The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom (Game Thread V)

[Breila]

"Yes, Locky, the rocks are pretty, but we really should be going back to the others. We've been away far longer than expected. And I don't like to leave only Shay in charge of protecting the prisoners."

With care, sling ready, they turn right, pass the tunnel they explored earlier and the mad tree chamber. At the entrance of the downward tunnel, Babushka checks the pattern made with the marbles to see if they have been disturbed.

[Jerrard]

Jerrard leans forward "I am going to put this on you, to help, it might make you feel better." He places the cloak carefully around the mans neck.

"We will look after you, and keep you safe. Can you help us? We plan to stop this, and to free Merithina and Ulster." He keeps his voice level. "You know Merithina and Ulster don't you Thuskar?" He turns and looks to the doors.

"Elvenoff I plan to search each room in
Turn, looking for a way to free our new friends. Then, I aim to get Thuskar here to help lift the portcullis." He pauses waiting for some form of approval. "If we cannot lift the portcullis, the next option is south.

[JadedDM]

Babushka and Locky make it back to the marbles without any further problems. The marbles do not appear to have been disturbed, at least as far as they can tell.

Meanwhile, Thuskar nods fervently when Jerrard suggests stopping the madman and helping Merithina and Ulster. Indeed, despite his limit mental capacity, he understands that much and is quite eager to be of assistance.

[Jerrard]

"Thank you Thuskar, we would welcome your aid, hopefully we can help you too." Jerrard smiles and turns to look at the door to the North, start north, then rotate to the south, that was his plan.

With that in mind he slowly slowly opens the door to the North, checking in his own way for anything that resembles a trap (ie badly).


(Occ: Note I messed up his name earlier, but it was a guess who he was anyway!!)

[JadedDM]

Opening the northern most door, Jerrard steps into a library. Thuskar follows after him, intent on staying close to the wizard.

The library is obviously the workplace of an insane or truly alien mind. The stone walls bulge and warp into melted-wax like shapes, a phantasmagorical nightmare of bulbous growths and abstract traceries. Another river winds its way from the north through a cut-stone channel in the floor and empties through a grate in the floor, crashing noisily against rocks below. There is a hallway to the east that opens south into a pair of double doors, identical to the ones seen in the previous room.

A round desk carved in the same bizarre patterns as the walls stands near the floor grate, covered with papers and scrolls. The desk chair is a massive piece of carved wood, obviously not intended for a human. A scroll cabinet stands near the desk, and there is a bookcase with smoked-glass doors standing against the wall.

[Jerrard]

"Well, this is more like it." Jerrard smiles and stares across the table, "Elvenoff can you guard the doors with Thuskar? I'll see what I can find here?"

He sets to work scanning the table, looking for anything interesting, anything that gives him an idea on how to help Thuskar, and of course anything that might help with the cages.

[JadedDM]

Checking the desk first, Jerrard finds more documents written in the same spidery script. The language is goblin and the alphabet is elven. Most of them are long and involved mathematical calculations involved in cultivating podmen; nutrient requirements, growth-cycles and the like. Amid the sheaves of parchment there is one containing a single word "Fahoorth."

[Jerrard]

"Some of these items are quite interesting, but right now I have no clue as to how to help Thuskar." He looks for a bag of some kind, his pouch was getting quite full, he does however pocket the written word, it was probably nothing, but he could always try it out.

He then starts to search the scroll cabinet and bookcase, looking for anything of interest, the magic to produce such creatures was astounding, yet it had to be stopped, anyway possible.

[JadedDM]

Searching the scroll cabinet next reveals three scrolls of interest. All three are written in the language of of magic and most likely contain spells. A Read Magic spell could decipher them, revealing their contents.

[Jerrard]

Taking each scroll, Jerrard does a quick search through the titles in the book case, looking for anything of use.

[JadedDM]

Looking through the glass doors of the bookshelf, it appears most of the books are about horticulture--or so it can be deduced from the titles themselves. One book that stands out from the rest has no title, but rather where the title should be is a sigil that somewhat resembles a mushroom. Jerrard has never seen the sigil before, but as he is likely dealing with a renegade wizard, that's not terribly surprising.

[Jerrard]

Taking the book with the sigil he turns back to Elvenoff and Thuskar. "Well, he is a mage of sorts, obviously a renegade. There are many books on Magic, and plants."

He smiles to the pair, "I have something, a word, it could be nothing. Do we go back, and see if it works, or do we carry on? I believe we should try the Portcullis again, with Thuskar's help."

[JadedDM]

Unfortunately, the very moment Jerrard touched the glass doors to open them, they began shrieking loudly. Closing the doors does not cease the sound. It can be heard from some distance, echoing down the various caverns.

The double doors burst open and a humanoid creature steps out. But not like any Jerrard or Elvenoff have seen before. It has purple skin and resembles a sort of mushroom man. It's wearing a vest of some kind and carrying a long sword. Thuskar wails at the sight of it.



Its eyes narrow at the sight of them.

"Intruders!" the Shroom says, speaking Common. "Seize them!"

Four podmen step out after him and approach. Two come from behind the Shroom, but the other two come in through the door the party entered, thus surrounding them. These podmen seem different than the ones from before. They are slightly larger, more muscular. The four approach the party without hesitation.

"Submit," the Shroom demands. "And perhaps I won't kill you."

===================================

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x._.x.x.x.x.x.
.x.x.x.x.b._.P._._.S._.d.d.
.x.s._._.J._.P.x.x.x.x.
.x._.t.t._.E._.x.
.x._._.T._._._.x.
.x._._._.P.d.P.x.

x – Solid rock
t – Table
b – Book shelf
s – Scroll case
J – Jerrard
E – Elvenoff
T – Thuskar
P – Elite Podman
S - Shroom

(OOC: I'll hold off on initiative, in case you want to parley. If not, go ahead and attack. I'll roll initiative then.)

[Breila]

Babushka and Locky continue down. "Be careful" Babushka tells Locky. "If we just walk in, Shay may attack us, thinking we are podmen." As they approach the cavern, they should see the light of Shay's torch. If everything seems O.K., Babushka will approach the entrance and call out: "Shay? It's us, Babushka and Locky."

[JadedDM]

Shay's lantern did, indeed, illuminate the cavern. Shay was up quickly, hand on his sword, but he relaxed when he saw who it was. "Welcome back. Any luck? The guys haven't come back yet."

"Oh, yes. We've had a lovely time," Ulster added from his cage. "You just missed the afternoon tea."