold's skin rots on the place the tentacle hit her. She maneuvers to get some distance from the fungi before casting a defensive spell.
Ryan resists the rotting and tries the fungus in front, his mace deflected by its natural armor.
JJ perform a flurry of sword attacks, connecting two times with the fungus in front. One of the times he seems to reach a vital spot!
Maxim gets to the edge of the lake looking for a flanking position he uses to reach a vital spot in the fungus in front.
Juraan starts casting a spell but he is surprised by the long reach of the fungus tentacles as three of them attempt to stop him!
His magical armor deflects the two first attacks, while the last one is just at the point of taking his head when Ryan interposes his saving shield in front of the professor.
The opportunistic parry of the Abadar's cleric helps Juraan complete his spell, an acid jet springing from his hands and engulfing the three fungus that just attacked him!
The acid partially melts the bulbous heads of the three fungus!
Kikinnin brings his axe down one of the fungus, almost chopping it to the ground!
The fungus counterattack with all their tentacles ensamble!
One of the tentacles takes Maxim's right foot, but his magical protections deflect the other seven.
One of the tentacles slashes on Kikinnin's left ear while he blocks the other three with his axe!
JJ deflects two of the tentacles with his swords, but other two open gashes on his nose and ass.
Marigold new spell makes its working as the faithful shield deflects all the incoming tentacles.
Juraan makes his best to avoid the tentacles, but one of them surpasses his best defenses.
Ryan blocks with his shield tentacle after tentacle, but the last one takes the skin on his left leg!
Trying to keep his boots clean, JJ decides that Kikinnin has the north flank well under control. He steps backward and unleashes his blades on the black fungus attacking his little sister.
Somehow avoiding the fungal poison, Juraan casts the same spell again:
« მჟავე ხელები » . .
… and then steps back 5 feet to try and avoid their reach
Ryan shrugs off the poison once more, and tries to return the favor to the cyan colored shroom.
Marigold's Round 3
Trying desperately to ignore the horror of her own flesh rotting away, Marigold sends a burst of fire directly at the two tentacle beasts that JJ and Kikinnin have been working on in an effort to finish them off.
______
:
Maxim shakes off the worst of the tentacles effect, grits his teeth and focusses on dispatching the fell fungi with spells rather than steel.
He drops his shortsword and draws his pistol before conjuring words of power;
""Gloeiend Straal!"
:
The wizard raises his hand gunne and fires off two rays of burning energy at the fungoid who wounded him :
:
:
:
:
AC = 23
HP = 59/64
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
Kikinnin tries to hack down the numbers of the blasted shrooms, making sure Red's dead, before he turns on Green.
"You holding up there, bror? There's not a lot of glory here, fighting slimy shrubbery. Only try and keep our health intact, eh?"
Kikinnin doesn't like Yellow's insistence in blocking their way out of this skirmish. He flicks a wary eye towards the waters, wondering exactly how many shrooms lie beneath the surface of the lake.
JJ moves looking for a new target and causes havoc on the first fungus he finds destroying it with his swords.
Juraan follows with a new casting of his acidic hands spell. The fungi attempt to stop him with their tentacles.
But the professor avoids them with Ryan's shield help and completes his spell washing the fungi with acid.
The fungi get destroyed under the quick action of the acid!
Marigold unleashes a rain of stars that fall one after the other over the red fungus, burning it to the ground!
Ryan and Kikinnin jump over the green fungus, axe and mace turning the Darklands creation into pieces!
The new free space gives Maxim enough room to easily use his gun to bang a double fire ray over the single remaining fungus that explodes in flames and slowly consumes itself leaving the exit of the cavern free again.
The cavern comes once again into peace.
Painfully, Marigold begins examining the places on her body where the flesh has rotted and dropped away in an attempt to determine if she's still afflicted by the creature's attack or if the worst of the damage has already been done.
"Th-this is awful...I l-look like a leper!" she moans.
______
Marigold discovers the effect is not going further and it could be healed by a lesser restoration or simple repose.
Kikinnin finishes cleaning his blade just in time to hear Marigold mention rotting. He steps around the limp tendrils, to get a closer look. "Well, you've looked better, miss Marigold. Hold on a second, and let me try to return the many favors you've provided me."
The black-beard doesn't flinch in touching the corrupted flesh.
"Sorry, I didn't think to prepare a second helping of that Heal. Tomorrow, I should be able to request more from Abadar."
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"Marigold... are you okay? You look worse than the time that Juraan dropped those capsules in the soup that turned everyone blue an hour later."
He stops for a moment, remembering that Juraan is with them and gives the professor an appreciative nod.
"I think we need to get away from this cavern. We need a plan for when we come back through it too."
"That was ages ago JJ!"
"And don't start saying it was just last Thursday!"
"But that jape didn't hurt anyone. Much."
"Unlike thosedid to Marigold!"
