Session 3: Mycelium Monsters and Familiar Faces

Plot

Act I: The Blood Runs Violet

Trapped in a cave infested with violet fungus and faced with a looming necrohulk reeking of melted skin and death, the party notice an opening in the cavern ceiling and work towards escape. Piper blesses the party with a boon from Guarda, but before Elräen can react he is slammed with a fungal appendage and tangled in the tendrils of the necrohulk, his skin singed by its rotting touch. While Elräen tears himself from the mass of mushrooms and corpses, Fauna remembers reading about the violet fungus in her youth and that it only grows in the dark. As the party make moves to escape through the roof, they notice the fungus tendrils withering in the sunlight while others slithered away - vipers returning to the safety of the darkness. As the party race to get into the light, the necrohulk releases a spore bomb that poisons Asguir and the fungal tendrils lash out at Piper. Fasül teleports up out of the cave and Asguir climbs out with nimble acrobatic skills, dropping vines for the others to climb up. Elräen is cornered by the necrohulk and takes hit after hit to get to the sunlight, shooting the mass of death with a flaming arrow to set it ablaze. Fauna casts Cloud of Daggers to damage the fragile cavern ceiling to expose more sunlight. As the party attempt to climb out, the necrohulk reaches into the light and, despite it searing the fungus and causing it to screech, slams into Fauna and drops her to Death's door. Transforming into a hawk, Fasül flies down to rescue Fauna and the others barely escape the grasps of the fungal tendrils. Looking down into the undergrowth, the party see the hulking growth of tendrils starting to wither in the light and collasping into a pile of bones and dead funghi. Seeing this, Fauna has a sudden deep connection with the forest and senses that the magic of the forest has been aggravated by some unknow force. The party take a moment to recover and scout out the path, before continuing on their journey.  

Act II: Tense Diplomacy

After days of hard travel through the harsh terrain and vegetation of the forest, the group finally arrive at the Sola Village to... silence. The intricate spiral staircases carved into the trees and rickety bridges connecting various huts and buildings in the higher branches were desolate, left in an eerie quiet that whispered to Fauna that something was deadly wrong. She immediately runs to her room, traversing her homes interconnected web of wood and vines with ease. As Fauna desperately searches for any clues to where her people with Piper at her side, Asguir stands guard at the door when he suddenly feels the cool, metallic touch of a crossbow bolt placed at his neck. "Don't say a word" a figure whispers in his ear, the sound almost one with the ambience of the forest. Asguir stays motionless and follows his captor's instructions, when he begins to quietly convince the figure to trust them, that they came here to ensure the safety of the village was maintained. The hushed voice develops an audible sneer as it talks about outsiders and the "Vashni scum" that hurt them. At the roots of the ascending trees, Fasûl, Elräen and the prince are confronted with a masked figure camouflaged in leaf-covered shrouds and and a mask of carven birch. When Elräen pulls his bow, the masked assaillant moves with speed and grace to take the prince at knifepoint. They whisper to the outsiders "Tell us your identity. Now." Elräen clocks the elven crafted weaponry and tells them that they are seeking help and that they were led here by Fauna. The figure seems shaken and loses her fearless facade. She asks where Fauna is, revealing a feminine voice laced with concern. As Elräen and Fasûl gain trust with her, Asguir tries to negotiate with this other commander as he realises he is also surrounded by shadowy figures hidden in the trees. He explains that he was also betrayed by the Vashni military, indicating his rusted service medal, then revealing that he was brought here by Fauna who was in the other room. She and Piper don't hear the conflict outside, instead investigating Fauna and Freya's room. She finds letters left across Freya's desk regarding the stress of losing many members of the village recently and her becoming a key member of the council. The final letter tells of the village going into a sort of lockdown, with everyone being prepared to ambush any outsiders that attack Sola, in particular "those strange robed figures." As Fauna realises the danger, Asguir finally convinces his captor who chuckles and takes the crossbow away from his head saying "Now this is interesting." The figures remove their masks as they bring the group together in the town centre, revealing the two commanders to be Freya Roseclip and Quirrel Meliamné. Reunited, the sisters hold each other close with Freya sobbing into Fauna's shoulder, saying how hard its been since she left. Quirrel breaks off this intimate moment to bring the two into his council chambers to discuss what should happen next while the rest of the party explores the beautiful compound (while surveilled by guards of course). Fauna tells of how Sareth was destroyed by a goblin army led by a fiend, and how they had ventured into the forest to find Sola but were attacked by the violet fungus monstrosity. Quirrel and Freya share a look, and they divulge how a group of strange people in robes came to their village. The wood elves defended themselves when they attacked, but the cultists just retreated into the darkness of the foliage. Ever since the forest has grown troubled, with scouts and foraging parties from the village going missing. They agree that the forest's twisted violence played a part in it, but are convinced that the cultists have taken some of their kind for some sick experiment or sacrifice. Quirrel is convinced that this is some revenge from the Vashni military to spite them, with Fauna having the vague recollection of the Vashni betraying the village after the War of the Eastern Front. Freya leaves to get some air, allowing Asguir to have a conversation with her. He apologises for what his company did to them but repeats that he opposes their wrongdoing and was harmed by them himself. Freya seems exhausted, saying she believes them as Fauna knows to trust the right people but she is worried about their next moves. After many discussions, they come to the conclusion that they must head to the capital and warn them of the coming eastern threat, using the prince as a bargaining chip if needed, however Quirrel could not spare many of his people to help them, so Freya offers herself. Quirrel is hesitant but eventually allows it. On the other side of the village, Elräen notices one of the many altars to Vendûra, Goddess of Nature. He remembers the wide spread worship of this deity in his own city, and how it was thought the magic of elven lineage was a blessing from Vendûra herself. He also remembers that she is a key part of the Holy Pantheon in general, and reminisces on a story of the gods working together to trap an ancient, evil entity as well as its offspring. At this altar covered in offerings of flowers and incense, Elräen feels a deep connection to his lineage. Eventually, Quirrel gathers the residents of Sola together and announces that the newcomers shall stay in the village for a few days to recover, and that Freya will escort them to the capital. “In the meantime, treat them well.” As the party head to sleep, Fauna goes to her parents’ bedroom. It is caped in dust, and Fauna lays in the soft silk of their bed, reminiscing. Freya and Piper join her, which is when Fauna notices a bandage around Piper’s wrist. She offers to heal her, noticing that it seems to be an old wound that hasn’t healed, but Piper anxiously brushes her off before leaving the room. Fauna lets her go, and the exhaustion of the day overtakes her as she falls into sleep.  

