A Bull In A Crystal Tomb

The group has climbed along the rise which brings them to meet Phylo, the other myconid leader within the Neverlight Grove. Here he invites the group to join him in the great celebration. The group declines politely as they try not to tread upon the heads of the many bodies which lie half buried in the fungal growth on the ground.

The Garden Of Horror
2,600 XP

As they begin to back slowly away from the insane myconid, Azalea yells out for Stool. Where is he? Does he know that his colony has been infiltrated by insane myconids? As they start back down the slope they are blocked by another myconid who has come from behind. It is barely recognizable as a myconid. It's bloated form hulks along and it's body is riddled with red angry nodules of spores which pulsate. Ooze and putrescence flow from its many orifices. The group begins making excuses to leave but before they can get very far, this one, Yestabrod, gives off an explosion of spores which envelopes, Thokk, Gotrek and Eldith. Gotrek is able to hold his breath and turn away from the spores but Thokk and Eldith have already breathed them in. They stand there in a stupor.

 Near the others, Yeava and Azalea witness the many bodies that have been buried in the fungus begin to arise. Bodies of the drow elves, now deformed with fungal growths invading their bodies, begin pull themselves out of the ground and Phylo laughs and begins to sway in time with the music heard within his head. He beckons his spore controlled warriors to attack.

Azalea hears the familiar call of Stool. He has come as fast as he can. She had called. But now he finds them fighting his people. Why? Azalea tries to explain that they have done nothing wrong and that these creatures attacked. Stool stays off to the side witnessing the horrific battle.

Gotrek, lower down the slope now sees several spore infected quagotths approaching to attack. They rip and claw at the dwarf. Meanwhile Thokk and Eldith remain frozen, their minds numbed by Yestabrod's spores. One by one the group dispatches the spore servants and turn their attention to the myconid leaders. Gotrek attacks the bloated myconid, Yestabrod, and cleaves him through. But as Yestabrod's body falls it begins to shake violently and explodes in a shower of caustics spores covering Gotrek.

Finally, when the area has been cleared of enemies, the party explores a little further on. Just past the rise they see a massive cavern with a mushroom which dwarfs all others. It reaches to the ceiling of the cavern and it's cap giving off a eerie green glow to the ground far below. It's stalk is a massive structure that the group sees many different creatures moving in and out of. Along the ground are several hundred bodies of various creatures in various stages of decay. The great mushroom's fungal tendrils spread across the bodies in a great web-like pattern.

As the group stands there trying to make sense of what they see, they see a vision. The air is filled with the spores of the great mushroom and under their influence they see within the great mushroom a vast and huge demon. It sleeps at the moment but it is using its influence, through the mutation of the myconids spores to take control of the colony. The colony must feed it until it is strong enough.

The group decides this would be a perfect time to leave. Fast.

They run back down to the main colony and approach the older leader, Bisidia. They attempt to explain what they have seen and try to convince him that he should evacuate his people. With the aid of Stool they seem to get through to him and he begins giving orders to see to the preparations for his people to leave. It is then that he tells Stool to prepare to leave with the colony.

Azalea, looks at Stool puzzled. Stool is coming with her. Isn't he?

Stool stands between both his home leader and his best friend Azalea. Both Azalea and Basidia implore Stool to choose themselves. Stool looks torn but soon runs to Azalea who scoops him up in her arms.

They leave.

Thokk leads them unwavering back to the junction at which they had encountered the purple worm. They had been teleported there and that is as far as his skills can lead them.  Yeava scans the ground and finds traces of odd spongy foot prints. The footprints of the purple worm farmers. They have taken to wearing footwear that gives off very little vibrations in order to put off any creature that has tremorsense. They follow the prints until they reach an underground river. They follow the river upstream for many hours. The river has no banks upon which to rest just a tunnel filled with rushing water for many miles.

Eventually they come to an area which has a ledge but they decide to push on. Again after about an hour they come to a waterfall. Half of the water goes into the river they have been following and the other half falls down into a cavern with a about a 60 foot drop. After each has looked down into the abyss and tossed various illumination spells down to discern what they can, they decide to backtrack to the small ledge. There they rest and talk of plans. Sandar attends his mistress, Azalea, cleaning and drying her as best he can before preparing her bedroll.

When they do push on they find a tunnel leading from the ledge away from the river. They follow it for some time until they come to a cave in. Thokk and Gotrek begin pulling rocks from the blocked path hoping that the collapse does not go far. They continue moving rocks until they uncover a previously hidden tunnel. Some of the group notice that Sandar seems particularly excited about this discovery.