"But you're right, we better press on through that passage and leave this cavern."
"Timing is everything! The moment you warned me about dangerous fungi, seven of them attacked us."
"Large violet moving fungi with tentacles. We killed them, but not before one of them touched and hurt Marigold."
"It almost looked like she had contracted some sort of leprosy."
"Thankfully, Kikinnin and JJ can cure her."
"Th-thanks," Marigold smiles as bravely as she can muster as Kikinnin's touch seems to renew both flesh and spirit somewhat. "M-My arms and m-muscles still feel p-pretty weak b-but I feel b-better energy-wise at l-least," she continues. "Um...if s-someone could c-carry my g-gear until we c-can fix the rest of the d-damage, I'd ap-p-preciate it..."
______
Maxim opens the group's Bag of Holding;
"Drop your gear in their Lil' Miss. We can recover it as an' when required."
He eyes the waterfall, then comments with a rueful note;
"Sorry all... We'd have missed these creatures had we not tarried on my account. Best we be on our way, I'll look for Ol' Hackbus on the backside o' this trip."
The gun-mage's brow furrows and he nods toward the passage;
"Let's get gone."
"If you think he is here, those creatures may be hunting him... and they are gone for now.." notes JJ.
"If we see them coming we could flee up that passage, otherwise, waiting another couple of minutes might make a big difference. I think we can do with all the aid we can get on this trip."
He can't quite keep the look of concern from his face whenever he glances at Marigold.
The gun-mage acknowledges JJ's sentiment and notion;
"Makes sense I reckon... but most likely its somewhere else Ol' Hackbus is holed up... Iffen he still lives o' course..."
"G-Good deal...I'm g-glad we have this b-bag," Marigold says as she deposits nearly all of her gear into the magical bag except for her armor and her mace. "And I'll b-be okay until we c-can rest, JJ...j-just don't expect me to do m-much in a straight up b-brawl," she adds, trying to reassure her friend.
Before they move further up the passageway, Ryan stops Marigold. "This should help some. Abadar restore her strength."
vs strength damage
"You can still let Maxim carry the gear, that bag of his weighs the same with your stuff in it or not." Ryan says in a stage whisper loud enough for Maxim to hear and a wink.
"Oh...oh wow, th-thank you R-Ryan! Th-thank you b-both!" Marigold exclaims happily as Ryan takes away the worst of her weakness, leaving her now feeling only a little drained. "I th-think the r-rest will g-go away with a night or t-two of s-sleep! I p-promise I'll g-give some of my earnings t-to Abadar in th-thanks when we g-get back to C-Cauldron!"
______
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"Sorry all... We'd have missed these creatures had we not tarried on my account. Best we be on our way, I'll look for Ol' Hackbus on the backside o' this trip."
Kikinnin picks up his pace, moving out of the cavern with the known hostiles, likely into another. He jostles Maxim on the way by. "We'd have missed these creatures had we not been waylaid by the damned morlocks, bror. We'd have missed these creatures had we not taken up the task of finding Splintershield, if you want to think deep thoughts. Don't sprain yourself."
"I p-promise I'll g-give some of my earnings t-to Abadar in th-thanks when we g-get back to C-Cauldron!"
"Miss Marigold, don't trouble yourself with debt you put upon yourself. You're already in Abadar's service, in a way, when you heal His followers. You've been for some time now. No need to donate coin when we the least we could do gets done."
Kikinnin continues on, beckoning the others to remain close by, especially with fungus fingers at water's edge. "Bark if something grabs you, eh?"
"Oh...o-okay, I'd n-never thought of it that w-way," Marigold nods, eyeing the water nervously and scooting a little further away from its edge as they go.
You say goodbye to the cavern and keep your journey along dark coiled corridors and massive caverns. After a couple of hours walking you reach a new cavern where it seems like raining. Looking up to the ceiling you discover the rocks here have crevices and waters from above pour through the rocks.
The party calls a stop to eat and get new energy. The afternoon goes similarly, with dark corridors and some others full of crystalline rocks that reflect the light of your torches and spells.
After a four hours walk you do find a cavern full of eatable mushrooms and fresh water. Before crossing the rocky natural lake you do decide to call the day and camp here that food and water is available.
You do identify the mushrooms around as a specie well fitted to conservation and transport. With your knowledge you could pack this mushrooms and keep them in good state for at least a week.
For a second you do notice a small diminutive humanoid creature with wings flying behind one of the mushrooms and hiding from you but looking after curiously.
"Despite the dangers so far, I would say this cave is worth seeing!"
"Should it be called the 'Agreeable Mushroom Glade'?"
Juraan then sets about inspecting their surroundings.
"I've heard of these mushrooms."
"We can pack some and use them for eating for about a week.
"Useful find, this!"
Juraan then whispers to the others:
"There's a tiny winged person flying about in here."
"It looks harmless. But seems curious too."