Act III: Safe Haven

Over a few days of rest in Sola, the peace seemed unbroken and yet a sense of dread surrounded them like glass before it shatters. Reminiscing of his times with his mentor, Elräen trained his shortsword skills in the grove below the treetop buildings while Fasûl has a talk with Quirrel about his gauntlet, who deactivates some of the arcane locks on the artifact but can't get further, suggesting to the goliath that he heads to the outskirts of Krolask and asks for "the Enchanter" - a powerful wizard and old friend of the wood elf - who may be able to remove the gauntlet. By the lakeside, the party find Trank the merchant with his calling green lantern light. They stock up on supplies, with Elräen attempting to haggle for and buying a magical quiver and Asguir getting a blowgun and a recipe for poison. As they leave the strange caravan, the party begin to question how Trank knows where they were and how he arrived at Sola in the middle of the forest with only a horseless carriage, speculating if he has magical capabilities. With their backpacks filled and bodies restored to good health, the party set off from the Sola village with Freya as their guide.

Act IV: In the Crosshairs

With both Fauna and Freya's guidance, the travel through the forest is almost effortless. The magical powers of the forest seem to be calmed by the pair's wood elf lineage, the vines and brush almost bending around the party to provide safe passage. After another few days of travel, the group arrives at the boundary of the woods fatigued but yearning to get to back to civilisation. However, as they reach the river they notice some papers pinned to the supports of the bridge and the neighbouring trees. Confusion and despair is painted on their faces as they realise they are staring back at their own reflections with "WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE" written above them. Panic starts to envelope them, with some registering the extremely high bounties, the "Wanted for treason against the Crown" and the signatures of both the head of Vashnir's lead political party Sakrüllen - Max Treschlande - and King Aldathar III himself. They also notice an older wanted poster of a hooded human figure with an even higher bounty, but the poster seems to be unoffical and asks for the mark to be brought to the Devil’s Games gambling parlour in Gertown to someone known as C.B. As they struggle to maintain composure between eachother, the sound of hooves approaches rampaging fear throughout the group. Fauna casts invisibility on herself and the rest of the party hide in the brush of the forest. The Vashni soldiers ride over the bridge and dismount, the commander removes his helmet to reveal amber eyes and darkened skin. This is Nico Enşalo, chief commander of the Vashni Military. He takes out his ornately decorated flintlock pistol and says with a Raveshan accent "Right amigos, our informant says they should have breached the treeline by now. Remember - don't hesitate. These people have caused the deaths of many civilians and if not captured we could have another war on our hands. Fan out!" Asguir quickly attempts to disguise both him and Elräen and the party attempt to sneak away, but Commander Enşalo notices them and races over, pointing his pistol to Asguir's face. With only Fauna in the clear, Asguir has only a split second to decide what to do as the rest of the party are a step away from being discovered.