The Rise of Ishana Storm-The Darkness below pt2

previously

We raced down the tunnel. As we ran another roar shook the ground. More earth tumbled down. “Quick! Down here!” yelled Boreff.

Without a chance to ask where down here was, I once again found myself tumbling down a rocky slope face-first, my staff landing on top of me. Seconds later the monk skidded past, the halfling and dragonborn clattering after. For a moment there was silence and nobody moved. Just a pile of intrepid cave explorers doing it all wrong. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Whoah, now that was different.

As the others dusted themselves off, I took in our strange, new environment. Stretching off in all directions, the ground was covered with mushrooms and weird shaped fungi. Looking up I could see we had landed in a massive underground cavern. From where I stood, the ceiling was a good three hundred feet up. It glittered with some unknown substance. The ground glowed with a radiant light as this forest of oddities stretched out before us. There were big mushrooms with massive canopies, small mushrooms and fantastically shaped mushrooms. Some swayed gently on an underground breeze. I swear I saw a particularly large and bulbous purple one belch out a green smoky cloud of something.

In front of us, rolling hills broke up the landscape and every now and then I caught a glimmer of something weaving its way in between the bases of the hillocks. Underground streams surely? They crisscrossed this alien place intermittently and I could see that small pools were dotted around. This strange place was very different from anything else I’d seen. And somewhere amongst all this, the captives of Longtower were being dragged away.

Still nobody had said anything, perhaps they were as impressed as I was with the view. I got the conversation going.

“Nice going Kyan. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the divine intervention you were looking for.”

“Hmmm, Ishana. Perhaps the Dragonborn has been afflicted with something? Such strange behaviour!” offered the Monk.

The Dragonborn offered up his explanation. “Erm, I just wanted to hear an echo in the tunnel.”

“That’s the gap between your ears.” I hissed back.

“Careful sorceress! Mock me and you’ll regret it!”

“Stop it! Both of you!” Missy Halfling had gotten between myself and the scaly oaf. A true beacon of harmonious do goodery in action.

“He nearly got us all killed!” I protested.

“I agree, it was reckless. But the longer we stand here arguing amongst ourselves the further away the enemy will have taken our friends. We promised to help Lord Longtower.”

Oh! Oh! Friends now is it? We barely know them. YOU might have promised Lord Sniveltower but not I. No way dear journal am I down here for them. I’ve got my own reasons for my being here. I swear Hightower knows more about this place than he’s letting on. Powerful, enchanting red stones don’t grow on trees and neither do I think that they come from mushrooms. No, there are other factors here and I’m going to find out. I turned my back on the reptile and do gooder and went to see if Boreff and the birdman had turned up anything useful.

“Have you turned up anything useful? I said as Boreff examined a piece of broken fungi. He looked up and staring straight into my eyes announced “Yep, I reckon they went down there.” pointing in the direction of the mushroom plain ahead. “Squawk, Squawk, Squawk I fly here!” And with that, Keena flew off over the strange landscape.

Finally, after much debate and counter debate we set off in the direction that Boreff had indicated. The birdman had already been back once and reported this cavern just kept going on and on. He’d found no sign of the Longtower folk. Now we’d got a vague idea of where they’d gone we started trudging across the mushroom fields. No sooner had we started walking off, our troubles began. A dark green plant hidden amongst the fungi lashed out with vine like appendages. One struck the dragonborn, another hit Boreff. The dragonborn shrugged his off, Boreff wasn’t so lucky. A slight spasm shook his body and he just froze. Unable to move a muscle. “Boreff! Boreff!” I yelled. As I looked at him, swift justice was being meted out to the surrounding plants and mushrooms. Boreff still didn’t twitch an eyelid, he just stared, drooled and then fell over. I stepped out of the way in case he landed on me. The ground was quite soft so it cushioned his fall.

“Ishana! What’s happened?” Boreff’s apparent paralysis and subsequent fall had attracted the attention of numero uno busy body Missy Halfling. The others had also stopped hacking apart everything and now they all stared at me.

“What?” I said. “He just fell over. See, here on his arm.” An ugly red rash had spread around his right forearm. “That plant must’ve done something to him.”

“Hmm.” the halfling mused, I’ll get my pack and see if I have anything that can help. Upon her return I watched as she rummaged in her bag before finally shaking her head. “I don’t have anything that can help. Oh what to do with him.” As she wrung her hands in pity, the growling voice of the dragonborn offered a solution. “I’ll carry him. He doesn’t look like much.” I was about to suggest we just left him here on his own. He’d probably be okay.

Picking up the stricken human we carried on our journey through this strange, underground world.

That’s it till next week folks. I hope you enjoyed this, please share, subscribe and like! Tell me what you think in the comments section. Feedback is always appreciated!

Stu our DM can be found here at his facebook page!

Credits to the following: Ki’rin – The Human Monk

Sheva- The Halfling Cleric

Boreff-The Human Rogue

Kyan-The Dragonborn Paladin

Kena-The Aaracokra Rogue

And to Stu for keeping it deadly and on our toes!

Thanks to D&D5E for an awesome game.