The Lazarus Expedition: Episode 13

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==Synopsis==
The party find Ethan and make their way out of Blup. They travel to the great lake in the middle of the elven forest, and stop to rest and deal with the mushrooms. Along the way the Ponos, God of Suffering, descends upon the world.
==Recap==
=== Blup ===
The party has just come ashore in Blup and is discussing what to do about Ethan failing to return on time when a local approaches the party and asks, “Have you heard the great word of Uud?” They claim Uud is a new cleric in town, having arrived just a couple of months ago. They view Uud not as a leader but as a teacher/scholar. Cassian pays the citizen a gold piece to go find Ethan. As they talk they learn Uud is a cleric of Nadinis, and then the citizen leaves to find Ethan. Styrimir wishes to talk to Uud himself believing he can find common ground as a fellow cleric. Drolvrazorz voices his concern that Ethan might be infected by the time they find him and the party discusses what they should do if he is. Cassian waves over an older woman named Madrigal, who welcomes them to Blup. Cassian shakes her hand, Drolvrazorz avoids the shake by spitting in his hand. As she turns to lead them into town, Cassian quickly reaches out and cuts a piece of the mushroom off. The woman is completely unaware, showing no reaction. 
As they walk they finally spot Ethan, returning to the party. He tells the party that he successfully met with his contact, as well as meeting Uud. He notes that aside from the mushrooms everything seems normal in the town. 
Styrmir checks Ethan’s head for a mushroom but he appears uninfected. Styrmir still wants to talk to Uud and sort the situation out, but the party ultimately decides to leave.
=== The Path Ahead ===
Ostagen explains that on the path ahead is a lake in the middle of an elven forest, with a mountain range lining the east side of the forest. They have 2 options
# Avoid the forest entirely and trek east through Voden and the plains
# Find a way to cross the lake and risk angering the elves
Voden, the largest and only city in the plains, and their army controls the plains. There are also centaur which occasionally clash with the army. Ostagen explains that any elven “cities” in the woods are more like small pods of roughly a dozen or so elves, and he’s never been invited in. As for human settlements, there are some very small farms along the river. Styrimir votes to go through Voden, Cassian votes for the elves, Cypher votes for Voden, Mitz and Maut vote for the elves, Ethan and Ostagen do not vote, and Drolvrazorz votes to return to Blup. Having won the vote, the party decides to head towards the elven woods.
=== Town Along the River ===
The party stops at a walled halfling village, Tharne, along the river with human manned watchtowers. The climate here is much nicer and armor can be worn regularly again without having to constantly cool the wearer off. The guard Vaughn wants to confiscate the party’s armor and weapons but Cassian bribes him with a 2 bands of 50 platinum coins and they keep their gear. While in the city, Cypher instructs Drolvrazorz to be in “human mode,” basically on his best behavior. His loyalty to Cypher is reinforced in how seriously he takes her command, even avoiding alcoholic drinks from Styrmir to prevent any possibility of him causing an incident. After offering his service Styrmir spends the week performing religious duties, blessings, etc. Drolvrazorz spends the time studying, and Cypher keeps an eye on his well-being. Cassian spars Cypher, and edges out a win despite a somewhat poor performance. Drolvrazorz scares some halfling children in the street. The party find a place to stay for 56 gp for the week, Cassian pays with a cord of platinum(100 gp). He spends the rest of the week guarding the party’s wealth in his room. 
=== Spell Research ===
Cassian also gives Roy’s spell book to Drolvrazorz, much to Roy’s dismay up in Haven. He researches the Haste spell and after 9 days he successfully learns it.
Ponos Descends Upon Arcadia
=== The Ritual ===
Styrmir honors Ponos’ descent with a ritual, convincing several citizens of the town to participate. He creates a fire and has them all hold the back of their hands to the flames, burning their hands but not crippling them, only enough to make them suffer. One villager is so touched by the ritual, they gift Styrmir the feet of their halfling grandfather Beez, explaining that they are a good luck charm.
