Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

The group decides to sleep in the tunnel but take shifts to keep an eye out. Carindrina takes first shift and while she stays near the mouth of the cave, she wanders and sees that there are smaller possibly child size footprints in the sand, leading away from them. She woke up Belladonna and asked her to try to track the footprints, agreeing to stay up for part of Belladonna’s watch so she can search. Belladonna sees that there are at least 3 sets of footprints and follows them, stealthily moving around the edge of the lake. She follows through towards the tunnel on the far end of the lake, picking out a more recent pair of footprints she is very confident belongs to Hannah, but notices the sandy soil shifts and becomes darker. She returns to let Carindrina sleep, then wakes up Nira for her shift.

Belladonna tells her about the footprints and goes to sleep. Nira waits until she falls asleep then rushes to follow the footsteps around the beach to the far tunnel. She ventures into the tunnel and sees a fork. It is getting close to the end of her hour shift, so she turns back and wakes up Galia. She tells her that she needs to take watch so Nira can go follow these footprints and starts to run off. Galia reached out and cast Shadow Snag, holding Nira in place, Nira sighed and gave in, agreeing to stay. Galia asks if Nira wants to tell her about her life. Nira admits the missing kids makes her think about her brothers and Galia asks if they can help find her brothers. Nira admits that would be nice once they find these kids. Galia tells her that she has siblings but they are all shitheads. Nira laughs and smiles at her, ”Sorry about your family.” Galia sighs, explaining that they are bad, she is just weird and they don’t like her. Nira tells her that she understands that feeling more than she knows. Galia says that she will make sure the group stays together to help Nira find her brothers. Nira is suspicious, but they wake Adalia up for the next shift and go to sleep.

Adalia stats close to the group, but exploring the soil, she notices that there are sulfuric rocks mixed into the sand. She goes to the water’s edge and calls to the Nereid. The beautiful woman swims towards the shore and raises her head above the water, large eyes staring at Adalia with mild curiosity, “I see you are still here.” Adalia reassures her that they are leaving soon and asks if she is ok. The Nereid says she is ok, she is working on a new shawl and hopefully the waters will heal as they have been making her sick for months. Adalia thanks her for protecting the waters and she disappears under water, leaving a small blue pearl that gently floats to the shore at Adalia’s feet. Adalia wakes Midna up.

Midna searches around and notices that the plant life on the walls is not lichen or similar plant life that she would expect, but instead looks like small poison mushroom spores similar to what she has seen near her home in Epaul. She wakes up Belladonna to get her opinion on whether they should wake up the group and move them so they don’t risk breathing the spores. The walls are about 45 ft apart, but the group is wary enough that they all wake up and move as Midna gently suggests that they don’t leave Furus alone on the last shift to watch the wall. They discuss fire, but they realize that they may cause a cloud of spores to be released. The mushroom are so small right now, that they shouldn’t release any spores unless they are physically disturbed. Belladonna, carefully investigating them, recognizes these as things she has seen under Scath Mountain and are frequently left as a trail by the evil Fungal Fey. Belladonna leaps into action, banging pots together to wake the group up. They all rise and share their overnight discoveries. Midna tells Furus to be extra cautious, and Adalia says that no one should go in the water. Belladonna reiterates that the fey are terrible and will kill them, so don’t touch the mushrooms, don’t offend the mushrooms, don’t look at the mushrooms.
Nira calls out, “ I do not see them, I look away.”
Carindrina sings, “Awaaaayyy” letting it echo in the cavern.
Midna picks up the tracks and starts heading into the labyrinth.
“I feel like everytime we get into trouble, Midna knows the way.”
They came to a fork in the road and Midna explained the predicament to the group. The child-size footprints appeared to travel South, but the adult-sized footprints appeared to travel East. They agreed the East was a problem for another day and they would travel South. Quickly they came upon another fork. They could hear a strange noise, and the tunnels appeared to be getting darker and more brimstone along the walls. They took the right-handed path, and found themselves in a larger chamber. There was a skeleton in the corner. The area was so large and cavernous the sound they had heard was bouncing around and distorted, becoming too hard to follow.

