Sunless Skies, Endless Ice IC

[Henry the 57th]

Deep in the bowels of the earth, far below the endless tracts of ice and eternal starry night, four brave heroes set out on a quest. It began tersely, meeting quietly with the elders of Vaun in the early hours. After the disappearance of the last group, few wished to make a scene of this departure. The four were given the best map to the surface and Heofonspire as could be compiled from generations of crude sketches and trader's tales along with a sketch of an elaborate plate gauntlet covered in runes writ in a tongue none now remember. There was a quick meal, a small ceremony of blessing from Lord Heimisgarðr's priests, and then the four of them crept out of the underground caverns that make up the city. A few nervous eyes and a faint scattering of applause from those who dared believe in them were all the sendoff that they received.

Slipping past smaller caves containing outlying homes and tracts of fungal farms, it takes the four only a short time before they begin to feel the effects of the magic keeping Vaun safe. For insiders, it simply manifests as a mild queasiness and disorientation as they make their way through the maze of lightless tunnels surrounding the underground sanctuary, though those of hostile intent might find themselves blindly wandering miles in the wrong direction before coming to their senses or collapsing into a catatonic state. Though the effect is weakening, it is still enough to keep the writhing things of the dark away - for now.

For the first few hours, the journey is fairly uneventful, if unpleasant. While lightless and sometimes narrow, the tunnels closest to Vaun have be well-explored and frequently cleared by hunting expeditions, and so offer little resistance to four potent heroes with a map and familiarity with the territory. The most that occurs is the sound of a distant cry, or the occasional flash of light from a startled insect scurrying away. But if things were always going to be that easy, then Vaun wouldn't have had to assemble its greatest remaining heroes for this quest. The tunnels begin to widen after a time, and the distant sound of running water begins to reach their ears. Soon, the four spot a trickling little stream eating its way through the rock, and faint light begins to peer around the next bend.

According to their map, the shortest and best-known way ahead is proceed straight, through what the map labels Förvirring Forest, a mass of titanic bio-luminescent fungal growths spanning three vast caverns known to be occupied by strange mushroom men. To go around this is, according to the map, possible, but involves a long detour through dark and ill-explored tunnel systems. The choice, it seems, is their's.

[grifter730]

Einharj was economical in his preparation for the perilous journey ahead. Going to the surface had always been his end goal, but he had always assumed he would be nervous and exhilarated in equal measure, not worried and burdened with an oppressive weight from the uncertainty of his brother's fate. He visited his mother and bid her farewell, but she hardly registered his presence, the disease nearly completely consuming her. Einharj knew she'd only have hard words for him if she could speak anyway. It's just how she was.

The group seemed a strange lot to Einharj, but that was to be expected. Only the bold and the insane would volunteer for such an undertaking, and he supposed he fit the description just the same. There were a couple of dwarves, one of them looking like a duergar, and a woman with a pet wolf. Einharj have seen them in passing, but know little of them. He looked away as one of them caught him staring.

The journey seemed almost like any of his adventures, except there were the other members with him, but after a while he found a rhythm to it. The fork on the road came soon enough. A faint light seemed to seep from just around the next bend. Einharj put his back to the natural wall to peer around to see if he could discern the light's source.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception: (1d20+12)[26]

[ProudGrognard]

Groth

Groth had very few people to say goodbye to, or matters to attend. He had visited the Dark Watch lodge and made sure that things were in order. His Dratz-Utth clansmen said farewell to him in a small private ceremony. It was an honor to wield the Fang.

But Groth knew. He would be mourned, perhaps, by some, if he never came back, but noone would miss him. It was allright. Beasts are useful and loved, but they did not make good housemates.

Groth was actually excited. This would be an epic journey, enough to make his name a name of legend. He would see and explore places that noone had tread for centuries. His tortured, misshapen life was a small price to pay for this.

For many miles, Groth shambled in the lead, his left hand almost brushing the stone, sensing and even smelling his way. He scouted ahead and then lagged behind, obliterating the party's tracks.

As they progressed, Groth recognized the place. Unlike the others, he had been here before and had even witnessed some of the Myceloids. That meant he had to speak. Drat.

Catching Einhardj looking at him, Groth decides that is a good time as any to speak.

"Myceloidshhhh... I have sheeeeen them... They can hhhhypnotishe . Shhhhtay together. I will walk a bit ashhhhhhead."

Wiping the drool of his beard, Groth moves spiderlike some 30 steps ahead, silent and alert. He wields Fang in one hand and his bow in the other, ready to drop one or the other. He then signals the others to join him and moves again ahead.

