Saralas: Session 41

• Stan sux
• Resda is unconscious and we are out of the water. What next?
• We suggest tying Resda up again, minimum hands and gagged.
• Ahead of us are two sets of caves, neither of which appear particularly remarkable. They are pitch black, and do not appear to have either flora or Fauna
• Karthos suspects he has fungal meningitis, and the cure depends heavily on the type of mushroom.
• It sounds bad, the cure apparently depends on the type of mushroom, and previous outbreaks were dealt with violently (fire).
• We proceed for some time down the western passage. We come eventually to a smaller cave opening to the west, which leads into the "plaguemaze"
• I suggest we continue along the route we intend, on our way towards Sunblight's thing
• Could Zone of Truth help us determine if Resda is back to normal?
• We find our way into a cavern, we hear trickling water. It's purplish with high ceilings and deep chasms. We keep moving, looking for a decent or defendable place to rest.
• We search for 5 hours before we finally find a decent cave we think we can defend. It is unremarkable and unlit, and has a narrow and defendable entrance.
• Karthos and I agree to share watch since we only need 4 hours to rest. We rest safely, not even a noise we hear in the cave outside.
• We cast Zone of Truth on Resda but she succeeds in her saving throw so we know she isn't compelled to speak truth.
• Karthos and Resda have a coughing fit. Karthos determines that it is a species of ripplebark. It resembles not much more than a mass of rotting flesh, but it is quite delicious. It is particularly sensitive to temperature.
• Korag ungags Resda so she can cough up mushrooms. It's pretty gross.
• Saralas knows enough about the Aboleth effects that he knows that Aboleths don't usually kill those they have enslaved, but instead use them for their purposes as a labor force. He knows she would probably live for a long, long time, but probably would no longer be able to pursue her own ends.
• We travel for a short while, and find our way to a huge open cavern that appears to be a crossroads. We can go in any of four directions, we decide to continue towards our goal to the northwest.
• We travel for 6 hours until we come to what appears to be a recent and major cave-in that is impeding our progress. After another hour we're pretty sure we aren't going to be able to get through here.
• Our options seem limited, it looks like we either have to head into the plaguemaze, or go up to one of the norther caverns and see if it connects.
• We make our way back to the crossroads. After some debate we decide to head west since that does appear to join up to our path in a couple locations. Resda appears to want to head back towards the lake.
• We travel west for a while, following the map as best as we can. It becomes apparent that the tunnels we are traveling through don't fully match up with the map. These caverns that look otherwise empty, are suffused with a weird glowing smoke that appears to have no source. It provides a light that makes it possible to see, but can't be directly seen (if you look right at it you can't see it)
• We become somewhat lost. As we try to reorient ourselves and travel through the caves, the strange fog appears to become more tangible, though we can't actually feel it.
• We start to hear echoes, and realize after a while that it's our own conversations from before, we can hear them as if they are in the next cave.
• We question whether we have become lost or whether the caverns themselves have moved. Saralas tries to use all of his senses to find his path, other than sight.
• While doing this, Pearl's pack starts to move. Bun leaps out of Pearl's bag, and scurries up onto a nearby rock.
• Pearl asks if Bun knows the way, and he scurries down the cave before pausing. Pearl follows.
• I say we need to keep the party together and hurry after Pearl while trying to keep the others with us too.
• Korag is convinced Bun is real.
• After some time Bun leads the party even deeper into the maze into a mystical cavern filled with glowing purple and blue water, shimmering like the aurora.
• Bun pauses, climbing up on a rock and sniffing the air, before running back and hiding behind Pearl. It looks afraid.
• Suddenly, emerging out from the rocks around Korag's feet, are hundreds of black ants. Thousands. Tens of Thousands. Millions. They arrange themselves in neat orderly rows, as if in battle formation, and a large queen ant approaches at the head of the column. She patiently explains her loyalty to Karthos, and the ant army is willing to serve.
• Karthos talks to the queen asking half the ants to stay and the other half to follow.
• Also he detected magic and the entire room was magic.
• Bun is scared of something across the cavern.
• Karthos tries to fill his flask with the water. The moment it touches the water his flask explodes into hundreds of flowers. They are beautiful and he no longer has a flask.
• Saralas and Karthos hear a chittering noise on the other side of the cavern, sounds like claws on stone, but no creatures are visible.
• Resda has something to say, we cautiously ungag her and she asks to be unbound. I think she's being truthful, Korag thinks she's being truthful as well.
• A drip of glowing purple fluid falls from the ceiling, landing on Pearl's cloak and it immediately turns to leather.
• Up at the ceiling we see a swirling blue and purple mist. It's heavily concentrated.
• There is an exit to the north if we head across the left side. Bun seems to want us to go back. We follow Bun back to look for another route through. The concentration of magic seems lower but even more bizarre.
• We travel for another hour but do not regain a sense of our position. The caverns do appear to be shifting. The terrain itself is changing. We travel for several more hours and eventually find ourselves back in the dangerously magic cave.
• This time we decide to move forward along the left side. As we are traveling, Saralas notices a figure laying prone, partially obscured by some mushroom foliage. It's humanoid.
• It is a tall, gaunt figure with black skin and long ears. He is alive but looks grievously injured. The most obvious injury is a broken leg with a protruding femur. There is a lot of blood on the ground, and it appears to be unconscious. It appears to be a Drow. We have to decide whether to help or not.
• Karthos tries to help stabilize the creature. As soon as Karthos helps him, he tries to attack. Weakly but he's hostile. The dagger is poisoned but he misses, and says something in the dark speech. Karthos takes the blade.
• Bun appears preoccupied with something else in the cavern.
• Korag speaks to him in undercommon, and the Drow answers. "How can we help?" Korag asks "what help is there in the underdark" the Drow says. "Us." He apparently failed to kill Sunblight and feels he is better off dead.
• He gestures in the direction of the cavern, and warns us of the fey spiders. "Did you see them?"
• Karthos chooses to take the Drow outside the cavern where we came in and cast cure wounds to heal him. The wild magic triggers again.