3. Fungal Cave

Faramos takes also the cask with wine and puts it at the bottom of his backpack - commenting his dead: "In case we will meet another crazy dwarf on our way".
- he was visibly in much better mood, after they have burned the bad book.

"Hey... Brenda or Nindia... you think this wine is of good quality? You know... I simply can't check it myself... the smell is too strong for me. If it is of good quality, we could remember this place and get back here when we will have any means to transport more goods with us."

Referring to Nindia's encouragement to further explore the cave: "Yeah... let's go... the orc matron won't be happy about our little accident with her book... - he smiled from ear to ear, with a mocking expression on his face, as if he was the most obedient and nicest dwarf-boy in the world.

When they arrive at the chamber with few possible ways to continue:
"Yes, you are right Nindia. Less orc's activity, the higher possibility that we will find something undamaged or even stained by their touch, there. But I think it's time to star to be careful. We don't have any idea who else may live in this cave..." - he prepares to lead the way with torch in his hand, but starts to make slower and more careful steps.

"This one is." - says Brenda. - "Those 2 are spoiled."

Continues in my next post

The Fungus Room
The northern tunnel opens into a cavernous chamber, an otherworldly forest of fungi sprawling across the space. The air here is thick and humid, saturated with the earthy, almost sweet smell of damp soil and the heady scent of mushroom spores. The fungi dominate every inch of the floor, walls, and ceiling, growing in an astonishing variety of shapes and sizes.

Closer to the ground, squat, bulbous mushrooms pulsate gently, their fleshy bodies covered in strange, wiggling appendages that sway rhythmically as if reaching out to sense the environment. These fungi emit a faint, wet squelching sound as they shift, their movement almost hypnotic in the dim light.

Towering above them, colossal mushrooms stretch upwards, their thick stalks twisting like ancient trees. Some reach over 20 feet into the air, their broad, umbrella-like caps brushing against the ceiling. Every so often, these giant fungi release clouds of purple, glittering spores that drift lazily through the air, catching the light and creating an ethereal, shimmering haze that fills the chamber.

Orbs of violet light embedded in the walls and ceiling cast a soft lavender glow over the entire area. The light seems to pulse in time with the slow movements of the fungi, bathing the chamber in a surreal, dreamlike ambiance. The shadows cast by the towering mushrooms stretch and warp across the uneven ground, giving the impression that the room itself is alive, breathing in time with the forest of fungi that inhabits it.

The air is heavy with spores, making each breath feel thick and laden with the musty, organic essence of the mushrooms. The soft, persistent sound of dripping water from the tunnel behind mingles with the occasional rustle of fungi shifting in place, creating an atmosphere of eerie, unsettling tranquility. The chamber is beautiful in a twisted, unnatural way, a hidden ecosystem thriving in the darkness of the cave, both mesmerizing and deeply unsettling.

There is a tunnel that takes you deeper into the cave, behind the colossal mushrooms.

Yes, yes, sure! Wait, what? you realize Nindia amazed by the place has not beet listening to dwarf's warnings
Faramos, you dwarfs are used to underground, aren't you? Would you lead the way, please ?
Nindia asks dwarf to lead while she is holding the torch.

"I WASN'T proper underground for a long, long... time. Please... let's not talk about it..." - Faramos said with almost sad face and a hint of irritation. [Only as PC, as player I'm very ok with this! ]

"Yes... I will lead." - he added dispassionately.

Amidst the oppressive gloom of the Fungal Cave, towering mushrooms and grotesque fungi twisted in eerie shapes, you moved cautiously, their breaths shallow in the damp, spore-filled air. Faramos in front, Nindia in the middle, carrying the druid's torch, and Brenda behind them.

Suddenly, Faramos halted, his keen druidic senses tingling. But it was already too late.

Out of the corner of their eyes, they spotted it—a grotesque, violet form, almost indistinguishable from the fungi that surrounded them. What they first mistook for just another fungus pulsed with a strange, inner light. Its body, slick and glistening like wet stone, was shaped like a massive, unnatural teardrop, veins dark as night writhing beneath its translucent surface.

Before they could react, the creature stirred. Four slimy, tendrillike appendages shot into the air, flailing blindly but with growing purpose, as though tasting the very presence of life. Its roots—small, wiry feelers—crept and slithered across the ground, a quiet, insidious whisper echoing through the chamber like an ancient warning.




With a sharp hiss, the creature's violet flowers unfurled, releasing a thick cloud of hallocinogenic spores. The air around the group became heavy, the fine particles clinging to their skin, filling their lungs...

Brenda's vision blurred, the dim light of the Fungal Cave shifting, twisting into something unreal. Her grip on her shield tightened, knuckles white, but it felt distant—like she was holding it in a dream. The edges of the cavern bled together, the walls warping and curling like rippling water, shimmering with strange, phantom colors that didn’t belong in the world she knew.

