Episode 6: A Case of the Caverns

General Summary

30th of Harvesttide, 1283 Dyeri Cycle

Picking up from the last time, our adventurers have found a stairwell that led down to a cavern. Looking around the cavern, Andal finds a pair of partially calcified boxes. Inside are several torches, a lantern, and some flasks of oil. Noticing there are two different exits from the cavern (one to the north and the other to the south), the adventurers head north as they hear a faint dripping in that direction.
Heading in that direction it doesn't take long for them to reach a chasm blocking their path with the sound of rushing water far below. Looking across the chasm, they see a wall on the other side. This is clearly a dead-end.
Heading back, they continue on to the southern tunnel. Following the tunnel, it starts to gently rise. Andal ranges out ahead and stealthily creeps along. After about one hundred feet of cavern tunnel, Andal comes to another chasm with a stone bridge across it. There are several large rocks on the bridge with a skeleton under one of them.  Andal returns to the group and describes the situation. Andal also notices a faint purple light on the other side of the bridge.
Andal steps out onto the bridge and it creeks ominously but holds his weight. Reaching the skeleton, Andal takes a look at it and finds it was once a dwarf with some chain armor, a mace, and a shield. Only the mace is potentially useable. He continues across to the other side. Silva then heads across, carefully picking her way amongst the rocks and finally reaching the other side. She hears a strange rustling sound above that fades to the west, almost as if some kind of flapping. Halton follows after Silva and about half-way he stops and drops a pebble and listens for hitting the bottom. After several seconds, he finally hears something and surmises it is at least one hundred to one hundred fifty feet to the bottom. He continues to the other side.
Morgoth points at the box and asks how do they want to get it across. Andal throws a rope over to Morgoth and he ties it onto the box. Putting the box on the bridge, it shakes for a few moments. Andal and Halton pull on the rope and get it about half-way across the bridge where it gets stuck against the rock. Pulling a bit harder, they are able to jostle the rock, knocking it over the edge along with part of the bridge. Heaving again, they pull it to the rock with the dwarf skeleton under it and it gets stuck there. Andal moves tentatively out onto the bridge and is able to dislodge the chest from the rock finally getting it to the other side.
Andal throws the rope back over to Morgoth and the other three hold on to it while Morgoth makes his way across the bridge. Half-way across he covers the lantern per Andal's request. In the dim light, he trips on a rock and slips, but is able to catch the edge and drops the lantern into the chasm. He then crawls the rest of the way over to the other side where he lights a torch.
Andal moves forward stealthily as the tunnel continues to rise ever so slightly until he reaches an area where there are purplish crystals growing on the wall pulsing with low purple light. Andal also notices the fungus and mushrooms growing in the cavern seem to be getting larger as he progresses through the tunnel. The rest of the group follow behind. Andal examines the fungus and crystals and determines the fungus is responding to the purplish light. Gathering back together, they look around the cavern trying to figure out what these crystals are. Halton thinks they are a gem of some sort with an inner glow. Morgoth wants to take one off the wall, but Andal suggests Silva take a look first. Examining the crystal, Silva determines it is a Hyacintho crystal and she gets a bit excited when she realizes these are sought after for their alchemical properties. Silva had seen these a few times in a crushed form and the crystal she is looking at is worth around 200-500gp to an alchemist as it can be used to make magical lamps and the powdered version is used in various alchemical formulas involving light. Morgoth tries to excavate some from the wall and realizes it will take quite some time to get them out, but he continues.
Given the noise being made by Morgoth's hammering, Andal moves further up the tunnel to see if there is something that could hear the noise that is being made. He reaches a large chamber with several large crystals on the floor, walls, and ceiling glowing with the purple light. There are mushrooms and fungus in this cavern, some of the mushrooms are almost as large as Andal is tall, but he is able to see a vague path leading to the south where the cavern exits into another tunnel. Overlooking the floor in the west is a cliff where two of the fungal creatures sit surveying the cavern below. They seem as if they have heard something and are looking around for the source of the noise. Noticing Andal, they make some kind of strange noise, and one starts pointing at Andal. It is at this point Andal notices movement on the cavern floor and the battle commences.
One of the fungus creatures heads what must deeper down a tunnel as Andal loses sight of it. The other one jumps down from the cliff to the cavern floor and lands on its feet. Covering the rest of the distance to Andal, it swings a pseudopod at him which slams ineffectively against his armor. Hearing the sound of the pseudopod on Andal's armor, Silva moves up the tunnel, pulls forth her strange wand, and fires a bolt of flame at the fungus creature, but it flashes past it. Some of the large mushrooms slowly move along the cavern floor towards Andal, reaching him and tentacles fly out from it and miss him. Halton moves up the tunnel and fires an arrow at it with his longbow. The arrow sinks into the creature and a high pitch scream is heard from it. Andal pulls forth his shortsword and swings at the creature, but his swing goes wide. He backs away from the creature and tells Morgoth to engage the creatures. Morgoth drops the crowbar and moves up to where Andal was. He swings his longsword at the fungus creature and his swing goes wide.
