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Spelunking to Sunblight.
Our heroes prepared to enter the Underdark, spending several days in Ten Towns stocking up and receiving intel on Xardorok's duergar at Sunblight Fortress. While several of their illusory items had melted into black ooze, a lone diamond remained, which they entrusted to Copper in order to recharge the Summer Star. Entering the Termalaine mines, the party set out on foot in the dank, dark, but warmer chill of the Underdark's labyrinthine caverns, which occasionally glowed with bioluminescent fungi. Stepping through an old drow ruin, the party fought off a nothic and several skeletons before arriving at a Sussur Tree, growing out of the petrified corpse of an eon old phaerimm.

Preparations in Ten Towns

#ADuergarPlot #UnderdarkExpedition Over several days, the Heroes of the Cairn took care to prepare for the forthcoming expedition, a journey into the Underdark to infiltrate Sunblight Fortress and apprehend the duergar warlord Xardorok Sunblight before his army marches on Ten Towns with chardalyn siege weaponry. Gadget used her time to research the capabilities of the duergar military, while others convened with members of the council. Fern found a local stylist to polish and primp her horns. Azgul wandered off, then returned after picking up several potions of healing. Tetro was overheard chatting to three kobolds in a trenchcoat about fungi of the Underdark.
#ADuergarPlot The latent psionic abilities of duergar may give them an edge of working with the black ice chardlayn, which tracks with several ore deposits being tapped across the tundra. Chardalyn, despite its corrupting influence, is still a malleable metal in the hands of skilled duergar metallurgists. Talking with the council about the size of the duergar offensive, estimates are shaky, but several hundred of the grey dwarves must be equipped at the least. Even worse, a scorched and razed homestead in Dougan's Hole alongside testimonies of roars and beating wings all point to a dragon under duergar control.
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden On the third day, Crank was taking inventory and noted that of their two diamonds they created in the Lost Spire, only one remained. The other had moldered into a black ooze. Piecing together that their illusory items may be fraying, the party looked things over. Fern's studded leather seemed intact. Sparks was okay, tail wagging happily. Oona's great axe couldn't be found, though. Worried that their diamond may disintegrate, the party paid Copper a visit. The gnome, assessing the gem, believes he could repair the Summer Star, consecrating the chardalyn core and providing at least another charge. He would need a tenday. Thus, it should be ready when the party returned from Sunblight Fortress.

Into the Underdark

#UnderdarkExpedition #ADuergarPlot The party stabled their dogs in Termalaine. Accompanied by Oarus Masthew and Copper, they made their way into the mines, whose central shaft was now known to connect to the Underdark. A crude kobold map was given to them, barely decipherable, but containing a marker for a "glow tree", another for "grey folk village," and several dots warning for "bad things." On descending via a pulley, the temperature rose to a comfortable cool and the air went from icy dry to moist. Minutes later, they reached soft earth. At their feet were two kobold corpses, seen alive weeks ago, and now blooming with fungi. In front of them laid a fissure. Beyond that an endless cavern. It would be 20 miles to Sunblight.
#UnderdarkExpedition After hours in the dark, the party came into a large fungus grove. Tetro's study of nature came to be useful as several specimen were collected, from varietals providing a source of sustenance to others like the timmask spore that were maddeningly hallucinogenic. See Fungi of the Underdark for details.
#battle #UnderdarkExpedition A voice pervaded into Fern's head. "Miss your son do you?" Something was watching them. Intimately. Unable to locate the source the party ventured forward. After a stumble, Azgul saw straight into the creature's eye. Feeling its rotting gaze burning his lifeforce away, he was able to recall what this twisted creature was. It was a nothic - a gollum of sorts, a mage or weavebender that went a bit to far and a bit too mad and turned into a one-eyed wretch. Battle ensued, as the caverns gave way to an old ruined city. The party defeated the nothic as well as several drow skeletons whose bones were awakened by the clamor.
#UnderdarkExpedition Walking through the drow ruins, they took note that this city had long since been abandoned. Its structures were bereft of treasure, and were instead blossoming purple foliage and growth. A soft blue light in the city square grabbed their attention. Approaching, all but Oona and Crank felt amiss - half calm and half mute. They arrived to see a large sussur tree, blue petals glimmering and dispelling the surrounding weave, silencing all magic. It was growing out of a corpse, the body of an ancient phaerimm.

XP

Total XP: 11000

200 ~ Entered the Underdark

Loot

Underdark Fungi: 2 Bluecaps, Zurkhwood, ~ Foraging ~ x
Exotic Fungi: 2 Timmasks, 1 Tongue of Madness, ~ Foraging ~ x

See Fungi of the Underdark for details.

❮ 28 · Chronicles · 30 ❯

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