"We're lucky to have your flames too, Raneshi!" Takarias says. "Oh, that poor thief and Tyrannosporeus. It never even got to finish its meal. That's why I always say you should take full bites, chew 40 times, and then swallow, so you don't choke to death!"
"Fortune has no role to play here. Treerazer's doom is an act of will."
The tall Ilverani Elf looks at Blooms and nods in agreement.
There appears to be a trail to follow. Invitingly refreshing.
The bar once called the Nest is now a mockery of its former purpose. Fungus covers every surface, and two especially large masses grow at the center of the filth. All around, arrayed on tables, lie the bodies of priests and other townsfolk.
Several of the bodies rise as more fungal-infested undead, but you make swift work of them. The fungal masses are much more concentrated than in other areas. You are able to harvest samples to help you learn more about it. Searching the area also uncovers a set of devoted vestments and a greater symbol of conflict.
You return to the Vynoren Estate and spend several hours resting and researching the fungal samples. The fungus is not of this world—it bears supernatural traits similar to those exhibited by fungi in Tanglebriar. It is still growing, and at the rate it’s currently expanding, it will engulf Greengold in a matter of months. However, there’s evidence in the material that suggests it’s building toward a second explosive growth burst—one that could potentially engulf all Greengold in a matter of minutes.
Perhaps even more astounding, there seems to be a rudimentary mind within the fungus—a telepathic intelligence that seems to be periodically pulsing out a crude telepathic signal in an attempt to communicate with three other locations somewhere nearby. Further study reveals these three locations: the Laughing Gale inn, a nearby farm west of town, and Gray Observatory to the north. If these nodes are destroyed, the central mass at the temple of Calistria will be weakened and vulnerable, affording you a chance to destroy it.
As you plan your next move, the delegates from the other nations offer you some support:
Chalzo Rove (Druma): The kalistocrat is thoroughly disgusted and repulsed by the unpleasant and foul-smelling fungus. She suggests that the stuff is clearly fiendish in origin, although what method such a fiendish intrusion into the world might take is beyond her ken. Her assistance comes in the form of a pouch containing four frozen lavas of Droskar’s Crag, noting that fire is an excellent cleanser of the foul.
Clavance Ordranti (Ustalav): Clavance is here even if it is the daytime (disproving the vampire rumor once and for all). To assist the PCs, he gives the party a potent magical heirloom—a Pharasmin visor. He notes that while he’s personally never seen the point of Pharasma’s faith, and though his family hasn’t worshiped her for many, many years, this visor has been in their care for generations.
Gorion the Glad (Knights of Lastwall): Gorion is here to inspire the PCs to greatness, giving them kind words of encouragement. As for more material aid, he gives them a +2 greater striking vitalizing composite longbow and a quiver with 20 cold iron arrows (or bolts, depending on what the PCs use).
Walder Resket (Molthune): Resket offers the PCs a ring of climbing to aid them in their efforts to navigate some of the trickier areas that surely lie ahead.
ahead.
"I say we head to the inn first, make sure there are no civilians in the danger zone," Raneshi suggests.
Idari nods in agreement with Raneshi's suggested course.
Tanglebriar's encroachment is unexpected, but it really shouldn't have been. Treerazer hasn't been idle as evidence of this attack. This fungal growth is certainly only his initial savo.
The barbarian shows his gratitude for each gift given to them for their mission. He doesn't actually claim anything, but smiles all the same.
"Gorion the Glad! This bow is so nice! Will you take mine as a thank you?" he asks, offering to swap (but not before having the astral rune transferred).
"The inn sounds like a great idea, Raneshi! You're always thinking of the less capable!"
|
"This seems the correct path. We should guide those in need to safety before we worry ourselves of the deeper roots."
Alkabah adds to the conversation about which I bstacle they should tackle first.
"The goddess shall use this one as a vessel for her divine wrath no matter the path, but this one settles best within our core."