They heard a second noise, and as they kept still, they heard that it was footsteps. The crept forward quietly and saw the edge of Hannah’s cloak pass around a corner. Adalia asked Belladonna to carefully follow Hannah. She took off ahead and just in time as Carindrina and Nira ran into each other and had a small kerfluffle. The group follows at a good distance, Furus and Carindrina falling to the back as they realize they are loud. Adalia tells Venus to run ahead with Belladonna.

Venus laughs and quietly says, “Don’t forget to take your emotional support animal with you!” Then takes off, softly padding down the tunnel on her graceful paws.

Belladonna leaves a small trail of crumbs as Hannah picks up speed. She rounded a corner and saw Hannah slip down a Southern tunnel. She followed, then lost Hannah as she disappeared down the black tunnel. She had to make a decision, wait for the group, or rush to catch up with Hannah. She rushed forward to the edge of the tunnel, and realized it wasn’t a further tunnel in the cave system, but a portal. She whistled for the group to hurry and catch up.

Looking through the portal, the image shifts from a beautiful, lush, green forest to a dark and twisted, dying forest. It is shifting so quickly it is impossible to tell whether they are separate places or the same place.

Adalia motions for them to jump through, “Well, Cowabunga?”

Carindrina urges her to wait and investigates the portal. It appeared to be recently built with good materials, but there were areas that were pocked and warped, and did not seem to be sturdy enough to hold a portal open.

Midna suggested tying a rock to a rope and throwing it through, then pulling it back to see if there were any changes. Carindrina said that she would rather throw something living through if they had it. Nira said she thought they should just run through.

Furus suggested Juniper and Aquilla. Juniper growled at him and Carindrina agreed with her, saying that she would rather not use anyone’s pets. Venus said he could summon a dolphin with feet by giving it the shawl. Furus said that wouldn’t be useful unless there was water on the other side. He said that Adalia would have to summon a wave to push the water through. Nira said she could summon other creatures that may be more useful. Adalia, horrified, said they should try to avoid animal cruelty. Carindrina said that it was better than child abduction.

Galia decided she would jump through. She said they could always throw the trusty crowbar through first.

Venus held up her paw, “What about mage hand?”

The group agreed, so she sent her hand through. She could feel the warm breeze and soft grass, then also the burnt grass and hot, dessicated air. It switched back and forth, not settling on one or the other. She pulled the ghostly hand back.

Carindrina was solemn, “Sometimes in war, you have to do risky things. This isn’t war, but rescuing children is important.”

“Risk it to get the biscuit!” Nira chimed in.

Furus tied the rope of entanglement to Galia’s waist and she had Belladonna push her through. She was pushed into a bright grassy meadow. She messaged Furus, Adalia, and Belladonna: It looks like I’m in a fey forest, and it is really bright and happy. There is a lot of wind and trees rustling, but absolutely no animal noises. Everything looks fine, but it is a part of the forest I don’t know.

Adalia hesitated, “Well, Hannah did say that they were living in a forest. So…” and she jumped through the portal. It did look like Galia described: a beautiful, lush forest, windy, but no other noise. She turned and smiled at Galia, happy that they had ended up in the same place.

The group went over one by one, Carindrina going last. They were surprised to all be in a forest exactly as Galia had described. The strange thing was that the portal was no longer visible on this side. Adalia set about carving a rune of the water Shamans so they can find this area again. The group joked about leaving a dolphin instead, summoning a bathtub, having Adalia fill it with water, and then leaving that as a sentry.

They began to look around the clearing for footprints. The forest was beautiful, and as they listened to the wind, they realized it was more of a suctioning noise. The illusion broke, and they saw that it was a dark, twisted, dead wood. They also heard creepy, soft childrens laughter and a scream. They saw an arched set of gnarled, dead trees. They walk through. The area they entered was a dark cave that smelled of sulfur and mushrooms.

Venus sneezed and Adalia offhandedly muttered Bless You.

The darkness was lit softly by glowing purple mushrooms, and as the cave went on, they could see that there was a turn ahead of them. They decided to move slowly and carefully, but Carindrina’s armor got stuck on a jagged branch and as she pulled her armor free, there was a loud clatter of steel settling back into place. Furus and Galia were close behind her, and stopped when she made the noise. Ahead of them, a small, previously unnoticed creature spun around to face them. She had feathery gills around her neck, long tendrils that ended in small mushroom caps, and what appeared to be a dress initially was truly a mushroom cap that was sprouting from her body. Her eyes were ovoid and a strange purple to match the mushrooms in the cavern. They stared each other down for a few seconds. Carindrina slowly stepped backwards and the moment that the stillness broke, she reached into one of the round marks on the mushroom cap dress, pulled out a small glowing orb, whispered into it, and gently tossed it into the air. It floated towards the ceiling for a few seconds, the group watching in awe, then the whole cavern went dark. They could only see a few feet in front of them.