Thokk travels down the tunnel alone to investigate. He moves through the small tunnel until he comes to a small room. On the far side of the room is a single door. A large strong door. He calls to the others of his discovery. As the rest of the group arrives, Thokk takes time to inspect the door. It does not seem to be trapped in any way he can discern. No odd hinges, wires or other suspicious mechanisms. He tries the door. The doorknob turns, so it is not locked, but the door refuses to open.

Thokk brings all of his considerable strength to bear upon opening the door. With a loud rushing sound of air the door whips open and Thokk and Gotrek are sucked out of the door and into a volcanic shaft on the other side. The rushing hot air sweeping them up and up.

Back in the room, with the sound of rushing air in everyone's ears, Azalea, Yeava and Eldith turn from their handholds, keeping them from being sucked out of the room, scanning the room to see who is left. They see Sandar holding Stool with a dagger to Stool's stalk (neck?). Sandar calmly tells the rest of the group that he would like their assistance in retrieving an item of some importance for him. Yeava and Azalea begin to approach Sandar but he holds them back with a nudge of his dagger against Stool as well as the beginning of his transformation.

Sandar looses the blonde locks and strong jawline of a handsome noble and begins to transform into a hideous death slaad. His monstrous face now that of a abonimation smiles at Azalea, "I didn't even get around to bedding you yet. What a pity."  He orders them to go  out into the shaft and about 60 feet above they will find a ledge. After the ledge they will find a cavern. Inside they will find a weapon. That is what he wants.

Thokk and Gotrek have already found the ledge. On their wild ascent up the volcanic shaft they had grabbed hold of it and collapsed safely upon it. Thokk takes one of the torchstalk mushrooms and lights it. He holds it over the edge, it's glow brightening in the wind, and lets it go. It rapidly shoots up and up until some ways above him it shatters into a shower of tiny sparks and embers. Their is a roof to this volcanic shoot. Perhaps it would not do to let yourself fly to the ceiling.

Yeava has pulled out her climbing equipment and has secured several anchors into the floor and secured several feet of rope through them. She tosses the rope out and up and the others upon the ledge grab hold and secure the other end. Yeava carefully ascends the rope until she is at the upper ledge. The three of them move back until they find an entrance to cavern and they enter.

The Crystal Tomb
3,300 XP + 100 XP

As Thokk, Gotrek and Yeava enter, they see a massive glittering cavern. Every inch is covered in bluish-green crystals. Most are scattered along the ground but other grow in huge clusters. Some as large as trees. Yeava picks up a small crystal and throws it as far as she can. As it lands it shatters and huge green plant vines begin to grow until a huge area is covered in a tangle of vines in a matter of seconds. Thokk moves into the cavern he picks up a crystal and throws it. It shatters but not too far from them. The shattered crystal gives off a brief explosion of light and the group's metal items begin to glow red hot. Thokk and Gotrek's metal armor begins to burn them and they rush to doff their armor.

While they are painfully occupied, Yeava moves further into the cavern, watching her steps carefully. There is a frozen pond nearby as well as a huge wall of ice at the far end of the cavern which rises from the floor of the cavern to it's ceiling. She pauses as she hears the sound of crystal footsteps, clinking.  She looks around to see three crystalline slivers taking position to surround her. Thokk decides to forgo his armor and he pulls his spear magically from his alternate plane of existance to appear in his hand.

Yeava moves through the cavern making short work of the sliver creatures. At which point, Gotrek returns to them weapon in hand armor donned and ready for action. A little too late.

Thokk and Yeava moves further down the cavern to inspect the  large wall of ice. Thokk decides to melt it with firebolt. He fire off the spell again and again until the ice is smooth as glass with a watery sheen flowing down over it. Through the now smooth ice they can see a faint figure. It looks like a human holding a sword above himself. Another creature, only a dim shape looms further behind the human. Both Thokk and Yeava pause to inspect the figure and the sword.

That's when Thokk hears the voice in his head ask why he stopped. It is an impatient and condescending voice. It implores them to carry on and free it. Thokk begins to talk back to the human on the other side of the ice, while Yeava only looks on with concern. She hears nothing. The voice tells Thokk that the voice isn't that of the human, he's inconsequential. It is the sword talking to him. The sword introduces itself as 'The Harvester'.

"There are battles to be waged. Enemies to be vanquished. Blood to be soaked in. Hurry up and free me."

Thokk and Yeava break through the ice carefully enough that they can now retrieve the sword without disturbing anything else, including the human. Thokk pulls it out and speaks to it. It has been locked in the ice for what seems like a millennium. Thokk decides to see what else he can get out of the ice and begins to chop at the ice with his new sword. The sword is furious. It is no common ax.