After you have rested and prepared, including swapping runes, you head to the inn through the spore-wracked streets of Greengold. Alzarius once again offers to accompany you and lend his magic to your cause.
Founder’s Square lies just south of the broken temple and is infested with runners of fungal coils and filaments. The side streets that surround the square aren’t as overgrown, so reaching the first node doesn’t require navigating the thorny tangles even though Laughing Gale Inn is located at its southwest corner. This building is clearly the source of the tangled fungus in the square, as its structure now broken and distorted from the slimy wet tendrils that burst up from beneath it.
While wet, oozing fungus glistens here and there on the building’s facade, the inside is simply covered in it, rendering the inn a wet mockery of what it once was. Up the slippery stairs, on the second-floor balcony, pulses a nodule of fungus that continually drips ooze into the room in sickening ribbons.
A large mass of fungal slime rises up to confront you, forming clublike pseudopods and whiplike tendrils!
The tall Ilverani Elf steps about the upper staircase with his blue eyes peering about for anything fungus growing related. Upon stepping out onto the upper balcony, he nods at the pulsing nodule.
Do I just hack at it?
Suddenly rudely interrupted by the emergence of a large mass fungal slime, the barbarian holds up a finger.
Hold that thought.
Freely given into his Rage, Idari calls upon the Spirits Interference !
The barbarian then begins cutting down the apparently angry Fungal Mound!
And, because he enjoys being Forceful!
He looks a bit off....
HP 136/136, piercing resistance 2
AC 33 (34 with buckler raised)
Fort +19, Ref +21, Will +20; +2 vs. disease and poisons; +1 vs. inhaled threats
Hero points: 2
Prepared tactics: Strike Hard!, Shields Up, Buckle-Cut, Stupefying Raid
Effects:
"To arms!" Takarias yells, encouraging his companions forward as he fires an arrow.
Blooms in Darkness peers at the slime and lets its unholy nature whisper of its weakness. Corruption, of course, the leshy cleanses it.
The tough ooze ignores Bloom's spell. Alkabah burns the unholy creature with divine energy and blasts it with a prayer. Takarias shoots it, urging Idrai to blitz forward and knock the ooze off-balance. The barbarian then scores three hits in rapid succession, slicing into the quivering monster.
The ooze strikes back, then rears up to try to engulf Idari!
Irked by the slimes resistance to divine wrath, Blooms in Darkness risks a return to more prosaic methods of cleansing.
Idari plugs his nose!
Unfortunately holding his nose doesn't help! Instead, the Engulfed Barbarian slams his full weight against it's insides!
Spitting and sputtering, coughing and choking, burning everywhere, Idari comes rushing out of the Fungal Growth with raging force!
It burns, but not in a good way.
Idari turns his blue icy eyes to stare icicles at it!
The barbarian attempts to Strike!
The Twilight Speaker winks at Raneshi!
Raneshi carves a rune of fire in the side of the ooze, then activates her and Iadri's runes.
Fortitude DC 32
You continue to blast and batter the use with magic and weapons. Before long, it has collapsed into an inert pile of sludge. Among its remains, you discover a floating shield the must have belonged to one of its previous victims.
As you head upstairs, a second ooze lurches forward to attack, but you make swift work of it as well. The pulsing nodule of fungus is surrounded by a protective lair of slime, but it is a simple matter to burn it away, allowing you destroy the fungal node.
There is nothing left to do in this location.
Idari's posture speaks of desire for the Floating Shield .
The tall Ilverani Elf smiles holding his elven curve blade in both hands.
I am currently curious as to the number of potential nodes to exterminate.
"My faith is my shield," Blooms in Darkness agrees. "Shall we cleanse the farm next then?"
"Blooms! That's a great idea! And Idari, I think that shield would look just amazing floating around you!"
The farm is located about a quarter-mile to the west of Greengold. A ramshackle barn sits in the center of the corrupted field. It’s surrounded by cracks that have opened in the earth, pools of fetid water, and all manner of strangely corrupted crops. The heart of the infestation is likely inside the barn, but reaching it safely looks to be quite challenging.