Carindrina quickly grabbed her shield off her back and readied her battle axe. The group’s eyes tried to adjust in the darkness, and an unsettling skittering noise echoed around the cavern. Belladonna felt the familiar panic creeping into her chest and she fought the fog of those memories to search for helpful information. She remembered that they could spread poisonous spore clouds and called out to everyone to be careful.

Carindrina crept forward slowly, careful not to step on any mushrooms. They could hear whispers ahead of them in the dark, but only Midna and Galia could understand the Sylvan. They heard, “We can’t let anyone through.”

Carindrina saw a bright purple flame shoot towards her, then felt a warm sensation around her as Faerie Fire lit her body. The glow wasn’t enough to extend her vision, but would make stealth impossible.

Midna notched an arrow and tried to listen for movement. She thought back to hunting in the dark woods, and let her arrow fly. There was a soft shh like puff of spores being released from the fungal creature.

Venus called out, “I think we all know what we are going to start with.”

“FIRE!” Nira called.

The flame shot over, missing the fey, but it did light up the area for a few seconds, showing that where there had been one, there were now three fey. Juniper ran forward until she closed in next to Adalia. In the darkness, soft rustling noises signaled that one of the fey was preparing an action. They heard the ground move and churn and saw thick, gnarled spikes grow up from the ground, impeding their movement. The spikes and thorns erupted from the ground in a circle around Carindrina. She attempted to step back, but the spikes were digging through her armored boots, so she stayed in place, a small area where her feet had been trampled enough to not be affected. Furus, feeling this happen under his feet, tried to cast counterspell, but was unsuccessful.

Nira, who had crept up onto a rocky ledge of the cave wall, looked down at the purple mushrooms and tried to determine if they would support her weight without triggering a spore release. While she was trying to move, an arc of lighting shot over her head, but fizzled out before it could reach her.

Furus switched songs and began to inspire the group in the darkness. They heard his voice and tried to orient themselves in relation to his song. Carindrina smiled at the tune. Adalia called upon the spirit of the waves and flew carefully forward, listening for the fey. She summoned barbed chains from the deep to break through the surface and flail into the fey closest to her. She heard the rattle and flail and squelch as they hit the fungal fey’s soft body, a small puff of spores released.

Belladonna strained her ears and was able to pin where she believed one of the fey was moving. She let an arrow loose and hear it clatter against the far wall of the cave. Galia, after Furus called out a suggestion to walk on the mushrooms, decided to carefully walk across the top of the mushrooms and jump over to land near Midna. Aquila was trapped and was unable to move without injuring himself. Nira, searching for a way to help, thought about trying to cast air bubble on Venus hoping that she would be immune to the spores, but decided to cast bless instead

Carindrina, frustrated with her situation and wanting to hurry to rescue the children, moved forward through the spike growth, feeling the thorns stab her legs and feet through her armor, the pain sharp and biting. She could finally see one of the fungal fey, who met her stare with an intense gaze as she gripped a crossbow and pointed it at the dwarf. Carindrina hurled a dagger at the fey, but it didn’t strike her.

Midna walked carefully on top of the mushrooms until she could see one of the creatures. She shot an arrow at the fungal fey creature closest to her. It sunk into her chest and she turned to gasp, looking at Midna. Instead of bleeding, there was a light pollen leaking from her chest.

Venus leapt over the gap to get to the next area of mushrooms near Galia. Juniper decided to move forward, the thorns piercing her paws, blood splattering her soft white fur, she jumped up to rest near Galia.

A small blade of fire hurtled towards Midna and embedded in her shoulder. As Midna felt it burn through her, it dissipated, leaving only pain and the smell of seared flesh. The next fey cast a fireball at Adalia, it landed near her feet and struck her legs. It came so quickly out of the darkness, Adalia couldn’t tell where it originated. Furus, trying to turn the battle in their favor and help them see, summoned a swarm of fire beetles.

To be Continued...