Episode 8 - Mining for slaves.

In which our heroes deal with an alien slaver.

The band set about consolidating their gains. While they thought Caius should bear the burden of having kingship thrust upon him they figured what they really needed was a good place to sleep wherever they went in the new kingdom. Some want fame, some want riches, others want hot and cold running courtesans. What they band desired most was a chain of pubs.

There was some argument as what to do with Aquae Arnemetiae. Cheet wanted to tear down the baths, form an alliance between the dog-people, local fey and the giant multi-headed serpent towards druidism and the old ways. The others wanted some stones still standing upon another. They were really set on the public house which was fairly large for a small community since it used to serve the tourist trade. Cheet eventually relented agreeing that bringing in tourists and pilgrims would aid in supplanting the worship of Abbathor.

The next morning brought a small snag in the entire chain of pubs plan. The local dog-man who was an actual brewer had been abducted! A thing had crept into the village, come in through a window and abducted him. The band set off in pursuit, only slightly worried by the fact that while they could follow the drag marks of the brewer the abductor seemed to have no feet. Myrdynus informed everyone it was probably a flying, lightning powered brain / tentacle beast he had seen in a book. Undeterred they pressed on.

The trail led to a section of forest that was dying. Fungi, molds and other noisome things had taken over the once lush forest. Moving through the dank mass they reached an old mine complex. Inside they discovered a large mushroom, taller than a dwarf but just as round. As they approached a mass of hyphae opened and squirmed followed by a second mass close by. The thing had eyes!

The band responded prudently and with fire and cold magics to the monstrosity and it was soon ablaze. They ventured further in and discovered a vertical shaft. Sending Scawl down he discoved the shaft was soon blocked by a mass of flesh. Further progress was possible through some sort of sphincter to which Scawl thought 'No fucking way!' The band retreated from the mine and started looking for another way in.

Outside in the fungus forest Cheet attempted to find the local fey. A blackened almost dead dryad responded, painfully crawling out of a mass of growths. She informed them that the attack had started last season and was centered on the mine. Fortunately she did know of a another way in. A stream from a broached aquifer had made an opening. The band ventured inside, crawling and squirming through the narrow gaps in the rock. It eventually opened out to a large cavern filled with tailings and covered in fungi. There were four large animate fungi around a fire. Nearby were six humanoids which had been transformed by fungi and could be described as fungus men. As the band watched another creature emerged from another tunnel.

The newcomer was a horrific fusion of cephalapod and humanoid. It had a massive ovoid head and two bulging, unblinking eyes. It's purple skin was oily and four snakelike tentacles writhed and squirmed around a lipless, quivering mouth. It wore a semblance of clothes, mainly belts and pouches to hold it's bizarre and eldritch possessions. The creature made no sound, but the fungus men lined up behind it and began to follow the creature. It was at this point that the band attacked.

The battle was quick and brutal. The monster had a mental scream that would reduce any regular mortal to an insensate heap but they prevailed against that and the thing's surprisingly strong tentacles. Soon, it was captured and after a quick charm from Sendin surprisingly talkative, if mental telepathy is talking. It was not a Watcher, but knew of them and regarded them as distant cousins or honoured ancestors, possibly both. It was an inter-dimensional traveler and miner. What it was mining was the head of a dead god floating in the space between worlds. It had come to the world to aquire miners and had allied with the fungus creatures to transform the inhabitants into slaves more able to withstand the horrors of no-space in general and the dead head in particular. It made all sorts of promises and offers, but in reality was biding it's time. Once it had enough strength it vanished, moving from one level of reality to another.

The band then ransacked the creatures local base of operations, found the brewer and left, setting the entire thing to the flame. Once outside they also made arrangements to repair the damage done by the fungus and restore the forest.