As you navigate through the infested farm, three horrible creatures rise up from the muck to confront you. Each one looks like a bipedal amphibian with tentacles instead of arms and a head composed of an undulant mass of what appear to be shifting, slimy transparent eggs filled with writhing larvae. The things move across the swampy ground unimpeded as they begin to converge on you!
"Fah, disgusting creatures." Raneshi raises her shield and points her sword at one of the creatures; fiery runes crawl across its damp skin.
Alkabah recognizes these creatures as isqulugs. The larvae inside their "eggs" constitute the mind and consciousness of the isqulug—its "body" is little more than an organic suit manufactured from the flesh of those it has consumed, analogous to the complex web of a spider or the hive of a colony of bees, but fully capable of movement and violence. These disgusting parasites originally manifested in the First World, but the fey denizens of that realm found them too awful to endure and exiled them to the Material Plane. Over time, the isqulugs sloughed off their fey features for new, more powerful bodies of their own.
They resist fire, but are weak to cold. Fortunately, Alkabah's divine flames scour the aberrations' spirits instead. One takes the full blast while the other two avoid some of it.
The three creatures separate, one approaching from the front while the other two come at you from the sides. They each stop 25 feet away and expel blasts of their hungry larvae from the hivemind at you!
Blooms in Darkness makes an imperious gesture and a sparkling barrier envelops the party, shielding them from the first blast of hungry larvae. Harried but unbroken, the leshy continues, opening up a globe of freezing darkness to smother two of the horrid vessels of corruption.
HP 105/136, piercing resistance 2
AC 33 (34 with buckler raised)
Fort +19, Ref +21, Will +20; +2 vs. disease and poisons; +1 vs. inhaled threats
Hero points: 2
Prepared tactics: Strike Hard!, Shields Up, Buckle-Cut, Stupefying Raid
Effects:
"I love sharing meals with new people, but not like that!" Takarias says, wiping grubs off his face as he fires wildly. "Get them!"
Idari's posture predicts a return of violence.
Idari Strides to the most injury Eye Detective and ...
The grubs shower Raneshi, and she barely manages to dodge any of them.
She uses her reaction to rush forward at Takarias' signal to the creature she traced a rune on.
After raising her shield, Raneshi takes a strike at the creature.
for
With a flourish of her sword, she triggers both the runes.
Bloom's spell proves to be super-effective, chilling and blinding two of the horrid aberrations. Takarias misses with his shot, but Idari moves up to the most wounded of the foes and delivers a solid strike. Raneshi blitzes up alongside the barbarian, slashing the isqulug and triggering her runes. Though it resists both detonations, the lingering cold from Blooms' spell finishes it off. Alzarius conjures an ice storm, two clouds of sleet and snow hovering over both remaining foes to wound them and slow them down.
The two monsters force their way out of the pounding ice and sleet, bypassing Idari and Raneshi from the sides as they head for Blooms! They lash the leshy with their tentacles, though one misses due to being blinded.
Raneshi raises her shield, advances on one of the monsters, and slashes at it.
for
A translucent shield of force repels the tentacles, leaving only the slightest whisper of that ferocity to trouble the leshy fanatic. Nimbly, Blooms springs away from the encroaching horrors, and since the isqulugs rudely do not wish to be consumed by fire, the oracle sears them with acid instead.
HP 105/136, piercing resistance 2
AC 33 (34 with buckler raised)
Fort +19, Ref +21, Will +20; +2 vs. disease and poisons; +1 vs. inhaled threats
Hero points: 2
Prepared tactics: Strike Hard!, Shields Up, Buckle-Cut, Stupefying Raid
Effects:
"Blooms in Darkness!" Takarias cries, waving his banner for inspiration before firing two arrows in rapid succession, the second piercing right through the first!
