“Why can we never just have a nice walk in the woods!” Krim shouted while fending of the Cairn hounds. They were large rotting wolf like monsters that often lived near barrows or even local graveyards. The came up to his waist while on all fours but had shards of blackened bone piercing their shoulders and back which made the m seem taller.
Krim lashed out with his spear tipped tentacles and held a rag over his nose with one free hand. They didn't just look like they were rotting, they smelled like it too. Fredd stuck to the back of their group next to Saul making sure nothing could attack their healer while helping with crowd control, The hounds hunted in packs and he had four of them trapped in thick roped of grass.
Val watched Bargus' back while he cremated the monsters, The smell of hot fetid meat was too much and Krim almost let a hound bite him while emptying his stomach. 'There aren't even any barrows or graveyards near here stupid dogs!'
Being able to feel their loose flesh slough off when he grabbed them was almost too much but her steeled himself and held onto the few remaining hounds that Fredd hadn't caught. With them trapped he jabbed spear heads through their milky eyes into their brains, finally killing them.
“Wait!” Saul shouted to them as they started to kill the final monster in Fredds snare. “Let me do it.” He rushed over before they could question it further and put a hand on its neck. An eerie blue light spread over the quivering cairn hound and they all watched as it started to wither, it slowly lost what muscle remained and its sightless eyes dried up, floating away like dust. The slick loose skin became as dry as parchment and clung tight to the body tearing against sharp black bones, the glow even spread to the grass that held it tight turning it brown and dead.
Everyone except Val took a big step back while they watched the life being drained out of the pitiful hound. “Mushrooms don't seem so bad now, do they?” Fredd whispered and quickly scanned the ground for some fungi. None of them could disagree, making people choke on mushrooms was nothing compared to ripping the life out of them.
“Its not as powerful as it looks.” Saul said when the monster finally collapsed into a pile of dust and bones. “Well it is powerful but not in a fight.” he said wiping his hands on his trousers. Val had her spear in hand watching the three boys warily, they'd gotten along for the last few days but her brother was taking a risk by showing them his boons ability's. He put a hand on her arm lowering the spear a bit. “I need to take life to heal others, I used a lot of my stored life on the bandits and then you.” he said to Krim who was creeped out that he'd been healed with someone else's life but nodded and retracted all his tentacles 'who am I to judge someone for having a creepy boon.'
“We're turning into quite the nightmarish party.” he said turning to point to each member in turn. “Val stabs people with spears made from her own bone, Fredd wants to grow mushrooms inside of people. You drain the very life out of them and Bargus cooks them alive.” the tension that filled the forest moments ago was suddenly gone as they laughed at each other.
“You forgot to mention yourself, you basically molest people to death with slimy tentacles.” Bargus added.
Once they had moved a good distance from the remaining corpses they got back on the trail they had been following. They'd picked up some new jobs once back in Krief and one of them was a newly formed nest. A hunter had reported seeing Cavelings coming and going from a cave. That wasn't surprising as their name suggested but the numbers he saw indicated the had formed a nest and it was a little to close to Krief for comfort.
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The party followed the markings the hunter had helpfully cut into the trees and quickly found the cave, It was more of a hole in the ground with a large stone over most of the entrance but Krim assumed it was deeper than it looked. Hope there's gnomes in this one'. The Cavelings were a bit taller than gnomes but were still only three foot or so and were clearly descended from bats. 'If a bat walked on two legs and lost its wings while keeping the long thin arms that dragged slightly over the ground.'
They all took the advice given to them by the receptionist and stuffed some wool in their ears. The cavelings had a loud screech and when there were a lot of them in a small area it could be debilitating even with blocked ears. They weren't planning on going in though.
“Alright lets clear the ones outside, Fredd...be ready with the mushroom” after seeing what Saul could do they couldn't continue to deny Fredds fungal plans. 'At least it should be really effective in an enclosed space.'
They rushed the handful of cavelings who seemed to be widening the entrance of the cave and had them beaten before they could defend themselves. Fredd knelt in front of the entrance and began growing large white frilly mushrooms, They were so big they blocked the entrance leaving only tiny gaps to let in air. Next he grew large fan like leaves and began wafting a thick cloud of fungal spores down into the cave.
With his new armband on he felt a connection to the spores that he found hard to achieve with regular seeds and he could tell when they had come to rest. Most landed on the damp soil of the cave walls and floor, he encouraged those to grow and spore happily adding to the choking cloud. He felt the first of the cavelings inhale a lungful of spores and he stretched his boon to the limit to make them grow into the flesh of the organs. The thin white mycelium spread out and coated the inside of the lungs and throat. While it burrowed further into the monster, large white mushrooms blocked its airways and it collapsed. Soon it was joined by over fifty of its kin.
The rest of the party was mostly ignorant of the war crimes happening bellow but they all felt a tremendous rumble from deep in the cave. The sounds got louder and closer together until it was clear something was running to escape. Krim yanked Fredd back before he got trampled. “What is it!” he asked trying to be heard over the loud stomping.
“Something big.” Fredd said without sarcasm.
Big was correct. A towering albino caveling burst out of the mushroom clogged tunnel. It shook furiously releasing a puff of white spores from its normally black fur. The monster was wheezing and slamming its large hands on the remaining mushrooms in the area. The party could see one of its eyes had been corrupted by wriggling white roots and several shrooms had pushed their way through its skin.
The beast wailed and charged frantically through the trees away from the cave and its nest. They quickly decided not to follow it and beat a hasty retreat to the main road. There was no need to enter the cave since all the monsters were confirmed dead by Fredd, also the air was still thick with spores.
“That was amazing!” Fredd cheered once the were safe. “Mushrooms are the future, they didn't stand a chance.”
“We should probably of let you become a farmer. I don't think the Kingdoms ready for Fredd the adventurer.” Bargus joked and gave his excited friend a slap on the back.
Their last job was a far easier and one they were all looking forward to. They were to deliver news of the Gnome incursion to the Triton Adventurers Guild. The guard would inform the nobility but the Guild had to pass its own information and there was no one better to deliver it than the people involved.