Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9613829" data-attributes="member: 27780">Diary of Master Xiang Ru: Highest enlightened one of the dread pagoda.(28 days ago): We have lost contact with our agent in the kuo-toa community below. I’m dispatching a team of several Jann to investigate the situation.(24 days ago): The Jann have returned bearing news of a curious fungus that infects all it touches and takes control of the bodies of those it kills. Even their partly elemental flesh is not immune. Fortunately, the fungus appears to be unable to abide the touch of sunlight, to their relief when they returned to the surface, so it is of no great concern to the enlightened ones.(23 days ago): It seems I spoke too soon. While the fungus perishes at the touch of sunlight, once it has penetrated the flesh of a living creature, it remains dormant within during the daylight hours, only to resume its growth at night. Several Jann turned during the night, and killed several more of our supplicants before they were banished. Even I was briefly infected, but this was easy to solve with the use of Jin Niu's wishes. Still, this fungus is far more intriguing than I first thought. I have retained one of the jann as a prisoner for further examination.(22 days ago): Lost contact with the Svirfneblin settlement. This does not appear to be connected to the fungus, but what wiped them out so savagely and then simply left remains a mystery.(21 days ago): Lost contact with the Grimlock settlement. This one is rather easier to solve, thanks to our mole among the frost giants. Agents of the lich-queen have come to the mountain in their eternal war against the illithid. Fortunately, they appear willing to negotiate with those not allied with the brain-eaters so it is unlikely they will be an immediate problem for us. Still, increasing the number of genie guards summoned does seem a wise move in the immediate future.19 days ago: I have grown weary of trying to unravel the mystery of the fungus by conventional means and resorted to using the wishes of Jin Niu. Through them, I have discovered that it is the creation of an ancient druid named Xhagevoxhab, who became one with his creation and grew into a massive beast that sought to incorporate the entire world into its bulk. After a fierce battle thousands of years ago, it was banished to another realm, but the bindings keeping it imprisoned are weakening and it is beginning to once again spread it's tendrils across this plane. Fortunately, electricity, acid and sunlight all effectively destroy it, so it is only a threat to the denizens of the underdark even if it were to get loose. I believe we can still turn this to our advantage despite the loss of some valuable assets.(14 days ago): The fungus continues to spread throughout the northeastern tunnels of the mountain. The goblins have fallen and the dwarves are under siege. I have permitted my agents to leak the knowledge of its weakneses to them. I shall watch with great interest to see how well they can hold it off with their discipline and crafting skill.(12 days ago): Manzessine prison and the neighbouring illithid town have fallen. There were still several scarlet children picking over the ruins of the prison, but the town was sealed off by rockfall. My servants had to summon a Dao to get through it, which reported that it was abandoned, but with the bodies destroyed in a massive pile, as if they’d managed to defeat the scarlet children, but left anyway. Still, if the illithid are spooked enough to abandon the area, that removes one of our largest obstacles to controlling the mountain.(9 days ago): My attempt to cultivate the fungus under my own control are hitting a wall, for it loses all it’s virulence when the connection to Xhagevoxhab is severed. I must somehow create a new focus, one under my control. Yet even the powers of a single wish are not enough to completely rewrite the complex magical underpinning of this pestilence. I shall have to word my next attempts carefully.(7 days ago): I have willingly reinfected myself with the fungus in an attempt to understand it further. With the aid of the perpetual daylight spell in my private garden I can carefully control it's progress and banish it at any time. I am the master of the Yikaria. No mere mold will defy me!(4 days ago): I have managed to keep the fungus alive, while using it to infect one of the monks while within the dimensionally locked chamber. He even managed to infect and command the rats I introduced. However, as soon as it was released, the power of the stronger hive-mind reasserted itself, and I had to destroy them again. As long as Xhagevoxhab touches this plane, I cannot become the true master of the fungus. Nor have I yet managed to remove the funguses vulnerability to sunlight that would keep it from spreading across the surface lands under my dominion. Perhaps introducing a symbiotic photosynthetic exostructure to draw off the light and convert it into a useful form might be fruitful. I have dispatched some Jann to Cair Pahor’an to seek out suitable test subjects for cultivation.(2 days ago): The dwarven siege lasted longer than I expected, but they too have proven no match for the relentless power of the scarlet children! A few refugees have survived and fled on the surface, seeking adventurers to aid them. The rest are now one with the fungus. And so Xhagevoxhab's touch grows a little stronger.(1 day ago): My dreams intermingle with those of Xhagevoxhab, but my waking mind remains my own. If nothing is done, His coming will be in a matter of months, not years. I must find a way to slow His advance without cutting the tie completely, so I have more time to grow to match His power. The Enlightened ones shall be triumphant!</blockquote>

Verification