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Deception & Detoxing

The party took a well-deserved rest in the aftermath of the grueling fight against the pseudodragon1. Mikolash turned his attention to studying Ellenforma's research notes, and Chort did a remarkably capable job of helping the party patch up their wounds. Before they finished resting, Mikolash deciphered the last of the notes, and they convened to discuss the results. Apparently, Ellenforma was having some difficulty manipulating the powerful ambient magic in the ruins, and seemed to become increasingly unhinged over time as her experiments progressed. In addition, the magic of the ruins was concentrated in the dragon's bones and the hoard room, and removing the bones from the hoard room could diminish the power of the ambient transformative magic. The party contemplated these revelations and determined that Ellenforma had undoubtedly become tragically corrupted by the power of the ruins, and that they would try to redeem her. Gregory was not entirely convinced that Ellenforma was so good-hearted, but he was satisfied with any solution that dismantled the dangerous power of the ruins. The party decided to burn the dragon's remains so they could more easily remove the bones from the ruins later, and Camilla started a pleasant bonfire using Ellenforma's less valuable books2 to get the process started while they rested.

After another hour or so, the party's rest was interrupted once again by an approaching fungus golem. The party decided that it wasn't a threat, and was just Ellenforma wanting to talk, so they allowed it to approach. Speaking through the golem, Ellenforma observed with some concern that the party had killed the dragon and tried to simply convince the party to leave instead of threatening them again. She mentioned that she could use her transformative powers to help the party or to give them valuable magical items if it would help them leave her alone. The party offered to talk with her after they finished, and she agreed, though she insisted that they stop burning her books.

As evening drew on, the party finally finished their rest and walked down the tunnel to talk with Ellenforma. A small group of golems opened the portal on the opposite side of the cistern full of water, and the party finally met her in person. She appeared to be a human - or at least mostly human - woman in her 40s with a sickly green tinge to her skin and the ability to alter aspects of her appearance and physical form at will. She allowed Ayala to look around a little more in the dungeon and proudly showed off her fungus farm, which was fueled by a strange endlessly flowing river full of polluted water that seemed to lead nowhere. In the course of the conversation, the party decided that their suspicions of her redeemability were well founded, and tried to convince her to leave the dungeon and visit the outside world for a change. She was initially resistant, but Mikolash appealed persuasively to her magical sensibilities and convinced her to give it a try. She reshaped the walls with her strange magic and led the party to the gate of the dungeon. When she saw the cool night air, she couldn't keep going on her own, and was about to head back before Ayala's supernatural persuasiveness gave her the conviction to finally leave.

Ellenforma stepped into the natural world for the first time in months. She seemed happy to be outside, but also quickly began suffering physically. She desperately asked for food and water, mentioning that she hadn't needed either in months, and the party rushed to help her by gathering sustenance from the surrounding forest. While they were doing that, Gregory noticed that his home had been destroyed, which meant that someone else had been to at least the outskirts of the ruins, and he communicated this quietly to several members of the party. As Ellenforma lay writhing, Mikolash tried to magically seal her off in a bubble to protect her from the outside air, but that only intensified the pain and prompted her to throw up a slimy fungus-infested mass. He realized that she had transformed her body significantly to survive underground indefinitely, and that she was now trying to channel the magic to undo those changes and return her body to its natural state, but her limited skill made the process painful and dangerous.

Before Ellenforma finished her transformation, the party noticed the sound of armored figures approaching from the camp. Ayala used her magic to observe the approaching figures, and Gregory recognized their markings as being even higher in the Nullwarden hierarchy than the Void Guard. He was confused why they were out here, but seemed generally relieved. He told the party to stay hidden and quiet to avoid giving away their presence, since Gregory still wasn't supposed to be working with them, and went off to meet with the Nullwardens on his own. When they met him, they interrogated him briefly about the presence of other people in the area, and he lied to them, saying that it was just a small group of druids that passed through after staying briefly. They seemed satisfied with the answer until he was briefly distracted, at which point one of them quickly drew a crossbow and shot him. As he fell to the ground, Ayala let out a cry and started rushing to his aid, and the rest of the party - plus an unexpectedly angry Ellenforma - followed suit.

Join us this week to try to save Gregory, Ellenforma, and your own skins!

  1. The huge fungal weird kind, not the cute tiny sneaky kind.
  2. With Mikolash acting as arbiter of book value, and after some effort spent convincing him that burning books was strictly necessary.

Stupid Awards

Chort: Ayala: Mikolash: Camilla:
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