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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2167899" data-attributes="member: 1210">Curing Peoples' Blindness... Sort Of!7/10/369 O.L.G., 10:30 a.m., the edge of Sriti’s JungleAlmost immediately upon setting out in the morning, our heroes burst out of the jungle.  The feet of the mountains called Dhali’s Fists are in evidence not far away.  Consulting their map, our heroes conclude they are not far from the healing springs they need to bathe their concoction in to heal the blind Beau and Jawbreaker.  Heartened, they move on until they come to a small hut built near a large pit.  The elf who lives in the hut is the self-proclaimed guardian of the healing springs.  Named Thyllimsisa, she demands 250 gp to let the party into the pit.  “Highway robbery,” gripes Federico.“By whose authority are you here?” demands Ezeekiel.  “What gives you the right to demand a toll?”“I’m a licensed business!” she proclaims.  “Besides, I provide a valuable public service- I warn you of the dangers of going in there.”Zeke scowls.  “Well, that may be true for now, but there’s a new order coming, so you better watch out that you’re not trying to oppress anyone!”The party pays, then enters the pit.  The pit descends directly into the ground.  It is a natural limestone opening in the ground where a section of a previous cave collapsed after being worn away by water, leaving a tumbled shaft pierced by a narrow chimney that drops 30’ before becoming more slippery for the remaining 60’.  When it drops into a chamber, the party finds themselves along one wall, 20’ above the rubble-choked ground.  The group secures ropes, then clambers down to the bottom.  The large cave they are in is full of a strange mineral smell and a surprising warmth.  In one part of the chamber a large mossy stone hisses and burbles as water springs from it, forming a pool around it on the floor.  A large tunnel leads out of the eastern side of the huge cave.“The druid’s instructions said to steep it in the first spring for a full day.  That looks like the first spring to me,” says Federico.**8 p.m., the pit of the healing springsThe pungent smell, of course, attracts attention.They come invisible out of the darkness, flailing at Ezeekiel.  Unseen, they are hard to hit; but Zeke and Martini manage to defeat them anyway.  The ranger sprinkles enough dirt on them to outline them, and declares that they were phantom fungi.  “They’re weird subterranean monsters,” he explains, “invisible plants.  Kind of weird.” Federico immediately seizes upon the comic opportunities and begins thinking of phantom fungus jokes.***7/11/369 O.L.G., 11 a.m.“Ugh!  Stuff tastes like moose piss!” exclaims Jawbreaker, making a horrible face as he drinks his infusion.  Beau gags and almost loses his, but he misses his vision so much that he pinches his nose and manages to choke it down.Our heroes wait a minute.  Finally, Naomi demands, “Well, can you see?”Jawbreaker squints in her direction.“Not really.”*After some discussion, our heroes decide to wait a while and see if there is any improvement.  “We could explore down here,” suggests Federico.  “That elementalist up above told us that there were different springs with different properties.”“But do we want to stay down here, or go back up while we wait to see if their vision clears?” Thelonious asks.“If we go back up, she’s just going to charge us to come back down again,” remarks Zeke.  This meets a general grumbling agreement from the others.  “All right, then, we’ll stay down here.”  ***7/12/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m.“Any improvement?”Beau squints.  “A little.”** He sighs.  “It’s better than nothing.”The group discusses whether to explore or wait a few more days.  “How much food do we have?” Naomi asks pointedly, and everyone gradually realizes that they can only last a short while down here.  “Unless we find some edible stuff down here,” Naomi points out, nibbling on a sausage.“Besides, maybe one of the other pools can help you,” Hortense adds.Our heroes begin exploring, heading through wet, dripping caves.  Small rivulets of water run down the floor all over.  More pools are in evidence; almost immediately our heroes find one, as the wide tunnel leading away from the entrance branches into three different thick fingers about 10’ to 15’ wide.  Our heroes start on the right (because it is closest) and head down.  Ezeekiel’s axe glows warmly and Naomi holds a torch.  The passage widens, and a longer, fungus-choked chamber branches off to their left.  “Let’s check that one out later,” Martini says, “after we check for any obvious dangers around here.  That might take some time to search.”The others agree, and the party moves past the offshoot, following the same tunnel to what appears to be a dead end.Appearances can be deceiving. From a hidden tunnel to the north, a blazing worm of fire and rock hurtles forth!  Most of our heroes see it coming and strike at it, but it slams into Beau with fierce, burning force, knocking him from his feet and leaving him stunned.  He shakes his head and hits it with a scorching ray, but it has no effect on the fiery creature!Unfortunately for the flame-worm, our heroes are quick to respond to its offensive.  Between Naomi’s telepathic attack, the arrows of Martini and Thelonious and the spear of Achtung, the monster is torn to bits in seconds.As it slowly cools and stops glowing, Naomi frowns.  “Doesn’t look edible.  Damn.”The party searches but the monster had no treasure that they can find.  The group returns to the fungus-choked chamber and starts searching it; and although it is empty of threats, there is another exit out the back side of the chamber.  Moving through it, our heroes find themselves in another chamber with a pool in it, this one steaming with a very different mineral smell.  As they move forward to investigate, however, a puff of spores from a weird growth bursts out and almost chokes them to death!  Coughing and gagging, our heroes retreat.  Both Achtung and Naomi are almost killed!“You know, the problem with this path is that we didn’t go left at the first intersection,” remarks Naomi.  Our heroes return to said intersection and take the left passage- which, remarkably enough, soon leads them to a wish.Next Time: One of our heroes gets a wish!*At this point, they had a -20 to any Spot or Search checks, and all enemies had total concealment.  Not quite as bad as total blindness.**Aha, now it’s only -19!  I told them that enemies would have only partial concealment (20% miss chance) once they reached a -15, and no concealment at -5 iirc.</blockquote>

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