Her heart pounded in her chest, too loud, echoing in her ears. Was it her heart? No, it was the walls—they pulsed with a sickening rhythm, their surfaces slick with some unseen, living force. The towering mushrooms around her swayed, not gently but as if they were alive, leaning in, whispering her name in soft, hissing voices.

She turned to Faramos and Nindia—but their faces were wrong, distorted. Faramos’ eyes had become hollow black pits, tendrils of shadow leaking from his mouth as he chanted words she couldn’t understand. Nindia's skin had taken on a pale, translucent sheen, her body melting and reforming like wax, her fingers lengthening into claws that scratched at the air.

"I... We... We need to escape this place... I wasn't prepared for those spores..." - she said.

Thalia?! How? What did they... Nindia rushes forward and grabbing air. It can't be! she takes few steps back
black magic? The book! Gone she continue dropping words looking all around with her eyes full of madness

At first Faramos tried to resist... but as he was first in the tunnel and closest to the strange fungi... he only strained himself even more. His lungs getting full of wet, unpleasant substance made his whole body have a vomit like contraction... desperately trying to get rid of poisonous... but strongly alive gas.

Heavy breathing, he supported himself on the nearest wall thing to catch his footing... he looked down... having no strength to stand straight anymore... he looked at the ground... ground that was supposed to be so close, so pleasant to every dwarf... but suddenly the loose rocks on it begun to shape in new images... faces... of his parents... disgusted by his behavior, full of disappointment, dissatisfaction... and finally wild hatred... they seemed to grow in size and anger at him, as if in great pain: "What a dwarf you are! You are a perversion! A half-breed. You have become like a human. You stink! You are repulsive... that is not how we raised you!"

Faramos looked at his arms and legs... they began to lengthen... and he himself grew... he became even taller than Brenda... and his skin was green... The faces growing almost out of the ground, trying to bite him as they were still screaming:

"A green dwarf! Has anyone ever seen anything like this!?!?"

And the whole cave, every mushroom seemed to be laughing at Faramos with the full range of its lungs... which Faramos lacked so much at that moment.

Staggering through the twisting caverns, Brenda's breath came in ragged gasps. Her heart thundered in her chest, each beat a deafening drum that drowned out all other sound. The cave around her warped and twisted, still swimming with nightmarish visions, but she forced herself to move, one step at a time, every muscle screaming for rest, every instinct urging her to flee.

She didn’t know how she found the exit, how her feet carried her through the winding tunnels. The spores still clung to her skin, a foul miasma of madness that clouded her thoughts. Everything felt wrong—the world was too bright, too alive, and yet, she pressed forward, her shield dragging behind her in the dirt, its familiar weight now a burden.

The cave mouth loomed ahead, and with a final, desperate push, Brenda burst into the open air. Cold wind slapped her face, sharp and biting, and for a moment, clarity returned. But the forest beyond was a new kind of nightmare—twisted trees reached for her with gnarled branches, their bark slick with moisture, their leaves a sickly shade of green. The shadows between them seemed to writhe, filled with unseen eyes, watching, waiting.

She stumbled forward, her vision still hazy, her legs weak beneath her. She didn’t stop until she was deep within the forest, far from the cave, far from the others. The sound of her own footsteps seemed wrong, like they weren’t hers, like something else was chasing her, mimicking her every move.

She collapsed against a thick tree trunk, her breath ragged, chest heaving. The ground was cold, damp with moss and decay, but it felt safer than the cave. Her eyes darted from shadow to shadow, but she saw no one. No Faramos. No Nindia. Just the twisted, looming shapes of the trees, and the suffocating silence that hung over the forest like a shroud.

Brenda pulled her knees to her chest, trembling. The forest loomed around her, indifferent, vast, and uncaring. She felt small, fragile—alone. Hidden away from the world, from her companions, she could almost hear the forest breathe. She was Broken.

Continues in my next post

Faramos
The laughter. It came first as a whisper, then louder, until it filled the cave. The mushrooms around him swayed, each of them chuckling, their grotesque forms trembling as if mocking him. He clutched his head, trying to drown out the sound, but the laughter became voices—horrid, ancient voices. And they were calling him.

The cave shifted, no longer a mere tunnel of stone and fungus, but a winding, gnarled path that seemed to lead into some dark, primeval forest. Shadows danced in his peripheral vision, strange shapes moving between the trees. Tall figures loomed in the distance—Ents, their massive wooden bodies creaking as they turned their hollow eyes on him, judging him with the cold gaze of ancient, ageless beings. Their bark-covered limbs reached for him, their voices like the groaning of the earth itself, accusing him of breaking the ancient bond between dwarves and the natural world.