Spoiler: OOC actions

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Perception (1d20+16)[19]
Stealth (1d20+15)[17]
Bonus from Favored Terrain (FT) included

[grifter730]

The dwarf began moving as Einharj was peering around the bend. He stared at the shambling figure, and Einharj's eyes darted for escape routes as the dwarf was clearly intending to walk to him, perhaps to speak. Sure enough, before Einharj could escape, Groth began speaking.

Einharj put his chin back above his shoulder to look at the light source again, uncomfortable at conversing with someone he barely knew, even if they were most likely about to die together. He immediately snapped his head back when Groth spoke. He hadn't expected such strange speech. Must be the scars, Einharj thought to himself, examining the dwarf's face. He caught himself before staring for too long. It's rude, he's always been told. His eyes darted away again, and he mumbled and slightly nodded his head. He wasn't actually sure what the dwarf had said, but agreeing tends to get people to stop conversing with him.

[Hattish Thing]

Khuzkina

For the duergar, leaving the city of Vaun was the easiest part of the mission. Little love remained for the few remaining members of the Grimgasket Clan within city limits, and Khuzkina had grown tired of the constant, doubting whisperings of small-minded peasants. They did not believe she would return, that glory and honor could ever be regained for those of a clan whose patriarch had committed deeds as dark as her father had done. She knew better, she had always known better, and now was her chance to prove it all once and for all.

Once the small gathering had wandered forth into lands far beyond the beaten paths, Khuzkina had removed her overshirt, revealing muscular arms covered entirely in glowing orange art-deco tattoos. Once exposure to the cold air became uncomfortable for her, Khuzkina merely flexed her muscles, causing her tattoos to become far brighter. Immediately afterwards, the very air around the woman had grown far warmer, with steam rising from her body for several seconds as the temperature settled.

--

Though Khuzkina had so far remained quiet, once myceloids were mentioned, she speaks up. "Hmph. We won't give them a chance to."

---

Spoiler: Actions

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Taking 1 Burn to activate Heat Wave, increasing the temperature within 5-ft of Khuzkina by 35 degrees, granting her 20% concealment.

[lostsole31]

Hosa, herself a stranger to Vaun, already was beyond her realm. Magical, colored skins that showed her new companions how to go places (the map), truly strange forms and colorings (the dwarves), and stranger speech (Groth). The feral-looking rock-man seemed to know about the mushroom-men, and moved ahead with purpose. So, Hosa just gives a curt nod while stroking Tomgug's neck guard-hairs and waits.

[Henry the 57th]

Don't mind me, just doing some things.

(4d20)[9][1][18][8](36)

[Henry the 57th]

Circling warily around the bend, it does not take Einharj or Groth long to realize that the dim and distant light is coming from a small patch of bioluminescent growths sprouting from cracks in the tunnel's rocky sides. While harmless in and of itself, the soft glow has been known to provide cover for predatory creatures, so the approach remains cautious. The sound of trickling water picks up as the four heroes slowly creep into the midst of the small fungal grove. The rocks beneath their feet grow wet and slippery even as the dim tunnel itself starts to widen. Slowly making their way down the passageway over a few minutes, ever alert for any signs of an ambush, they eventually come upon a stronger source of light.

At the end, the tunnel widens out into an entrance to a truly vast cavern. Sprouting from the rocks in their hundreds are titanic technicolor mushrooms, their caps brushing up against the distant ceiling. Vines hang freely from these fungi and the roof alike, while a bewildering variety of lesser fungi, ferns, and lichen have spread across the cave floor like an enormous living carpet. Most disconcerting is the fact that almost every plant in this place seems to glow with its own internal light, which slowly but perceptibly changes color before the adventurers' very eye. The effect of staring too long is almost hypnotic in its own right, whole sections of forest seeming to bleed together into one slowly-shifting morass of color. The flowing stream ahead cuts into the rough center of the forest and disappears into the softly shining depths. Beyond following that, the only other apparent way through would be to skirt the edges of the cavern, avoiding the deep forest but risking losing orientation towards the desired exit tunnel.

[lostsole31]

Hosa points along the stream through the center, casting her vote.

[ProudGrognard]

Groth

With a shake of his head, Groth agrees.

Spoiler: OOC Survival

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Survival roll to see if water and food can be obtained by the stream and/or the mushrooms
Survival (1d20+16)[35]

[grifter730]

Einharj was entranced by the ever-changing colors of the plants ahead. It took him a few seconds before realizing that they may have hypnotic effects meant to lure victims willingly to their deaths, or whatever fate the Myceloids had in store for them. Groth and the wild looking woman gestured ahead, willing to risk the known peril against the unknown. Einharj's lip curved slightly up at the corner, glad to know that he's in fine company. Einharj unconsciously began tapping his right sole, but simply nodded a silent acquiesce in their direction. After a few seconds, his survival instinct took over and opened his mouth for him.