Someone proposes a communal dinner to share the foods and cultures of this diverse group. Drolvrazorz serves “goblin food” a thick gelatinous soup of bones, vegetable scraps, and gristle. Cypher makes Brazilian steak-house style steak skewers. Cassian makes a Mediterranean style fish and rice dish, with a salad. Styrmir makes “stargazing pie” an egg bacon and herb pie with small fish protruding from the crust. Ostagen makes a fish head stew with local vegetables. Mitz makes breaded chicken with fries. Ethan, the one who suggested the meal, makes a mushroom soup. Concerned, Drolvrazorz checks on the mushroom they cut off the woman in Blup only for his curiosity to overflow and he eats the mushroom. The week passes.
=== Journey continues ===
The party continues along the river passing several villages, only occasionally stopping to exchange information. One village was recently raided by the Knights of Voden, who raided them of the “heretics.” Centaurs and horsemen have been spotted nearby, but none appear before the party reaches the great lake. 
=== Great Lake ===
On October 18, the party arrives at the great lake, a massive 100 mile long and 60 mile wide freshwater lake. On the east side is the older, taller, and thicker forest, “The Wildwood” and on the west is the “Westwood.” The plan is to walk around the edge of the forest, straying in only to get water when needed. The party leaves their boat behind, opting to carry all their gear for the final stretch of their journey. The final stretch of their journey will be roughly 100 miles through the forest, 20 miles through the plains, and 100 miles through the desert outside Heatstroke. 
As the party is walking along the forest, Cypher hangs back and pulls Drolvrazorz aside. She points to the back of Ethan’s head, where a mushroom can be seen poking through his hair. Drolvrazorz signals he should inform the other members of what she sees. Cypher next pulls Cassian aside, however when she points out his mushroom he is oblivious to its existence. Next to get pulled aside is Styrmir, who also seems not to notice the mushroom growing out of Ethan’s head. Styrmir gets paranoid and checks his  own head for a mushroom but feels nothing. Drolvrazorz admits he doesn’t actually know why Cypher stopped him, he just trusted whatever she was saying. Cypher now is suspicious of Ethan, and asks him to recall the incident in Blup. Inexplicably, he mentions everything except the mushrooms growing out of the people’s heads. Cypher calls for the party to stop, and argues with the party argue over whether she is in her right mind. 
They allow Maut inspect the party, although she doesn’t see anything out of place. She also casts detect poison and disease, but once again finds nothing wrong with the party. Tempers flare between Ethan and Cypher, before Drolvrazorz casts hold person on Ethan. Cypher carefully cuts a piece of the mushroom off Ethan, panicking the party who suddenly see the chunk appear out of thin air. Ethan is in shock and acknowledges how he didn’t mention the mushrooms, and he realizes he didn’t truly want to volunteer to come on the journey through the desert. The party suspects the mushroom may be able to control thoughts to some degree. Cypher begins writing letters to the elves explaining their mushroom conundrum. In Ethan's bag they find a large cluster of mushrooms, that he claims were just for his soup. Cassian burns the mushrooms. Maut can cast lesser restoration on 3 members but warns that won’t stop reinfection from the others. She tests the spell on Ethan, and his stalk dries up and falls off his head. She then casts it upon her self, before recasting detect poison and diseases on the party. She can now see that Cassian, Styrmir, and Drolvrazorz are infected, Mitz and Ostagen are not. Cypher has written 3 letters. Letter 3 goes to Drolvrazorz, and letter 1 goes to Cassian. Using the tiny hut spell, they quarantine the healthy while they rest so Maut can heal the others without risking reinfection. Maut, Drolvrazorz, and Ethan are the 3 healed and allowed to stay in the hut. The rest of the party rests near the boat, as the session comes to a close. 
=== Quick Haven check-in ===
Vasher had noticed the mushroom before the party, and points it out to Roy. He says they should have simply burned down Blup. Roy fears the mushrooms may take over all of Arcadia. Vasher also checks in on Scamp in Scalesvale, he is being treated well. Julia has started inspecting the horse, Vasher is hopeful one day his friend may be returned to human form.
==Experience==
2250 xp to each player (10405 current total for each member)
Maut levels to 4 (rolls +5 hp)
Mitz levels from 0 to 1st level fighter
Category:The Lazarus Expedition Episodes
Category:Episodes
Category:Save Or Die Episodes