Yeava tells them of the death slaad and it's threats against Stool back down in the other room. They have to return with the sword.  They return back to the ledge and there they see Sandar with Stool still in his grasp. Azalea has been glaring at the death slaad waiting for her chance to attack. When the others return each is on guard and demand that Sandar release Stool.

Gotrek in a barbarian rage, demands Sandar let Stool go or he will send a spell to shatter the largest cluster of crystals and kill them all. Yeava, Thokk and Azalea all simultaneously attack Sandar. But their attacks go uselessly through Sandar. It is simply an illusion.

They make their way back down to the room below and there is Sandar with Stool still at his mercy. There is a lot of yelling and threats made back and forth but ultimately, Sandar realizes that the group will not be intimidated and he threatens to throw Stool into the volcanic shaft. The entire room is tense but no one gives in, all the while Stool crying quietly.

Finally, Sandar in disgust throws Stool towards the door. Stool will be sucked up and be thrown against the stone ceiling shattering into a million little fungal pieces. Azalea rushes to intercept Stool and with a dramatic jump and catch, pulls Stool into her chest, throwing her arms around him to protect him, falls to the floor and  with a roll, stands with Stool safely back with her.

Meta Game Spoiler

"DM Note: One the most memorable times of a crit roll. Awesome catch Azalea.

Now with Stool safe, the rest of the group unleashes all their fury and attacks. But Sandar has other plans. He summons a portal, jumps through and with a snarl and final threat of revenge, he disappears through the portal. "One day when you feel safe, I will find you!"

Theldek's Contraption

Returning back to the tunnels, Thokk and Gotrek resume excavating the collapse until they make a hole large enough to make it through to the other side. Apart from a small recollapse which unfortunately happened while Gotrek was still making his way through the rubble the group make it safely to the other side and continue on their way.

Thokk and Gotrek make noise with their music and singing, while the rest of the group slips in lyrics that poke fun at Gotrek's rock engineering skills but Yeava moves silently ahead of the group. She hears hammering of metal and sees faint torch light ahead. She rushes back to silence the others. Yeava makes her way stealthily back and finds a slight opening in the tunnel ahead. In the widened tunnel there is a machine. Large and metallic. It is about 20 feet long and 8 feet tall and cylindrical. There are several torches each staked into the ground around the device. On the far side, Yeava moves in to see a pair of dwarf's feet sticking out of the contraption while there is loud hammering from within.

The dwarf pops out and looks directly at Yeava. They introduce themselves as the others come out of the tunnel into the small clearing. The dwarf is Theldek and he is trying to get his tunneling machine working again. He calls it the "MUWAMICAR", MUlty WAnd MIning CAR. (The title is a working title only). He is very proud of it and shows them around. He is an inventor and shows them one of his other inventions. He reaches into a sack on his hip and produces a mechanical insect-like creature. It flies menacingly with a huge stinger on its backside until Theldek calls it back.

"Impressive no? Patent pending."

The group asks if he can assist them in returning to the surface. He doesn't see why not. He can get them at least part way. He is going to revolutionize dwarven mining and excavation and has to do it in secret so he can't return back to Gauntlgrym but can at least get them part way home.

Once his contraption is running again he takes Thokk on a ride back to his hold where he can dump off his days results of mining. He blindfolds Thokk while he empties out the cargo hold. Thokk dutifully waits, not peeking in the least. Once the cargo hold is empty they return back to the others. Thokk watching carefully all the while at how the dwarf pilots his contraption.

Once back the others pile into the vehicle and into the cargo hold. Thokk can stay up above just behind the drivers seat. With the roar of the engine and sparks of magical energy moving around the ship they move on. The ride is horribly bumping and uncomfortable for those in the cargo hold. The metal wheels have to forgiveness to flesh. The travel like this for some time until silence crashes down around them. The noise of the tunnelling blades have gone silent, as if they no longer are boring through rock.

There is then a sickening sense of the entire vehicle tipping forward. The vehicle begins to fall and its occupants are in free-fall for what seems too long to be safe. They come to a sudden and painful stop and the vehicle tips back down. The cargo hold door opens and Thokk peers in to make sure everyone is all right. They each exit the contraption while Theldek begins to attempt repairs.

It would seem they have broken into an empty cavern. The floors, save where they have crashed down, seem to be a polished, black reflective stone cut into perfectly level and symmetrical tiles. The cavern is vast and dark. The others call back to Theldek and ask where they are. He is inside his contraption and so they describe to him what they see. He calls back to them that they must hurry and seems in a panic to complete his repairs. This just might be the cavern of a beholder that is rumored to haunt this area. The rest of the group return to the inside of the vehicle.

Looking out through it's narrow slit of a view port they see in the dark distance, one large eye float into view, a toothy smile growing slowly beneath it. Then is slowly fades as it retreats back into the darkness.