Terrorblooms at the Bridge
General Summary
In the deep subterranean tunnels and caverns below the mines near Telarus, the members of Victoriam Ruinam encountered several dangers following the defeat of the rat swarms. As they explored the cavern pillars of stone arose from the ground, encircling them and preventing them from accessing the rest of the cavern. As they looked around a swarm of maggot like insects burrowed up from the ground as a group of spiders descended upon them from the cavern's ceiling. As they drew their weapons to defend themselves, the insects swarmed over Gaius biting at his exposed flesh. Their tiny bites leaving behind an infection of the blood that further weakened him.
Ludo used his shadowstep ability to appear atop one of the pillars of stone to fight one of the spiders. From his perch on the stone, he rained punches down on the spider splattering it across the stones. It's at this moment that his keen eyes spotted the Mouldering druid on the ground outside the pillars preparing to cast another spell. Inside the pillars Alexander is bit by one of the spiders, and in turn strikes out at it with his newly acquired Dwarven Throwing Hammer. Alelyn struck the insect swarm with her shovel not finding her strike to be as effective as she had hoped and attempted to back up, at which the swarm struck out at her and their bites caused her to become blinded. Chester fired off a couple eldritch blasts at one of the spiders perched atop the pillars, preparing to descend on its trapped prey. The first blast struck the stone, while the second caught the full mass of the spider knocking it from its perch felling the creature. Meanwhile a giant spider dropped down directly behind Gaius and Alexander, striking out with its fangs at a distracted Gaius to bite him in the back. In this moment the druid outside the stones managed to cast his spell causing vines and brambles to rapidly sprout from the ground inside the circle, ensnaring all of those inside with the exception of Alelyn and Fenrir. Leaping and dodging the vines and brambles Fenrir bit at the swarm of insects catching several in his mouth with a viscous snap. As his teeth tore deep into their pulpy flesh, their insides splurted out into his mouth infecting him with heir disease weakening him. Alexander called upon his divine powers to imbue his strike with divine energy, as well as magically inflaming his hammer as he struck blow after blow on the giant spider. His rain of blows and the magic fire found purchase among the giant spiders fur and caused it to set ablaze. more of the spiders struck out at the tangled Gaius biting him and injecting their poison into him before he brought his mace down heartily squashing one of the smaller spiders. Chester fired off a few more eldritch blasts at the swarm of insects destroying some of them, but not completely killing the swarm. Alelyn staggered back thrashing about wildly in her blindness, slashing back wildly with her shovel. Ludo again shadowstepped, this time appearing behind the druid firing off a series of well aimed strikes, catching the druid off guard and stunning him in place. Even in his stunned state the druid maintained his concentration on the spell that caused the vines and brambles to entangle those inside the stones. The large spider prepared to strike again at Alexander, but the flames roaring on its back took their toll and as it lunged forward it slumped dead mere inches from striking Alexander. At which he hurled his heavy hammer again striking out at another spider before it could bite one of his companions. Alelyn managed to cast a lesser restoration on herself to remove the blindness caused by the insect swarm. As her vision cleared she saw the druid outside the stones with Ludo and started to make her way over to squeeze between the pillars. Alexander smashed the remaining insects of the swarm with his hammer, with the immediate threat inside the stone pillars having been quelled Gaius took a moment to heal himself before proceeding to shimmy his way through the stone pillars. Chester also made his way out of the circle, while Alexander's large form coupled with his thick half-plate armor wouldn't fit between them he was forced to climb up and over them. Now outside the circle Alelyn cast her toll the dead spell at the stunned druid inflicting significant damage to him dropping the spell he was still maintaining within the circle. Gaius not being able to reach him attempted to throw his mace at him, but in the gloom released too soon and it sailed harmlessly over the druid's shoulder to clatter behind him in the darkness. Ludo struck a few more blows allowing Fenrir to move in for a bite attack. The druid turned to strike Ludo heartily in the chest with his staff