Enola Yarn (& DM) – blogpost 41

We find ourselves in the destroyed camp of the hobgoblins. We’ve just slain the whole camp to prevent the hobgoblins from telling others on the next levels we’ve betrayed the alliance because of Zox. Valentine wasn’t agreeing with ANY of it, but it was 3 against one.

We’ve heard about a mushroom forest from Zox, and Farryn and Calyx are quite interested. I am too but am a bit absent because of my thoughts about Valentine. We walk to the forest and see that it is completely burnt to the ground. Oh no! There are a lot of burnt bug bodies, and everything is still smoldering. I cough: there is still a lot of ash and pollution in the air. We decide to walk past it.

In the distance, we spot a body of a Micanid Sovereign, a sort of mushroom-man. Zox told us to find this particular creature, but apparently, we’re too late. Farryn investigates the body and concludes the Mychonid died a couple of days ago. The body smells unsettlingly like cooked mushroom, but not the tasty kind. Of course, Farryn also looked for items of value, but couldn’t find anything. In the meantime, Calyx casts plant growth to ensure the forest stabilizes and enriches the forest again, but the green flames go to the body of the Mychonid and it started to swell up…

Blam! A big cloud of spores bursts out of the swollen body of the Mychonid, completely covering Smoke and Calyx in dead-mushroom-spores. I see them stop dead in their tracks and stare transfixed into nothingness. What is going on? I make sure I’m not coming close to the cloud, but keep a close eye on Smoke and Calyx.

As the cloud settles to the ground, Smoke and Calyx come to. They tell us that they’ve had some visions. Calyx tells us about Zox, and the forest and animals. He also explains he saw awful things: the hobgoblins burnt the forest down and killed all the creatures in it. Suddenly, we spot some vines in the far corner of the cavern, they are purple and exude light. Smoke is immediately intrigued and approaches. Farryn follows because Smoke is on a leash. The vines create a passageway and the more Smoke closes in on the vines, the more they reveal the passage. As Smoke wants to go through, he realizes it is not a passage, but some alcove – the vines hand him two potions.

In the distance, we hear the munching of the Bore Worm. Smoke wants to investigate and jump on the Worm to see where it is going. He runs off, and Farryn is almost forced to follow him. It is like holding an excited dog on a leash and getting dragged along. It is pretty humorous, to see the tiny Farryn getting a hold of a giant cat on a leash. The rest of us follow Smoke and Farryn to the trenches.

The Bore Worm is close by when we get to the trenches. We close in on Smoke, who is standing near the edge, waiting for the Worm. There is more slack in the leash now, and we catch our breath. Suddenly, Smoke runs towards the Worm and jumps off the ground, leaping onto it. However, Farryn sees and pulls the rope tight in order not to end up between Worm and the trench. Smoke is choked and stopped mid-jump and smacks onto the ground – luckily, he doesn’t fall in the trench. We run towards him, to see if he’s okay.

He explains why he wants to ride the Worm so badly. I get it actually, it is quite safe to ride it – he won’t even notice we’re on its back -, and I’m curious where it will lead us. Valentine wants to join Smoke too, so we wait for the Worm to pass by again, and stand on top of a bridge. Farryn chooses to ride Grond at the same speed as the Worm, and Calyx transforms so he can fly. As the Bore Worm passes below us, Smoke jumps onto its back, just like Valentine. I know I’m really clumsy, so I choose to cast misty step. When we get to the place Farryn is galloping with Grond, he takes the jump. However, he doesn’t make it, and Grond falls in the trench. Luckily, Valentine grabs Farryn’s hand just in time, preventing him to fall too. Calyx helps Farryn to get onto the Worm.

Together, we ride the Worm for a while. It first circles the center of the level for a while – traveling around the big heap of metal. Farryn is worrying about Grond a lot, so he decides to leave the Worm after a couple of minutes. Calyx helps him to get off, and they stay behind as the Worm heads to the east. We don’t see a lot of new things there, and we ride back to the center. When we pass under the bridge again, Valentine jumps and leaves the Worm. 

“VALENTINE! Why are you leaving?” I shout when the distance between us gets bigger.

In the south, we pass a lot of working Azer. I look at them and then see the trench is getting thinner and we’re descending deeper into the dungeon! I look behind me, where Smoke was, but he is GONE. It is getting darker, and I cannot hear any sounds, except for the mechanical Worm. I’m afraid, but cannot shout in fear of the Worm hearing me. After a while, I find myself in a giant cavern on the next level. The Worm is slowing down a bit and I can see some giant doors in the east. The Worm loops around some pillars and heads for the tunnel again. Then, I hear Smoke and Valentine calling my name. They’ve followed me and are exiting the tunnel. They are just in time because the Worm’s head is already close to the tunnel. I misty step to teleport me next to Smoke and Valentine. We run upstairs, following the Worm, back to Farryn and Calyx.

When we return, Farryn and Calyx were worried because it took a while before we came back. Smoke apologizes to me for leaving me all alone. Nevertheless, he doesn’t regret it: he wants to go back to the Azers. Farryn is also interested, so I choose to follow.

Arriving at the Azers, we see them working metal, melting and refactoring it. The metal is brought to them by lava children. Smoke introduces one of the Azers as ‘Hitting hard on metal’. I reckon that isn’t his name, but don’t act on it. There are two pools of liquid metal in the back. We decide to stay here a while to investigate the area and look for valuables.