Session Log 2023-03-07

As the Kobolds unpacked and settled into the hidden village, a handful of varied villagers emerged from the treehouses to greet them. Meanwhile, the party spread out to investigate the strange grove deep within the Blight. They found the village looped back on itself - walking far enough in any direction simply brought one back to where they had started. The old elven magic that had created this fold in spacetime seemed to be able to keep out most of the fungal corruption - sunlight trickled in through real trees, without the mushroom canopy to block it.

Klaitos, having served his end of the deal, was freed from the Oath-bond by Arijat. She advised him and his allies to stay the night, at least - the Blight would be little darker than the spore-clouded and mushroom-overcast day, but its perils far more active. Lacking an urgent reason to fly the Tortoise back by night, Klaitos agreed to borrow some of the dusty beds. He wondered if there was to be any celebration of their newfound sanctuary, but learned that, though the nomads were used to lean times, the food stores of the village were not such that they could supply a proper feast. Their gardens were underutilized - cleaning errant spores made it troublesome to grow more food than would be eaten - and they were ill prepared to hunt the fauna of the swamp.

Robin climbed into the treehouse-village. Her Bracelet of Greed indicated little of value in this sanctuary, and so she inquired among the villagers as to the Obelisk Hall the party had passed on their way in. To her dismay, archeology was not a major interest among the remaining villagers. She was able to find a stockpile of writings, but most of it was gardening manuals, notes on the Blight, and book after book of variable-quality amateur fiction. She decided that, in lieu of further information, she would at least try to cajole a local into helping her navigate the swamp floor safely.

Ekkels took in the fresh air and greenery, wandering around the looping village. He felt a strong sense of familiarity, but couldn't figure out why. Puzzled but untroubled, he took the opportunity to relax and watch the young kobolds frolic as they experienced grass, flowers, soil, and trees for likely the first time in their lives.

Ignis found an engraved stone tucked away in a corner of the grove. It bore several dozen names and a farewell message from villagers that had left for the Petalbearer's realm. Having little familiarity with the Cult of the Petalbearer, he asked many questions of the patient Weavegreen. She told him that she and the other remaining villagers had turned down the sanctuary-realm offered by the Petalbearer some months ago, out of a desire to protect this realm or simple disinclination to leave the realm in which they had lived their lives. He proposed several increasingly convoluted plans to de-Blight the Blight, which she declined to comment on for lack of arcanic education. Even his hopes of plunderable old elven ruins were dashed - what was preserved from the Blight was villages that had been lived in for generations, not the elven tree-cities from before the Time of Madness; if he wished to risk his neck for their treasures he could dive into the old capital at the heart of the Blight like any other fool.

The party regrouped and discussed their plan for the next day. Robin was set on revisiting the Obelisk Hall but conveyed little reason to her allies. They did agree that it was worth seeking some sort of creature that could be brought back to the village to serve as livestock, beyond the villages' few remaining pack-lizards, but that they shouldn't risk flying the Tortoise to and from the Hidden Village.

Waking from a comfortable night's sleep in the village's unused beds, Robin asked her more personable allies to persuade a villager to serve as a swamp guide. Ignis was trapped by a conversation with a doting elderly woman, but Klaitos was able to convince Ted, a middle-aged orc to come along. Appreciative of their efforts in bringing the village back to life, Ted disliked the idea of them rotting at the bottom of the Blight, and figured his expertise as a former hunter for the village could come in handy. He was rather skeptical of the idea that they'd find anything worth raising as livestock.

The group left through the root-passage, the stench, humidity, and ambient chaos of the Blight increasing with every step. Ted used a compass to guide them due north. Their footsteps squelched messily in the muck of the Blight, but Robin was able to use a partially-rotten branch to erase their tracks behind them. As they ventured further into the mire, their noses full of rot and their ears plagued by the whine of insects, she questioned her commitment to treasure.

Arriving at the Obelisk Hall, Robin realized her bracelet was pulling towards the head of a granite dwarf-statue some 15 feet high. She convinced the group to help her pull the statue to the ground, and improvised some explosives to loosen the base. It crashed loudly onto the stone plaza and cracked open, revealing a small inscribed crystal deep within the head of the "dwarf". The dim light filtering through the fungal canopy was insufficient to study her new treasure, so Robin pocketed it for later.

Just then, as if in response to the crash of the statue, the buzzing of insects began to increase in volume. Ignis called upon his fire magic, and its light revealed an encroaching cloud of rat-sized insects. He surrounded the party with a wall of flame and smoke to deter the horde as Ted cursed and pointed the way they came. A webbing had grown between two of the towering mushroom-stalks, blocking their path back, and more webbing was stretching from stalk to stalk around the Obelisk Hall.