with a critical hit and a cloud of fungal spores poured off him. As Ludo inhaled the spores he fell unconscious to the ground. Seeing her friend fall lifeless to the ground Alelyn called upon her connection to The Matron and uttered some words to restore some vitality to his unconscious form. Chester fired off another volley of eldritch blasts, while Alexander hurled his hammer into the druids chest. With the sound of the druid's ribs cracking, Fenrir tore into his calf, Gaius healed himself some more, and Ludo stood back up and drove his fist into his kidneys paralyzing him before reaching up to snap his neck from behind. As Chester searched the druids corpse, Ludo shadowstepped back into the circle of stone to recover venom from the slain spiders. Alexander called after him to bring him out a spider leg and some of the meat, meanwhile Gaius trekked off back towards the entrance of the cavern they had entered in search of his mace. In the darkness he found it against the wall, as he bent to grab it his arm brushed an unseen flower growing on the cavern wall and with that contact it released its spores. Inhaling those spores he blinked a few times, and as his eyes adjusted he found himself deep underwater gasping for breath. Falling to the ground in his mind he was drowning. Having finished looting the corpse and harvesting what they could from the spiders the others looked around, as Alelyn asked "where's Gaius?" Alexander chimes in noncommittally with "I thought I saw him go to find his mace, that way." As he nodded back behind where the druids corpse was back towards where they entered the cavern. "I'll go get him." Heading in that direction, he saw his prone form slumped against the cavern floor, Alexander rushed over failing to notice the flower blooms around him. When he stooped down to check his pulse Alexander brushed one of those flowers and inhaled its spores. Closing his eyes to try and clear his vision, when he opened them as he looked down to where Gaius should have been he saw one of the cultists from his youth reaching for him. Staggering away startled by what he saw, Alexander glanced behind him and saw that there were three more cultists approaching with a growling hound. Screaming, Alexander took off in a run around the a stalagmite in an attempt to escape the cultists pursuing him. Gaius continued struggling against the weight of the water he felt pressing upon him as he continued to drown. The others started to make their way towards where Gaius and Alexander had gone, Alelyn approached the prone form of Gaius to check his vitals. Alexander saw her as one of the cultists from his youth, and to him it looked like she was drawing a weapon to attack him. In turn he struck out wildly with his hammer striking her bodily and knocking her back over Gaius' prone form. Ludo caught a glimpse of the familiar blossom of the Terrorblooms they had encountered the night before and immediately told Alelyn to freeze. Pointing them out Chester cast a chill touch spell to ensnare the blossom in a spectral hand of necrotic energy wilting it away. While Alelyn dug in her components pouch to prepare to cast a spell to help save Gaius from the terror he was trapped in, Ludo made haste to run parallel to Alexander in an effort to get ahead of him and prevent him from running off the cliff and falling into the fathomless depths below. To Alexander this appeared to be a cultist chasing him through the dark depths, his running and thrashing in attempt to escape the cultists was taking it toll on his pysche and wearing him down. Preparing her spell Alelyn looked down at Gaius and saw his breathing had slowed some and he seemed to be calming down. To Gaius he was swimming through the icy depths, the surface in sight. He continued the swim as the terror continued its mental strain, finally he broke the surface taking in deep gasps of breath and sitting up coughing. His sudden burst startled Alelyn, after a moment she was able to gather herself and get him calmed down. Helping him to his feet, Alelyn, Chester, Gaius, and Fenrir made their way through the center of the chamber as a group. Ludo managed to break through to Alexander and clear away the visions of the cultist. With him calmed just before the edge of the chasm Ludo convinced him that they weren't in danger and that there were no cultists, but they needed to find their friends. Following along the cliff edge they met the others at a bridge that extended out across the chasm. Deciding to search the remainder of the cavern Alexander followed the cliff face the other side of the bridge and spotted a skeleton slumped against a stalagmite. Ludo told him to stop as he spotted more of the flowers along the wall nearby pointing them out to his companions.
