Mission 016: The Pursuit Underground
Just south of the mining town of Druvenlode in the heart of the Dwendalian Empire, the confident older son of a minor baron has gone missing in the wilderness and the handful of guards sent after him never returned.
Mission Log
The Golden Standard were contracted by the head of the Drayton household guard to Druvenlode, three days past the disappearance of young Pascal Drayton. He charged them to go in search of not only the baron's missing son but also the three guards Damore had originally sent after the boy, who mysteriously have also not returned . After some questioning of Captain Damore Oakenridge, the group came to understand that Pascal, looking to make a man out of himself, went boldly into the nearby natural cave system to face down local legends that suggest not to venture onto the east bank of the local river past nightfall. While the captain indicated clearly he didn't believe there was any substance to the rumors, he did nonetheless admit there's been a disappearance or two or ten in the past year, mainly recalling because of the hullabaloo made at the first disappearance, which was that of a botany student from Rexxentrum's nearby Soltryce Academy.
So of course, the party ventured onto the east bank of the river past nightfall.
Delving deep into the wilderness south of Druvenlode, the party made their way into the vivid and verdant forest as humidity rolled over them in waves. After a lengthy hike that ended in deep mud, the fearsome foursome followed a series of bootprints that led into the natural cave system a hundred feet or so off from the river itself. While some members were thoroughly enjoying their nature walk, others found themselves up to their (metaphorical) ears in mud, and others still were recalling a recent Frankensteinian mission they'd faced down. Anticipating the worst, the group moved forward into the caves. Some remarkably insightful checks indicated to the group that the deep rich heady soil that made up the mud just outside the cave entrance (and fed the multiple non-native plants species which bloomed and thrived there) was far too nutrient-dense to be normal... and with no small amount of concern, Monty warned the group that it was most likely due to sewage runoff... or a mass grave of some kind.
Inside they found wet stone floors, dark channels and tunnels that opened upward inside the entrance, and bioluminescent lichen that lined the damp walls. Accompanied only by the echoes of their footsteps, Hansi put his life in the hands of the party members with darkvision and on they went. Moments turned into minutes which turned into a long, dank adventure deep underground, culminating in their discovery of a long-standing half-decayed wall with a tall thin stone door at the center. In its state of decay, the party was able to ascertain that it was clearly enchanted in some way, given it was still standing in its current state. With astonishingly good history rolls, the group was almost immediately able to discern that this was a long-abandoned Kryn settlement, a town beneath the ground, from ages past.
The party pulled at the door. No luck. Hansi prepared to pick the lock of the door. No lock, or keyhole. The party attacked the door. Tide was thrown back, twice. The party cast magic at the door. It bounced back to singe Auron with his own firebolt.
Then the party noticed a pair of inscriptions above the door itself, worn away by time but still decipherable - at least the top one, indirectly but with their best translation, by those who speak Elvish. The best translation they garnered was: "What room can you see but cannot enter?"
A mushroom, of course.
After Tide pressed one of the small nearby fungi against the door, it swung open, and a wash of magicks, like the release of a sigh, spilled out over them and allowed them entrance. Upon venturing forth into the ruins, however, the party saw three silhouettes ahead, perfectly still, without a breath of motion. Auron and Monty stealthed forward to investigate, but when they called out to the distinctly humanoid creatures, who appeared to be covered in some kind of rust-colored growths, all three turned their heads in perfect and utterly unsettling synchronous motion... and attacked.
With herculean efforts, the group fought back not only the three guards, but multiple large violet fungus which sprouted limbs and clambered off the walls to engage with the party. Fire and brimstone, quarterstaff and crossbow, and one very vehement magical sword were all wielded with varying levels of success against distinctly disconnected enemies who did not flinch upon being struck, whose bodies caved against blows that should have crippled and yet they continued the fight. When all was said and done, several of the fungi returned to their spots on the walls, but the three guards Damore Oakenridge had sent in lay dead, having been turned to mycelius extensions of some greater fungal system: a notion that did not do much comfort the party.
Before moving on, the group took a short rest to regain some health and their nerve, and upon investigating the ruins, came across a corked glass bottle filled with a clear liquid, and a hinged glass jar that contained a small crimson worm.
As the group moved to continue forward on the main path, Auron took one last look at the ruins they were leaving behind -- and unbidden, his body froze as his mind instead took in the decayed and abandoned settlement and showed him, as if a bright light were shining from within his chest outward, a vision of what this place HAD been. Lively and crowded, beautiful and vivacious, bleeding from the world he stood in to the world that used to be... and then he blinked, only to find it gone.
With nothing left to do but move on, the group traveled forward until they reached a space where a dark, narrowing tunnel laid ahead. Suspiciously lacking in glowing lichens, fungi or other such now-familiar companions, not one of the group rolled above a 7 on perception and such felt they should just carry on straight forward until they came to the almost blindingly-bright opening to a massive cavern room. Within the group could see countless glowing flora on the walls, the ground, the ceiling, as well as one massive mushroom looming up from a sinkhole in the center of the room. A figure sat slumped in a chair, while another smaller figure (a gnome in dirty rags) chanted beneath his breath and danced ritualistically around.
The group tried to move forward carefully, but small red and white shrieker mushrooms announced their presence before they were ready... and the whole of the cavern occupants, including half-wild gnome, dark silhouettes of fungi-infected guards, large violet fungi, and the massive giant mushroom in the center of the sinkhole, all turned their ire on our four adventurers. Monty, armed with Matilda, knowledge and a hell of a lot of displeasure at these fungal creatures, called to the group that they should focus on the massive mushroom, as Auron twinned guiding bolts to devastating effect on the creatures encroaching on his party. While Tide rescued the baron's son and took enemies on three versus one, Hansi narrowly skirted a cluster of creatures appearing at his back while concentrating on his magical bonfire continually burning pieces off the massive mushroom, and Auron let his bright golden wings free to soar up into the air.The gnome made a hasty retreat out of sight of the party while they combatted with lower life forms and the massive mushroom belched out cloud after cloud of bright pink and purple spores. Again and again the party struck blows against the enormous fungi, but as the spore clouds blew toward the party, both Hansi and Auron fell prey to their hallucinatory effects, leaving Auron with a bad trip that at least didn't have him screaming, and Hansi utterly convinced of his own sudden and heavenly divinity. Having been raised to godhood, Hansi righteously sent forth the final rush of flame that at last burned the massive mushroom (and all other creatures, connected deep underground through the mycelium) to a husk.
Though the party did not capture the botanist gnome, they walked away with an alive and soon-to-be-well Pascal Drayton, pages full of the mad ramblings of a former botany student from the Soltryce Academy named Warcorin Lightfen, and a handful of items they were able to dig up from within the dark and crowded cave where he slept his evenings away. The Golden Standard marks another notch on their respective reputation as the group returned the missing baron's son to his home, along with knowledge of the household guards' demise, in exchange for profuse gratitude and a golden prize for each one.SUMMARY
DM Katie
PLAYERS Clare (Hansi), Louis (Auron), Sherri (Tide), Tony (Monty)
RESULT Mission Complete!
TOTAL XP 1550 each
TOTAL GP 50 gp each paid (and 1 gp each discovered)