SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: THE MOON SPIRE PT 2, 5.9.17

The Heroes:

•           Ecna Lubma: dwarf priest grudgebearer
•           Gruntbelly: dwarf magician sorcerer
•           Kane: human warrior fighter
•           Mathias: jotun jotun juggernaut

When last we left our heroes, they had just entered the Moon Spire in search of the relic-hunter’s minion, Lara, who had gone into this ghostly tower to acquire a relic called the Oracular.  The heroes go into the front doors and find a mostly empty chamber with a fragile-looking stair leading up to a blue light in the ceiling.   Dirty footprints from a small foot suggest Lara entered and went up the stairs.  They climb the stair and touch the blue light and are transported into another chamber with a circular stair spiraling up the wall of the tower to a grey portal near the ceiling.  A column of magical, heatless blue flame rises up from the floor in the center of the room.  The heroes toss a sling stone into the flames to see what would happen and it disappears.  They decide to try the stair, and it appears Lara did too according to the footprints, but she stopped and wiped her boots midway up leaving no further tracks. 

When they reach the top of the stair, they enter the portal and are transported to another room.  This chamber is filled with earth, which is fills the floor, walls and ceiling.  The earth has various types of mushrooms growing out of it and a few large mounds.  In the center of the room is a giant mushroom, it’s cap nearly touching the ceiling 10 yards up.  The heroes see footprints in the earth leading around the edge of the room, which they follow to a mound.  Mathias digs into the mound and finds the rotting remains of an elf.  As they exhume the body, the group spot a large, roughly man-shaped fungus moving behind the large central mushroom.  Seeing that it was spotted, the fungal hulk interposes itself between the heroes and the central mushroom.  Mathias cautiously moves along the edge of the room, the fungal hulk following, seemingly protecting the large mushroom.  Kane moves around the back and a patch of smaller fungal creatures uproot and shadow Kane, who spots a hand-sized chunk of the central mushroom’s cap was apparently torn off, perhaps by Lara?  The group attempt to communicate with the fungal creatures, but they seem to have some strange form of communication involving the release of spores from various orifices and the group finds communication to be impossible.  They find no portals or stairs in the room and are unsure of how to leave it.  Gruntbelly grows tired of the fungal creatures and casts a spell at the fungal hulk, who angrily responds by attacking Mathias.  The smaller fungal mites attack Kane and a battle ensues.  Ecna tries firing his pistol at the fungal hulk, but misses, tearing a large chunk off the cap of the central mushroom.  Mathias and the fungal hulk trade blows and the jotun finds the hulk to be a dangerous opponent the spews a cloud of corrosive spores when hit. Kane is ganged up on by the mites when he uses his grappling hook and line to tear a chunk of the mushroom cap off. 

Gruntbelly tries to fight the fungal hulk with his axe, but is incapacitated by the hulk’s blows and the spore cloud.  Mathias and Kane are also hurt and don’t seem to be doing much to the fungal creatures.  Kane decides to risk taking a bite of the mushroom cap he tore off earlier and when he does he disappears.  Ecna shouts to Mathias what happens and that he shot off a chunk of the cap, which lays next to the fungal hulk.  Mathias skirts the room, rushes in and grabs the pieces of mushroom cap, while the fungal hulk assumes a defensive position before the large mushroom.  The joten then grabs the inert body of Gruntbelly , moves over to Ecna and they all eat the mushroom and disappear from the chamber.

The heroes find themselves in a mostly empty room that contains only a large black obelisk in the center and small, fist-sized black spheres around the base of it.  Mathias goes to check the obelisk, but when he nears it, the spheres unravel into a swarm of scarabs that attack. The jotun touches the obelisk and disappears.  The rest of the heroes follow suit and they all disappear before the scarabs can do them harm.

The heroes now find themselves in a large room containing a large stone creature in the center and three pools formed by liquid draining from the ceiling and floor.  Two of the pools are a pink liquid that flow down from the ceiling and the last pool is a thick orange which flows up from the floor, seeming defying gravity.  The large stone creature begins to move when the heroes approach the pools.  Kane dives into the orange goop and disappears.  The others follow suit before the stone creature can get to them and they all disappear from this chamber.

The heroes find themselves in yet another room, this one having a circular curtain draping down from the ceiling, obscuring a statue in the center of the room.  Mathias opens the curtains and finds the statue to be that of a nude elf, and wrapped around it is a strange two-headed giant serpent, which attacks.  The heroes kill the serpent and try to figure out how to leave this chamber, as there are no doors or portals.  The statue and curtains are the only features, so they try various things with the statue until Kane touches it’s outstretched hand and disappears. The others do the same and they, too, disappear. 

Where they went to next will be revealed in the next session.