Ludo figuring they had it handled and would be smart enough to destroy the blossoms before venturing nearer decided to scout the bridge out while they searched the remainder of the cavern. Chester fired of an eldritch blast at the blossoms scattering the spores and once again afflicted Alexander. As the spores took hold Alexander looked over to where his companions stood only to see the cultists again. In a panic he dashed away, Gaius and Chester following at a distance. Alelyn called upon he magic to cast a sacred flame at the Terrorblooms in an attempt to burn them away and prevent anyone else from being afflicted by their spores. After a few uses of her spell she managed to clear away all of the blooms. After that was done she went to find the others and tried to help Alexander. After a few moments trapped in his terror the strain proved to be too much and @alexander collapsed face first into the stony floor. Rushing over Gaius flipped him over and immediately tried to use his healing magic to revitalize him. Though the magic took hold it did not bring him back from unconsciousness. Looking him over Gaius noticed on of Alexander's tusks had broken off in the fall, and his attempt to magically mend it failed. Alelyn approached and checked his vitals, only to find that he was comatose similarly to how Chester was after his encounter with the Terrorbloom. Taking out her components bag, she prepared a restoration spell to end his affliction. After a few moments the spell took hold and Alexander slowly opened his eyes, mumbling about where the cultists had gone. They told him that there had been no cultists and that the whole ordeal was an illusion brought about by the pollen of the Terrorbloom. Puzzled he looked at all their faces shaking his head, the exhaustion obvious on his face. "Here. Your tusk broke when you fell. I tried to fix it, but it didn't work." Gaius told him handing over the broken tusk. Shaking his head Alexander stood up and took the tusk, dropping it in his pocket. "Let's move on." Moving out onto the bridge they found that is was quite damaged, however Ludo had reinforced some wooden bridges to allow them to cross. Moving one by one they made their way across with relative ease.
Ludo used his shadowstep ability to appear atop one of the pillars of stone to fight one of the spiders. From his perch on the stone, he rained punches down on the spider splattering it across the stones. It's at this moment that his keen eyes spotted the Mouldering druid on the ground outside the pillars preparing to cast another spell. Inside the pillars Alexander is bit by one of the spiders, and in turn strikes out at it with his newly acquired Dwarven Throwing Hammer. Alelyn struck the insect swarm with her shovel not finding her strike to be as effective as she had hoped and attempted to back up, at which the swarm struck out at her and their bites caused her to become blinded. Chester fired off a couple eldritch blasts at one of the spiders perched atop the pillars, preparing to descend on its trapped prey. The first blast struck the stone, while the second caught the full mass of the spider knocking it from its perch felling the creature. Meanwhile a giant spider dropped down directly behind Gaius and Alexander, striking out with its fangs at a distracted Gaius to bite him in the back. In this moment the druid outside the stones managed to cast his spell causing vines and brambles to rapidly sprout from the ground inside the circle, ensnaring all of those inside with the exception of Alelyn and Fenrir. Leaping and dodging the vines and brambles Fenrir bit at the swarm of insects catching several in his mouth with a viscous snap. As his teeth tore deep into their pulpy flesh, their insides splurted out into his mouth infecting him with heir disease weakening him. Alexander called upon his divine powers to imbue his strike with divine energy, as well as magically inflaming his hammer as he struck blow after blow on the giant spider. His rain of blows and the magic fire found purchase among the giant spiders fur and caused it to set ablaze. more of the spiders struck out at the tangled Gaius biting him and injecting their poison into him before he brought his mace down heartily squashing one of the smaller spiders. Chester fired off a few more eldritch blasts at the swarm of insects destroying some of them, but not completely killing the swarm. Alelyn staggered back thrashing about wildly in her blindness, slashing back wildly with her shovel. Ludo again shadowstepped, this time appearing behind the druid firing off a series of well aimed