Session 10-B: Sarith's Strategy (Act II)

Key Plot Developments
Tremble, Pix, and Bogtooth awaken in a wondrous grove of mushrooms. Strange music and singing echoes from the cavern beyond the grove, but they're immediately concerned with Stool. Their myconid escorts explain (telepathically, since the spores are so abundant in their home that the normal inhalation process is unnecessary) that Stool has been moved to another area so that he may become one with the grove. Tremble, eager to preserve Stool's individuality, asks to be taken to the myconid sovereigns, including Mister Stool. He is told that Stool is a generic name for all myconid sprouts; until a Stool gains enough nutrients to grove into a full-fledged myconid, they are part of a hive mind. Tremble argues that Stool has already exhibited sufficient growth to be allowed to retain his sense of self, and begs once more for the opportunity to speak to the sovereigns.

The group encounters a group of small Stools, who sing to them telepathically and seem overjoyed about an incoming day of celebration. They find Sarith in the center of the grove; he seems troubled and contemplative. Bogtooth and Pix try to engage him in conversation, but he is not forthcoming. He keeps asking after Stool, trying to ensure that his body has been preserved. As the goblins deal with the myconid children, they lose sight of the drow.

Tremble, unconcerned about Sarith's behavior in light of what might happen to Stool, urges them to proceed towards the sovereigns. On the way, their myconid guides explain how their community operates: they are born as Stools, and develop a personality such that they are guided into one of the seven key circles or pods. The circles support 20 myconids on average. When a myconid is slain, their body is returned to the Circle of Sowers and Circle of Growers, who replenish it with nutrients, add more fertilizer, and return it to the larger community.

The group enters the central basin, where they enter the court of the grove's dual sovereigns. Sovereign Phylo is gregarious and welcoming. Sovereign Basidia, whom Stool called Mister Stool, is reluctant to overshare. Phylo publicly boasts about the oncoming day of joy, asking them to avoid the eastern plateau before a "surprise" is spoiled. He brags about his connection to the Great Seeder beyond the garden.

Mister Stool hears the heroes' concerns, but stonewalls them. He says that he'll think on it, but is reluctant to disrupt the cycle of nature. He emphasizes the importance of the grove's traditions of renewal, which Phylo dismisses.

The group is housed in a hollowed-out mushroom. During that night, Pix has a nightmare about a colossal figure behind a fungal bridal veil. The figure brags about its upcoming wedding.

The next morning, Mister Stool privately meets the characters under the pretense of showing them around the grove. He confesses his concerns with Phylo's recent push towards a day of prophecy and desire to merge all of the circles together. He recognizes their love for Stool, and agrees that Stool was grown enough to be individuated. he also mentions that the Circle of Hunters, led by an adult named Loobamub, was connected to Stool. They fell into despair when Stool died, and have not returned to the grove. He is open to the notion of restoring Stool, as many memories as possible intact, but wishes for them to extend their love of Stool towards Stool's home and investigate Phylo's designs in the grove.

On Mister Stool's advice, they visit the Circle of Builders on the northern terrace. There, they meet a circle leader named Gasbide. Gasbide dreams of a bizarre, elaborate structure called the Araumycos. He gestures to Yggmorgus, a mushroom tower deep within the grove, and argues that his design of Araumycos will dwarf anything the myconids ever built. Gasbide then asks for details about the surface, indicating that it also hopes to build mushroom structures for the "softers" to see.

Mister Stool meets back with the goblins and mentions that the Circle of Hunters, before their departure, brought back another group of softers. This group was taken to the Garden of Welcome and has not been seen since. He also asks them about Sarith; he sensed something in Sarith that he does not recognize, but Sarith has disappeared. They speak with Rasharoo, the circle leader of the Circle of Explorers, who has prepared exit routes in case of an imminent disaster.

Based on their conversation, Mister Stool intuits that Phylo, and his many followers, have been infected with a diseased spore. He fears that the spore comes from the Garden of Welcome (which is in front of the Yggmorgus tower). Not wanting to risk infection, he hopes that the goblins can take care of the issue with their magic. They agree. Tremble is given a moldy scroll of protection from fiends.

The goblins, hoping to impress Mister Stool and restore the original Stool's personality, go to the Garden of Welcome. There, they see the heads of creatures of a dozen humanoid Underdark races peek from the ground, mold and fungi growing around them. A female drow, Xinaya Do'Urden, begs them for death. Bogtooth, terrified, tries to comply, but ends up having to fire multiple Eldritch Blasts to end her suffering.

As she explodes, a disgusting larval creature rises up, showing only vestigial fungal growths that hint that it might once have been a myconid. This creature asks if they're here for the wedding rehearsal, criticizes them for showing up too early, and attacks. It uses spores to animate the amalgamation of slain humanoids; drow emerge from the ground and are used as chemical weapons when the creature forces them to explode. The monster forces spores down Pix's throat, driving her to madness; she now sees threats that don't exist and attacks wildly.

Then, myconids join the fray; they fight alongside the creature, attempting to subdue the goblins. The goblins, heartbroken that the influence of demons has permeated Stool's safe haven, reach out to Mister Stool, demanding that he evacuate. Basidia-loyal myconids rush through Rasharoo's escape routes. Tremble wonders what happened to Stool's body, which he concludes isn't safe here.

Even after the creature is slain, Pix is convulsing from the spores. Tremble and Bogtooth ask her to flee, but she is inclined to run in the opposite direction (towards Yggmorgus). They physically restrain and drag her away from the grove as Phylo-affiliated myconids seek to grab them.

As they enter an escape tunnel, Sarith appears on a nearby cliff (close to the Garden of Welcoming). He sneers down at them. They note that vines and fungus covers his face, stretching out of his head. He laughs at them while they ask why he would do something like this or let himself be transformed, before Tremble concludes that they will never truly understand each other. Sarith crows with victory; his plan was to transform Stool into a fungal plague. He wanted to turn the sprout into a biological weapon, and he succeeded.

New NPCs

 * 1) Sovereign Phylo, plague-afflicted myconid leader
 * 2) Sovereign Basidia, also known as Mister Stool
 * 3) Gasbide, afflicted myconid builder
 * 4) Rasharoo, cautious myconid explorer
 * 5) Xinaya Do'Urden, doomed drow
 * 6) Yestabrod, mutated former myconid

Memorable Quotations
Sarith: Do you want to know what strategy looks like? It looks like turning a child into a cancer.