"I can send out an extremely tiny invisible eye, of a sort, to travel ahead for us. It'll allow me to see what's ahead, perhaps uncover possible ambush, but I can only have it out for a few minutes, so it's mostly good only for a small area ahead. Another option would be to send your pet up ahead?" Einharj nodded at the wild woman's canine companion. "I assume it has a strong sense of smell, and can detect danger for us. That may be the best option at this juncture, as this forest may take some time to get through, and who knows how far ahead danger may lay in wait for us."

[lostsole31]

"Hunter, not scout," she says, a definite clipping to her speech .... natural speaker of Vaun's common tongue, and yet an unenlightened and rough dialect that gives away that she comes far from Vaun.

[ProudGrognard]

Groth

When Hosa says "Hunter, not scout", Groth points at himself and says

"Bothhhh."

He then waves at Einharj.

"Eye, please. First eyehhhhh. Then mehhh. Then all of you. Again."

Groth gestures to make his plan of leapfrogging in bursts across the terrain more comprehensible. Having spoken again too much, Groth wipes his drool once more.

[grifter730]

Einharj's mouth was momentarily left hanging open as Hosa spoke. That's two people with trouble speaking. Seems he's found a wonderful crew to be around, but then his heart broke thinking of the problems Hosa must've endured at Vaunt. He cleared his throat, and nodded at Groth's request.

Digging in his pocket, Einharj pulls out a deck of cards and closes his eyes. With precise deft movements he pulls a card with a flourish and slams it back atop the deck. Opening his eyes back up, his blue eyes have turn a vibrant violet colour, and he seems to stare off into the distance.

Spoiler: OOC

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He's using his Mind Eye ability, which creates a magical sensor. It's invisible, and fine size, so pretty hard to detect I presume. It lasts for 7 mins, so assuming there's a road that we're on, I'm having it travel around 10-15ft off to the side of the road (wherever trees/rocks can provide hiding cover) to make sure no one's hiding there. It'll travel on one side for half the time, and then cross over to the other side of the road and come back towards our direction to check that side as well.

[Henry the 57th]

Following the path cut into the stone by the stream - by far the closest thing to a road in this strange place - Einharj’s invisible eye takes a brief sweep around. As the mushroom forest fully engulfs it, the soft, eerie, pulsing glow becomes omnipresent and incredibly disorienting. One direction looks almost identical to the other even through the mystic eye, and it becomes very obvious indeed that without the stream as a frame of reference one could become hopelessly lost in this forest within minutes. It also shows a distinct lack of clear paths through the glowing fungi, implying that the area is not well-traveled.

At first glance it seems to Einharj as though the forest itself is deserted - nothing immediately springs into view, and there is no clear movement. It isn’t until the eye has turned around and is heading back the opposite bank of the stream that anything happens. What seemed a moment before to be just another softly pulsing fern suddenly explodes with movement as dozens of shining, buzzing insects seem to appear from nowhere, zipping in all directions. From the ground, a dog-sized arthropod rears up out of nowhere, clacking mandibles snatching a handful of the bugs out of the air before they disperse. Settling back down amidst the foliage, the scuttling thing reveals an unsettling truth: the wildlife here seems to shine and pulse in tune with the surrounding plants, granting an almost perfect stationary camouflage.

This unwelcome news aside, the eye brings back little else of note. There are no clear indications of any kind of ambush set up along the nearest trek. There are precious few of any kind of animal life at all, beyond that of simple bugs and crawling things.

[Hattish Thing]

Khuzkina

As the small group wanders forward, venturing deeper into the fungal cavern, Khuzkina grows somewhat more uncomfortable, the variety of colors triggering a subconscious response within her. This was all so foreign, which, down here, meant that it was most assuredly dangerous. All of this uncertainty put her in a bad mood.

She simply grimaces, before speaking softly. "Don't care which route we take. Both seem equally flammable."

--

Once cards are retrieved and unusual magic is performed, the duergar grows even further disgruntled.

Strange, foreign magic, not of her race.

[grifter730]

The sensor came back to Einharj, and he closed his eyes as it dissipated. They were pale blue again when he opened them. Describing all that he had seen, Einharj warns the group that despite this being the path most commonly taken, and the path they're most familiar with, there isn't much of an actual path and that it's easy to get lost without a guide who knows how to chart a path and stick to it. His warnings spoken, Einharj suggests they go forward anyway, it's the shortest route, and who knows how Galinn's faring at the moment.

"We keep our eyes on one another, and if one of us seems entranced in some way, we'll have to figure out a way to possibly snap them out of it."

[lostsole31]

Hosa nods and is ready to move forward with her white wolf.

[ProudGrognard]

Groth

Groth was refilling his waterskins upstream as they were waiting for the magical ...eye to come back. With a grunt, he directs the others to do the same.