strikes, catching the druid off guard and stunning him in place. Even in his stunned state the druid maintained his concentration on the spell that caused the vines and brambles to entangle those inside the stones. The large spider prepared to strike again at Alexander, but the flames roaring on its back took their toll and as it lunged forward it slumped dead mere inches from striking Alexander. At which he hurled his heavy hammer again striking out at another spider before it could bite one of his companions. Alelyn managed to cast a lesser restoration on herself to remove the blindness caused by the insect swarm. As her vision cleared she saw the druid outside the stones with Ludo and started to make her way over to squeeze between the pillars. Alexander smashed the remaining insects of the swarm with his hammer, with the immediate threat inside the stone pillars having been quelled Gaius took a moment to heal himself before proceeding to shimmy his way through the stone pillars. Chester also made his way out of the circle, while Alexander's large form coupled with his thick half-plate armor wouldn't fit between them he was forced to climb up and over them. Now outside the circle Alelyn cast her toll the dead spell at the stunned druid inflicting significant damage to him dropping the spell he was still maintaining within the circle. Gaius not being able to reach him attempted to throw his mace at him, but in the gloom released too soon and it sailed harmlessly over the druid's shoulder to clatter behind him in the darkness. Ludo struck a few more blows allowing Fenrir to move in for a bite attack. The druid turned to strike Ludo heartily in the chest with his staff with a critical hit and a cloud of fungal spores poured off him. As Ludo inhaled the spores he fell unconscious to the ground. Seeing her friend fall lifeless to the ground Alelyn called upon her connection to The Matron and uttered some words to restore some vitality to his unconscious form. Chester fired off another volley of eldritch blasts, while Alexander hurled his hammer into the druids chest. With the sound of the druid's ribs cracking, Fenrir tore into his calf, Gaius healed himself some more, and Ludo stood back up and drove his fist into his kidneys paralyzing him before reaching up to snap his neck from behind. As Chester searched the druids corpse, Ludo shadowstepped back into the circle of stone to recover venom from the slain spiders. Alexander called after him to bring him out a spider leg and some of the meat, meanwhile Gaius trekked off back towards the entrance of the cavern they had entered in search of his mace. In the darkness he found it against the wall, as he bent to grab it his arm brushed an unseen flower growing on the cavern wall and with that contact it released its spores. Inhaling those spores he blinked a few times, and as his eyes adjusted he found himself deep underwater gasping for breath. Falling to the ground in his mind he was drowning. Having finished looting the corpse and harvesting what they could from the spiders the others looked around, as Alelyn asked "where's Gaius?" Alexander chimes in noncommittally with "I thought I saw him go to find his mace, that way." As he nodded back behind where the druids corpse was back towards where they entered the cavern. "I'll go get him." Heading in that direction, he saw his prone form slumped against the cavern floor, Alexander rushed over failing to notice the flower blooms around him. When he stooped down to check his pulse Alexander brushed one of those flowers and inhaled its spores. Closing his eyes to try and clear his vision, when he opened them as he looked down to where Gaius should have been he saw one of the cultists from his youth reaching for him. Staggering away startled by what he saw, Alexander glanced behind him and saw that there were three more cultists approaching with a growling hound. Screaming, Alexander took off in a run around the a stalagmite in an attempt to escape the cultists pursuing him. Gaius continued struggling against the weight of the water he felt pressing upon him as he continued to drown. The others started to make their way towards where Gaius and Alexander had gone, Alelyn approached the prone form of Gaius to check his vitals. Alexander saw her as one of the cultists from his youth, and to him it looked like she was drawing a weapon to attack him. In turn he struck out wildly with his hammer striking her bodily and knocking her back over Gaius' prone form. Ludo caught a glimpse of the familiar blossom of the Terrorblooms they had encountered the night before