Mushroom Troubles

 Present:

• 

  Phoebe Lacrosse,
  Mushroom carrier

  Napoleon Twig (elf druid) - Ian
• Joe Manco (human fighter) - Shane
• Balder Dash (gnome wizard) - Jamie
• Kosha Pickles (human rogue) - Darryl
• Phoebe Lacrosse (human barbarian) - Andrew
• Red Feuersturm (human temple fighter of Hob) - Chris
• Grizo Muso (human thief) - Jeff
• Malcolm Gandhi (gnome thief) - Kevin

By Phoebe

Recap

Joe's Lot had originally been sent from Hackerton by sage Oswald the gnome to collect some special mushrooms. Retrieving these mushrooms was a requirement to enable Oswald to identify the curse that haunted Balder. With Napoleon Twig and my help, we finally had the mushrooms, and so began the return trip to Hackerton. The mushrooms needed a living host to ensure their survival, so Twig and I had volunteered. I had one mushroom implanted on the back of my hand. Napoleon had five on different spots on his body.

Aleph

During the day's travel to out of the forest - with Rupert our guide, we were pretty sure we were being followed by something big. Kosha & Grizo snuck back and discovered it was an owlbear, but we managed to lose it.

We settled in for the night. Unfortunately, our peace was rudely broken at first watch. I was on guard, and the very same owlbear returned. There was noisy crashing, so I had enough time to wake the group. Napoleon Twig switched to bear-form (his recent new ability) and rushed out into the night to fight it. We joined him; Kosha, Rupert and me. The fight was rather fraught, and poor (bear) Twig got brutally savaged, and knocked down with a major wound. When he fell over, the bear-form switched back. Us three continued to fight it - we prevailed and the owlbear was killed.

Druid Alysia

We got to Aleph the next day, and sought out our friend Alysia, the druid. She cured Twig and his major wound. She also proclaimed that I had a magic aura. This was new.

We stayed the night in the Fried Oyster. It was peaceful and quiet. But Grizo went missing; damn him.

And the next morning, when Twig came down for breakfast, he was a gnome !

We went to the Aleph militia HQ to report Grizo, and spoke to Sophia de Witt, Captain of the Guard. Grizo was in a cell. He had been arrested for "testing" the locks in the inn.

He got 11 lashes. Kosha distributed popcorn so we could watch the punishment.

It seemed since the magical aura I somehow picked up,  I had some curing power too. Because I could cure Grizo's whip welts.

Driseville

We left Aleph, heading for Driseville, cross country, skirting the Aleph forest. It was raining.

The first night, Twig found a superb campsite on the edge of the Aleph forest. "It was a palace to us".

Next morning, Twig was a dwarf.

That day it rained hard and we finished at a waystation. There were six woodcutters there - all headed for Driseville like us.

Next morning, Twig was a leprechaun.

Before Driseville we espied some vultures circling. Kosha & Grizo sneaked up to check. There were four dead humans and two dead kobolds. Not wanting to look a gift-horse in the mouth (or maybe better "not wanting to look a gift kobold in the arm"), I cut one of the arms off the freshly-dead kobold and successfully transferred the mushroom off the back of my hand onto the arm. This dead host was a safe place for the mushrooms for a good three days, we were told.

We arrived in Driseville and stayed at the Hole in the Bagel.

The next morning, poor Twig was a Kobold!

Humorous Nose-flute

Burgundyville

Another quiet day and we arrived in Burgundyville. Here, we stayed in the Humorous Nose-flute.

The next morning, Twig was a buxom lady.

Peaceful day. We finished the day at a way-station near the slave line. Here, we met a tall fellow in splint armour: a tough guy named Edward.

The next morning, Twig was a leper.

The kobold arm carrying my mushrooms had expired and thus could no longer hold the mushroom - the three days were up. Since we had no more corpses, I reluctantly got the mushroom placed back on my hand. Balder was a assigned this task using his much-vaunted Herbalism skill.

Slave Line barrier arm

Slave Line

Later on that day, we all crossed the Slave Line. This was the demarcation line where slavery was no longer legal past this line - where the Free Coast began. There were a couple of bored guards standing next to a road-crossing barrier-arm. They just waved us through.

Hackerton

After a few more hours, nearing day end, we finally got to Hackerton. Joe immediately went yellow - not sure why. We quickly made our way to Oswald's gnome house.

Oswald was delighted to see us, and even more delighted to hear that we had living samples of the mushrooms he sought. Straight away, he took Twig and me down to his lab, and successfully removed the mushrooms off us both. This instantly transformed Twig the leper back into Twig the elf.

As reward for our entire mission, Oswald then set about identifying Balder's egg:

It had a evil soul in it, and it will hatch within the next year or two. When it hatches, Balder's soul dies and the egg's soul possesses Balder's body. This curse is so powerful that it can not be fixed with a normal Remove Curse.

The only person that Oswald knew who even had a chance at fixing this magic, was an elven mystic called Ava Messier. She lived in Emerald Forest (thousands of leagues away - half a year's travel).

The dark horseman who was following us, and who had helped Balder a few times, was a corporeal manifestation of the soul inside the egg. He (or "it") could read intent of Balder's mind (when near). Which could be a problem. 

Dagger of venom

However, Oswald said that we could get a special shielding hat off a Spiney Norman witch called Zelda - who lived near the town of Belie, a day's travel from Hackerton. This magical hat would shield Balder from the dark horseman.

Before we left for Belie, Balder decided to Identify some of our magic items.

• +0 longsword, cures 5hp per day - I bagsied this.
• dagger of venom D4 plus D6 from injection of poison
• magical candlesticks - extra 1 power back over night

We left Hackerton and arrived at Belie at day end. Here we stayed at the Distinguished Wombat. Now on the lookout for Zelda.