Another fungus creature comes into view on the cliff where it jumps down, but it is unable to land properly as it falls to the floor. It gets back up and continues moving towards the group. Yet two more come into view from the southern end of the cavern as it makes its way through the giant mushrooms. The creature near Morgoth slams him with a pseudopod and spores fly off the pseudopod, but with his mask in place, Morgoth seems unaffected by them. Meanwhile, Silva fires another bolt of fire from her wand at the creature striking it and the flames burn the creature to ash. A massive shambling creature made of fungus ripples across the floor of the cavern above the cliff. It shambles all the way up to the edge of the cliff and stops. The large mushrooms continue to creep forward while another one's tentacles fly out towards Morgoth missing him yet again. Halton pulls out his scimitar and attacks one of the large mushrooms, but he drops the scimitar onto the ground with a loud clatter. Andal moves up next to Morgoth and swings his shortsword at the large mushroom attacking Morgoth and hits it in a vital area severing several of its tentacles. Morgoth swings at the same mushroom as Halton and hits the creature carving a piece out of its top.
The fungus creatures continue forward and one tries to hit Morgoth with his pseudopod, but it slams harmlessly against his armor. More of them can be seen in the cavern above the cliff passing by the shambling floor. Silva fires another bolt of flame at the fungus attacking Morgoth, but it goes wide and slams into the cavern wall. The shambling fungal floor slithers down from the top of the cliff and crawls over the giant mushrooms as it gets closer to the group. Tentacles fly from the mushrooms and one hits Halton and lacerates his leg and another set of tentacles flash by Andal causing a laceration on his side. Halton swings his scimitar at the mushroom that hit him slicing into its top. At the same time, Andal disengages from the creatures, drops his sword, pulls out the bolter, and fires it at the shambling fungus and the flame strikes it burning a portion of it away and then Andal moves back to engage the large mushroom. Morgoth swings again at the large fungus near Halton and slices part of the top off.
One of the fungus creatures moves up to Morgoth and swings at him with a pseudopod which misses. The rest of the creatures continue moving towards the group looking like they might overwhelm them. Silva throws a bag of powder at the feet of Andal and a small cloud of it flies forth covering him (sanctuary), and then she fires a bolt of flame at the creature in front of Morgoth hitting it and burning it to ash. The fungus shambling over the floor shambles forward and covers the large mushrooms fighting the group and into Morgoth who jumps out of the way avoiding being engulfed by the creature. This moved Morgoth next to one of the large mushrooms and tentacles harmlessly slam against his armor. Halton attacks the shambling fungus with his scimitar, but his slash is ineffective against it. Andal disengages with the shambling creature and fires the bolter at it which goes wide. Morgoth swings his sword at the large shambling creature, but it is ineffective against it. He recklessly swings again and slashes deep into the creature causing many of the tendrils to break.
The fungal creatures move around and one attacks Morgoth, but it again misses. Silva pulls out a salve and applies it to the laceration on Andal. His wound heals quickly and closes back up. She then moves back down the tunnel away from the shambling fungus. The shambling fungus moves forward over top Andal and Halton. Andal dives out of the way, but Halton is caught up in the creature. The large mushrooms continue trying to hit Morgoth with their tentacles but flail about harmlessly against his armor. Halton tries to break free but is unsuccessful. Andal disengages from the creatures again and then fires the bolter at the fungal creature on Morgoth. The flame strikes it and burns it to ash. At the same time, Morgoth slashes at the shambling fungus and cuts more of the tendrils and small mushrooms away from it.
The fungal creatures attack Morgoth and the slam finally makes a dent on Morgoth as it finds a weak spot in the armor. Silva fires her pistol at the shambling fungus and a loud shot reverberates through the caverns as the lead ball rips through the shambling fungus and it explodes the creature into small bits. She then moves back up the tunnel towards the main cavern. The large mushrooms continue their vain attempt at hitting Morgoth, but again the tentacles slam harmlessly against his armor. Halton takes a deep breath as he gets up and then applies an ointment to his wounds and they seem to knit close. Andal puts the bolter away and then heads over and picks his sword back up. He then maneuvers around the creatures to get a better angle of attack. Morgoth attacks the remaining fungal creature and hits it slicing off parts of its pseudopods.
The creature retaliates on Morgoth and slams that same weak spot causing Morgoth more damage. Silva fires a bolt of flame at the remaining fungal creature and it barely does anything to it. The large mushrooms again flail at Morgoth to no avail. Halton swings with his scimitar at the large mushrooms and chops a massive divot out of it. Andal joins Halton and stabs the large mushroom and chops off its top. Morgoth slashes at the final fungal creature slicing it apart and then he slides around the large mushroom. It doesn't take much longer for them to mop up the slow-moving mushrooms.
Moving through the mushroom-filled cavern they kick up spores which cause Andal to feel ill. Looking around, they see these caverns are filled with Hyacintho crystals, some as large as two feet across. They decide to take some time to extract some of the crystals from the cavern as Andal scouts ahead. Finding the fungus rather quickly fading away, Andal stops after going fifty feet further down the tunnel. They settle in and start extracting crystals...

Rewards Granted

1 Hero Point each (Andal, Morgoth, Silva)
Lantern and 3 flasks of oil in one box, flint and steel and 12 torches in the other (Morgoth)

Missions/Quests Completed

Quests Completed:

• None

Quests Continued

• None

Character(s) interacted with

Halton Forest - ranger from Raventhorp, a friend of Yon.
Grey Fungus - strange grey fungus creatures

Notes

Morgoth lights a lantern with a flask of oil
Morgoth loses the lantern into a chasm.
Morgoth lights another torch
Hyacintho crystals, used to make magical lamps (such as street lamps) or powdered and used in alchemical formulae involving light
Andal fires 3 fire spheres from the 5 that were still good in the bolter
Note on Sanctuary, if the target of Sanctuary attacks an enemy creature, the effect ends
Cole uses his Hero Point to reroll a saving throw.
Andal becomes poisoned for an hour.