and immediately told Alelyn to freeze. Pointing them out Chester cast a chill touch spell to ensnare the blossom in a spectral hand of necrotic energy wilting it away. While Alelyn dug in her components pouch to prepare to cast a spell to help save Gaius from the terror he was trapped in, Ludo made haste to run parallel to Alexander in an effort to get ahead of him and prevent him from running off the cliff and falling into the fathomless depths below. To Alexander this appeared to be a cultist chasing him through the dark depths, his running and thrashing in attempt to escape the cultists was taking it toll on his pysche and wearing him down. Preparing her spell Alelyn looked down at Gaius and saw his breathing had slowed some and he seemed to be calming down. To Gaius he was swimming through the icy depths, the surface in sight. He continued the swim as the terror continued its mental strain, finally he broke the surface taking in deep gasps of breath and sitting up coughing. His sudden burst startled Alelyn, after a moment she was able to gather herself and get him calmed down. Helping him to his feet, Alelyn, Chester, Gaius, and Fenrir made their way through the center of the chamber as a group. Ludo managed to break through to Alexander and clear away the visions of the cultist. With him calmed just before the edge of the chasm Ludo convinced him that they weren't in danger and that there were no cultists, but they needed to find their friends. Following along the cliff edge they met the others at a bridge that extended out across the chasm. Deciding to search the remainder of the cavern Alexander followed the cliff face the other side of the bridge and spotted a skeleton slumped against a stalagmite. Ludo told him to stop as he spotted more of the flowers along the wall nearby pointing them out to his companions.
Ludo figuring they had it handled and would be smart enough to destroy the blossoms before venturing nearer decided to scout the bridge out while they searched the remainder of the cavern. Chester fired of an eldritch blast at the blossoms scattering the spores and once again afflicted Alexander. As the spores took hold Alexander looked over to where his companions stood only to see the cultists again. In a panic he dashed away, Gaius and Chester following at a distance. Alelyn called upon he magic to cast a sacred flame at the Terrorblooms in an attempt to burn them away and prevent anyone else from being afflicted by their spores. After a few uses of her spell she managed to clear away all of the blooms. After that was done she went to find the others and tried to help Alexander. After a few moments trapped in his terror the strain proved to be too much and @alexander collapsed face first into the stony floor. Rushing over Gaius flipped him over and immediately tried to use his healing magic to revitalize him. Though the magic took hold it did not bring him back from unconsciousness. Looking him over Gaius noticed on of Alexander's tusks had broken off in the fall, and his attempt to magically mend it failed. Alelyn approached and checked his vitals, only to find that he was comatose similarly to how Chester was after his encounter with the Terrorbloom. Taking out her components bag, she prepared a restoration spell to end his affliction. After a few moments the spell took hold and Alexander slowly opened his eyes, mumbling about where the cultists had gone. They told him that there had been no cultists and that the whole ordeal was an illusion brought about by the pollen of the Terrorbloom. Puzzled he looked at all their faces shaking his head, the exhaustion obvious on his face. "Here. Your tusk broke when you fell. I tried to fix it, but it didn't work." Gaius told him handing over the broken tusk. Shaking his head Alexander stood up and took the tusk, dropping it in his pocket. "Let's move on." Moving out onto the bridge they found that is was quite damaged, however Ludo had reinforced some wooden bridges to allow them to cross. Moving one by one they made their way across with relative ease.
Rewards Granted
From the Druid/Spiders
Mouldering signet ring/pendent
Gnarled wood staff
Dead sprite in a glass bottle
Collapsible fan with the depiction of a sleeping cat on it
Jar of Moondark Facepaint
70gp, 19sp, 29cp
5 Vials of spider venom
Giant spider leg and giant spider meat
From the Skeleton
- Enormous scale (possibly from a dragon)
- 3gp, 99cp
Character(s) interacted with
The Mouldering druid.
Created Content
Terrorbloom visions
Report Date
05 Sep 2021
Secondary Location
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