Idari Strides to the most injured Eye Detective and ...
Blooms blasts one of the isqulugs with acid, but unfortunately it resists some if the damage. Takarias shoots the monstrosity then fires a second arrow in the exact same spot, splitting the first as he wounds the thing further. Idari moves up and finishes off the aberration with two strikes.
Alkabah's divine lance misses the final foe. Raneshi approaches and delivers a critical hit! Alzarius flings a chunk of ice into the isqulug to stop its regeneration.
The isqulug angrily attacks Raneshi, but she keeps its tentacles at bay with her shield!
Raneshi traces a harsh rune on her sword, then channels its energy into the remaining creature.
Idari Strides to the final Eye Detective and ...
HP 105/136, piercing resistance 2
AC 33 (34 with buckler raised)
Fort +19, Ref +21, Will +20; +2 vs. disease and poisons; +1 vs. inhaled threats
Hero points: 2
Prepared tactics: Strike Hard!, Shields Up, Buckle-Cut, Stupefying Raid
Effects:
Waving his banner again, Takarias shifts his immanence back into his bow and fires an arrow right into the center mass of the attacking horror!
Takarias and Idari both score critical hits against the isqulug, then Raneshi's rune blast eviscerates its squamous body! With its defeat, you are able to make it past the fetid pools and into the barn, where the fungal node pulses, surrounded by a wall of infested plants harvested from the field. You cut your way through the wall and destroy the node.
One of the horses that perished here was wearing barding of the zephyr, which gleams underneath all of the filth coating this place.
"Disgusting creatures," Raneshi carefully wipes her blade before putting it away. "And the area will be covered with the like if we don't stamp out this infestation."
Idari's posture predicts further battles this day. The Ilverani Elf seems invigorated!
Each spore we cleanse defeats Treerazers plans.
"A spore scoured may prevent Treerazer's victories, but to gain a triumph of our own only one thing will suffice. Treerazer must burn."
Once you are ready, you head to the location of the third fungal node. One of the oldest structures in Greengold, the Gray Observatory was used for gazing at and charting the stars. While the building has been covered in a honeycomb of fungus, it mostly remains intact. This area swarms with thick clouds of small stinging insects that harry anyone who stays in one place for too long. The observatory also features a great dome that contains a massive device full of crystal lenses used to observe the stars, but that dome is currently closed.
The southern doors to the observatory are difficult to open, as they are covered in a honeycomb of foul smelling fungus, but Idari is able to force them open without too much effort. The observatory’s interior is a single cavernous space that takes up almost the entire inside of the dome structure. In the center rest the remains of what must have been a magnificent device for viewing the heavens, but now it is mostly in ruin. A column of fungus has pierced the device, erupting from the floor and reaching all the way up to the ceiling where a knot of fungus can be seen pulsating.
You spot the creatures hiding here before they can get the drop on you, clinging to the walls of the dome and trying to blend in with the fungus. Eight demons that resemble giant humanoid wasps who have fallen victim to parasitic fungi, tendrils of it sprouting from their bodies. Their wings buzz as they prepare to attack!
HP 136/136, piercing resistance 2
AC 33 (34 with buckler raised)
Fort +19, Ref +21, Will +20; +2 vs. disease and poisons; +1 vs. inhaled threats
Hero points: 2
Prepared tactics: Strike Hard!, Shields Up, Buckle-Cut, Stupefying Raid
Effects:
"Bee demons!" Takarias calls out, quickly firing arrows as he waves his banner to rally his companions.
Idari's posture predicts his Rage! The Barbarian commands the Spirits Interference against any possible ranged shananagins by the Bee demons!
Holding his elven curve blade Ready, he prepares to slice off any wings that wonder his way!
Blooms in Darkness waits until the others have struck, and then brings calm to the demons, by force if necessary.
With everyone on the team poised to take advantage of a charge by the demons, Raneshi raises her shield and a rune of fire traces its way across the closest demon.