"You do not belong here," one of them rasped, its voice deep as the roots of mountains. "You are unnatural."

As he staggered forward, the trees themselves seemed to close in around him, their branches twisting into clawed hands, reaching down to snatch at him. Dark Fey darted between the trees, their glowing eyes watching with cruel delight as they whispered curses, their laughter sharp as blades. Witches appeared next, their gaunt, pale faces framed by hoods of dark moss, their eyes like voids, pits of endless black. They whispered promises of power, of escape from the torment, but their voices dripped with poison, each word a lie.

"Join us in the woods, Faramos," they sang, their voices harmonizing like a haunting, twisted lullaby. "Become one with the forest. Forget who you are."

The path seemed to stretch forever, the forest deepening, until he found himself in the heart of the Whispering Woods—a place of terrible magic and endless night. The trees whispered his name now, their words soft but terrible, promising madness if he lingered too long. Shadows darted between the branches—creatures of the dark, Fey, and worse, their eyes gleaming with malice. He ran—ran until his legs gave out, until he collapsed in the cold, wet earth, gasping for breath, his vision fading to black.

Nindia
Nindia whirled around, her vision still distorted, her hands shaking. Every shadow seemed to move, every sound a whisper of something hunting her, something taking from her. Her mind filled with images of black magic, dark sorcery, and the cruel hands of enemies pulling Thalia into the void. "The book… it’s gone!" she repeated, but the words were hollow now, lost to her panic.

The cave was suffocating, the weight of the earth pressing down on her. Nindia spun on her heel, feet carrying her out into the wild, the world outside shifting, no longer the grim, dangerous place she knew. She fled without thought, without reason, her eyes glazed over with madness, unseeing. Every step was a blur, every breath ragged and shallow as she ran deeper into the wilderness, away from everything—away from Faramos, from Brenda, from the cursed cave.

Her thoughts fractured, spiraling inwards, her mind drowning in a thousand echoes of Thalia’s voice. Each whisper clawed at her sanity, dragging her further into despair. She couldn’t make sense of it—why Thalia appeared, why she couldn’t grasp reality. It was as though the world had broken, splintered, and nothing made sense anymore. Hours passed, or maybe it was minutes. Time was a blur. She was uncommunicative, her words reduced to incoherent mutterings. She could only focus on the crushing absence of her home, of Thalia, of everything she had lost.

Continues in my next post

Springrise, 10th day.
Evening
Hours later, in the shadowy woods far beyond the Fungal Cave, Brenda found her.

Nindia sat slumped against a gnarled tree, her face pale, eyes glassy and vacant, still whispering incoherently to herself. "Thalia... gone... black magic..." Her hands twitched at her sides, fingers moving as if turning the pages of a book that wasn’t there.

Without a word, she sat down next to her friend, her shield resting at her side. She reached out, gently taking one of Nindia’s trembling hands in her own.

The rogue barely noticed.

Brenda took a slow breath, then began to hum, her voice soft and low, the lyrics an old one—a poem her mother had sung to her in her youth, back in the cold mountains where the wind howled through the valleys at night. Her voice, though quiet, was steady, each note a soothing balm against the fear that had taken root in Nindia’s heart.

As the melody unfolded, Brenda sang the words, her voice wrapping around them like a warm embrace:

"When dawn arrives on silver wings,
The shadows flee, the darkness sings,
A whispered sigh, the night's release,
The madness calms, the heart finds peace"

Her voice rose gently, like a stream flowing through the still woods, and the madness in Nindia’s eyes slowly began to dim. She blinked, her breath steadying, her twitching fingers growing still as the song enveloped her.

"The stars grow faint, their light withdrawn,
As golden rays announce the dawn.
The dreams that haunted, cold and stark,
Are scattered now, chased by the spark."

Nindia’s breathing evened out, her eyes losing the wildness they’d held just moments ago. She looked at Brenda, blinking as if seeing her for the first time, her chest rising and falling in time with the song’s calming rhythm. The madness in her gaze faded, replaced with a confused but lucid awareness.

"For in the light, all shadows cease—
And with the dawn, the soul finds peace."

As the last note lingered in the air, there was only silence—the kind of peaceful, deep silence that felt like a refuge from the world’s chaos.

Brenda, Brenda, Brenda. My apologies insisting to go to the caves. I better face rust brothers than this... wait where's Faramos . We left him in the caves, didn't we? Or did he flee Nindia try to understand what happened for real and what hallucinogenic effects.

We must find him before... Nindia avoid verbalizing what could happen

"I think he left as well. I remember seeing him fleeing. This was terrible, the worst experience in my life... What kind of purple monster was that... And I have no idea where Faramos is now. It's getting dark. I think that we should head to our previous camp, prepare to sleep and hope that he meets us there. Do you agree?"