A Touch of Consumption
| A Touch of Consumption | |
|---|---|
| Date | 8/7/26 |
| Storyteller | Doug |
| Tier | Expert |
| Player Characters | Gin, Hogo, Houzen, Theodore, Kora, Kaina |
| Rewards | 300 exp, Gangrene Garb, Platter of Putrid Dreams, 700gp |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Gin |
| Downtime | 10 |
Associates delve into the rat mines to investigate the source of spreading infection.
Log
Day 1
Today's expedition:
- Hogo Pok'sharr. I'm already well acquainted with the big guy, after our ordeal with the boars a while ago. Orcish gunner with a mysterious form.
- Houzen, refers to himself under aliases like "Stone-Fist". Strange alias, as he doesn't appear to use said stone fist... Vanaran cleric of an Old Country divinity that I am unfamiliar with, but apparently it prompts him into performing risky maneuvers.
- Theodore Leafchewer, a gnome alchemist. I worry about his frailty, but as a potion brewer, he should be decently equipped to handle a disease-riddled mine.
- Kora, a wheelchair bound mermaid. She looks like a stiff breeze would blow her over, and I question the rationality of taking this chair into an environment that is surely unsuited for her method of mobility. Casts spells of some sort... I may probe her brain for some useful spells.
- Kaina, a barbarian who seems to be perpetually sick. I heard tale that some diseases actually help prevent you from becoming ill, as it fights off competing infections. We shall see if this bit of folksy patter holds any weight.
- And myself.
Day 2
The travel to the site is uneventful, seemingly fitting as a powerful caster from the city has already been here, attempting to research what had been found before. He provides us samples, including a blue mushroom and a rock that had supposedly been infected before, but now appears to be fine. As we're not actually well-suited to actually learning anything about diseases, we simply head our way down into the mines, with our destination being where Theodore and his prior party had probed into before. Cyrus also issues us a warning - if we become infected, we have to quarantine at the mines. Theodore seems to have a plan, but luckily we also stocked up on antiplagues before leaving the city.
Day 6
These caves run deep. Deep enough that creatures from the darklands have been sighted. A group of caligni had already been encountered prior, but the party left before continuing on. When our party approached the repaired bridge, making no attempts at concealing our presence, the weak and diseased caligni took up arms. When the prior party came into contact, they discovered that attempting to help them caused them to die in excruciating ways. Their apprehension turned into fear and the triggering of the fight or flight response when members of the party spoke the language of the cave peoples to the caligni.
It was an unfortunate decision... but it was ultimately one I thought was easy to make. The caligni were trying to escape from somewhere, perhaps towards the surface. They bore with them rot and infection that could even seep into stone - not even our walled city would be safe. And, even if we had approached them with peaceable intentions, they may not see us the same way. Killing them was a ultimately a mercy. Some chose not to fight, but to flee, but they could not properly traverse the caves and fell tragically to their deaths. Those who stood their ground stood little chance against us. A decision had been made to spare one, such that we may be able to ask it questions and perform experiments. With the unconscious caligni restrained, we pushed forward.
The cave the caligni emerged from was utterly blooming with mold and fungus. Prestidigitation really is a life-saving cantrip that everyone should know to perform. I may still have to deep clean my clothes, but my continual effort to keep myself as clean as possible in the cave may save me valuable days later. When we approached a steep drop, we had to carefully lower down Kora's chair - if I didn't have this cantrip with me, I would have made direct contact with the bloom that had caked itself into the wheels.
About an hour passed and we emerged into a larger cavern, not quite as deep or large as the chasm we encountered the caligni by, but a much more spacious affair than the tunnels we had just trudged through. Luckily, we possessed the element of surprise and could effectively scout the situation. Throughout the cavern were urdefhans, vampire-like cave dwellers, performing unholy rituals and seemingly working to spread the bloom via the caligni. Strung up and splayed out in a display of viscera was a single leukodaemon, whose guts seemed to be connected to the growth in the cavern. Houzen, who at this point seemed attached to me, joined me in approaching from a different angle than the rest of the party, opening up hostilities with a pincer maneuver.
The battle with the urdefhans was treacherous. They themselves carried disease, which would be quickened by their abominable patron. Houzen found himself befuddled by a Confusion spell, and wandered off to fight anything near him - luckily, that happened to be one of the urdefhans. Kaina joined me as we began to squeeze the lower party of urdefhans. After a few back and forths, it became clear that the leukodaemon would be a continuous threat, so I prepared a special scroll I obtained before leaving the city, and unleashed a Wall of Virtue, continually burning the leukodaemon with holy light while it sat unable to move from its location. The remaining urdefhans began to retreat to their patron, prompting myself, Kaina, and Houzen (who by this point had regained what senses he had) to move into the upper area, and unfortunately into a perfect formation to hit our group with its plague breath. With some prompt healing to keep ourselves in the fight, and as the final urdefhans were falling, the leukodaemon managed to free itself from its binds by translocating. Unfortunately for it, most of its insides did not teleport with it. It was not long for this world, but with Kora's help increasing my reaction time, I was able to fell the final urdefhan and unleash a devastating spellstrike on the leukodaemon, giving Kaina the opportunity to finish the job before natural processes would.
The cavern continued onward, but we had more answers to questions, as well as a new avenue to investigate. We turned back and retrieved the caligni. As we made our way back into uninfected territory, Theodore provided us the means to cleanse the diseases we had accumulated in the encounter with the urdefhans and their patron.
Day 10
We dragged that short fellow out of the caves to a suitable place for Cyrus to detain, such that he can be investigated later. If he succumbs to illness prior... an autopsy would also yield valuable information.