[lostsole31]

Hosa doesn't fill any waterskin, but the big wolf laps its fill for now.

Hosa does call upon her mystic connection with the hidden lady and casts detect poison, looking at the mushrooms.

[Henry the 57th]

Groth for his part finds the waters of the stream to be cool and clear, well-filtered from running through rocky walls. Likewise, Hosa's wolf seems to find the brief drink refreshing. Meanwhile, the forest ahead continues to pulse gently in hypnotic rhythms, no monsters yet rushing out to meet the four adventurers. The only audible sound is the soft trickling of the stream, cutting the path ahead.

Spoiler: Hosa

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The mushrooms seem... unusual, but not strictly speaking poisonous.

[lostsole31]

Hosa looks to the others and points to the mushrooms. "Safe food." She then gathers some for Tomgug for later.

[Henry the 57th]

The four men and women, agreed on their path forwards, opt to continue to follow the stream ahead. As they do, the fungal forest looms larger and larger over their heads, glowing mushrooms brushing up against the cavern ceiling. The light itself seems to grow more powerful as they approach, and once they enter the woods themselves all but blots out everything else. The gentle pulse of light renders the land a vast technicolor landscape, beautiful and breathtaking to behold at close range. The carved stone and water running through it seems ugly and crude in comparison, an offensive blight on the senses. A less focused group might be tempted to run off into the trees to get that dark, slimey, loathsome puddle out their sight.

While the adventurers tread cautiously, as though expecting trouble, none seems to sprung up immediately. In those first minutes there are no ambushes to trouble them, no hunger predators leaping out from the brush. The only movement at all for the first half hour or so comes from colorful clouds of modest-sized insects suddenly bursting into flight at the adventurers’ approach, or eyeless amphibians diving into the safety of the waters at the sound of their boots. Nothing of any size comes within their field of view.

It isn’t until they are a good ways into the forest, well-used to the ever-present pulse of soft colors, that something begins to feel uneasy. Hairs stand up on the backs of necks, a creeping chill runs its way down the spine, and a sense of presence seems to make itself felt. This feeling manifests for a few minutes, and though nothing substantial appears to validate it the feeling does not let up. Suddenly, without warning, a sound cuts through the forest’s stillness.

”Nie yas danthrier?” comes a high-pitched, musical sort of voice from no particular direction. “Tranjun du’at.” There is a soft, almost girlish giggle that echoes far more than it has any right to do.

Spoiler: All

Show

Make a Will save right about now.

[grifter730]

Einharj heed's Groth's advice to fill up his canteen, but looks skeptically at the mushroom Hosa points at. Even the grumble in his belly wouldn't risk it. For now. He was careful and alert throughout the journey, but the constant light show and the oppressive gloom was beginning to take its toll when the noise cut through the air. The soft scrape of steel against scabbard immediately follows as Einharj unsheathes his greatsword.

Spoiler: OOC

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Rolled for Will save in the OOC thread (21).
Perception: (1d20+12)[30]

[lostsole31]

Hosa is concerned, but calms Tomgug. Otherwise, if something wants to peaceably make itself known, that's fine. If something wants to challenge violence, that will have to do as well. She will otherwise ignore the voice and continue as she was.

[ProudGrognard]

Groth

Groth bends even closer to the ground, as if trying to crawl. He tugs the sleeves of the others and points at the leaning mushroom. With a barely audible hiss, he says

"Feyhhhh. Invissssiblehhhh"

[lostsole31]

Hosa helps provide Groth with a distracting .... only incidentally. She finishes collecting strips of mushroom for food for later, and then continues guiding Tomgug along the stream.

[grifter730]

Einharj jolts as something tugged at his sleeves, but quickly recovered as he realized it was just Groth, warning them all of an invisible fey. The uneasy sensation he felt a moment ago might've been some magic of the fey, still...

"I think it's already seen us, Groth. No point in trying to hide from it at this point." Einharj turns his attention up towards the stalks, unsure where to look, but scanning the place around. He slides his greatsword back into the scabbard. "We mean you no harm, if you'd do us the same kindness. We're travelers simply seeking passage. May we pass? We could use a guide too, if you'd a mind to help out travelers. We'd compensate you, of course."

After waiting a few heartbeats, Einharj begins moving forward once more, hoping his confidence would lack of care for the creature would put its mind at ease.

[Henry the 57th]

At first, there is no reply from the odd voice. Without it, the almost otherworldly silence of the fungal forest begins to reassert itself, a peaceful trickle of water the only sound that can be heard. The four warily begin to move forwards again, only for the sound to emerge from a different direction.

"Why would I do that?" it says, this time using heavily-accented, singsong Undercommon. "New toys are so rare around here." It gives another girlish giggle. "I want to have fun with you first."

[lostsole31]

And Hosa keeps going...