Played 6/6/20 IRL, 12/22/21212 IG.

• Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.
• Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer. (Apprentice, Tella)
• Vanmil Glowhide (Kriss) Vanguard, Adept, Jeweler. (Fleshpacter, Fishel)

Roachseat

Thoreson and Ivo represented the Dunn family, and in Roachseat they met with Vanmil, a local representative from the Grimeater family who was also working with the expedition into the Various Gardens. While they waited in Roachseat for the council leading the expedition to hand out assignments, they were supervised by Cerise, a local Sithic assigned to watch them and make sure they got everything they needed. A Rustad family team led by Lady Jeet was also waiting for an assignment.

Confronting the Firescreamer

Word came in that the Dunn team was assigned the task of clearing out a monster on the road into the Various Gardens, while the Rustad family team was assigned local errands. Triumphant, the Dunn team (Thoreson, Ivo, and Vanmil) met with their guide, a fungaloid named Sypert. In order to get the full story, one or more dwarves would have to breathe in Sypert’s spores to meld communicate, as the little fungaloid could not talk. Vanmil had experience communing with fungaloids, and handled the briefing.

The mission was to travel through the Golden Vent, an area controlled by the local fungaloids. The Golden Vent was troubled by attacks from a firescreamer and its victims, sporehounds it corrupted to become fog breathers. They target those who breathe, so the fungaloids and Sithics were relatively safe.

A year ago the fungaloids agreed the expedition could pass through their lands, and the Sithics agreed to allow the expedition a few months ago. In the last week the fungaloids withdrew their approval, so the whole expedition was impereled.

The fungaloids were concerned that additional traffic would draw more predators, and they needed a sign the dwarves could handle themselves and not suffer predation. They must confront the firescreamer, behead it, and present the head as a trophy to an elder of the fungaloid circles in the Elefrangy Stretch. The elder would then decide whether they could proceed with the overall expedition or not. Only a few dwarves could go; they didn’t want to scare the firescreamer off. Sypert would serve as guide.

Preparing to Go

Before heading out, they handled some business. All three visited a few alchemical and enchanter workshops in Roachseat, collecting magical fragments and chemicals. Ivo retreated to build several fragmentary explosives, tutoring Tella in constructing explosives.

Thoreson and Vanmil asked around for an invitation to a scheduled hollowing, a community event where a crowd showed up to butcher one of the massive beetles in the herd below the city, hollowing out the towering bug and preparing a feast to feed the town for days. As a visiting chef, and a Grimeater from the Shallows, Thoreson was eager to share the experience and demonstrate his skill. Thoreson also purchased some climbing harnesses and supplies, and secured a grubbly as a beast of burden.

Vanmil checked in with the local Sithic elders, arranging a meet with a shaman to see what she could find out about the sporehounds and the firescreamer and the fog breathers. The shaman told her the firescreamer’s flames were fire, but not fire; fire turns physical material to heat, light, energy, and motion, and the firescreamer burned memory and connectedness to this world instead. Vanmil thanked them for sharing some information on the threat.

Into the Golden Vent

They traveled in relative safety, attentive to Sypert guiding them around hazards. They didn’t breathe the “snowfall” of spores from the giant fungus, they didn’t get too close to big wet holes full of predators, and they avoided the local wildlife on their way into the Golden Vent. Vanmil attuned to the life force of the place so she would be better able to pick out anomalies in the teeming ecosystem.

Ambush!

They reached the Golden Vent Passage, and fog billowed in as the fog breathers attacked. The fog triggered panic and deadened the ability to see life and motion in the combat site. Ivo’s gunfire blew one of the tough fog breathers away as they closed, and he also shot a second one as the Fellowship finished off the third.

The Firescreamer attacked, but was backed off by more gunfire and mystic assaults from Vanmil. Relocating, it sprang out to tear her face off, but she drove it back. It withstood a pounding from the berserker before Vanmil managed to shove the mighty creature back further, demanding Ivo hurl his explosive. He did, and the grenade exploded in the air, showering everyone with enchanted shrapnel.

The firescreamer tried to escape, but somehow Vanmil wrested it into position so it could not, then her chitinous fist weapons shattered its jaw and she twisted its head, snapping the neck.

The Fellowship removed the head altogether as the fog breather corpses dissolved unpleasantly; Vanmil memorized the energy flavor in their skulls as they smoldered out, and Thoreson removed some spicy glands from the firescreamer’s throat to spice up the upcoming hollowing party.

Elefrangy Stretch

The Fellowship followed Sypert to the Elefrangy Stretch, and he led them to one of the conscious elders that was not melded deep and unable to communicate. The elder was a mystic called Funderbunk. (The fungaloids don’t bother with names, they have a deeply rooted sense of identity and don’t need titles, so the name was assigned at some point by a dwarf.)

All of the Fellowship melded with Funderbunk, whose thoughts were somewhat inscrutable. The main takeaway was that the fungaloids approved the expedition going forward, and the dwarves were successful.

They returned to Roachseat without incident, earning 5 Ledger each.