Abyses 33: Bernhol Almost Dies Three Times

# TL;DR

* Bernhol broke into Phylo’s house while he was at the melding. Saw the heavily deformed Yestabrod and stole some notes written in common. Some of which led the gang to the location of the Deep Dragon.
* Phylo is now suspicious of the Acquaintances, especially Benhol and Rat King, and asked the Circle of Explorers, led by Rasharoo, to keep a close eye on them.
* The party successfully slayed the Deep Dragon and all its minions, harvested the growths Gartokar requested, then rested in its lair.

# Various Notes From Phylo’s Home

* Deep Dragon:
	+ A detailed depiction of a Deep Dragon inside of an egg.
	+ 2nd hand accounts of legends and myths telling how one can create a draconian army from a single dragon egg.
	+ A map showing the underground connection between the ponds at the Myconid and Troglodyte villages and an underground cavern the Acquaintances now know to have been the Deep Dragon’s lair.
* Demonology:
	+ A few accounts of demons and their abilities taken from outsiders who stopped by the village.
	+ Includes Oochyk’s descriptions of the Demogorgon as well as a massive worm-like demon that flew through the air and burrowed through stone.
	+ Theories stating how a skilled conjurer might be able to take advantage of fiend’s incorporeal nature to augment their abilities and appearance as part of the summoning.
* Necromancy:
	+ By far the most expansive and detailed subject covered in the notes.
	+ Mainly focuses on arcane applications of blood. Largely on how blood can be imbued with one’s consciousness so they can live on even if the rest of the body is destroyed.
	+ Also describes experiments performed on skeletons, zombies, and other common undead. Most often the effect that the presence, absence, and overabundance of blood has on their abilities.

# Fergus Gets Much Too Schwifty

* With two hours left before the melding the gang found themselves with time to kill.
* They made their way back to the Myconid village where Rumpadump exposition dumped a bit about the circle leaders they hadn’t met yet
* About an hour before the melding Fergus completely passed out, a side effect of the slow sugar he inhaled in H’slaat’s hideout. Luckily he woke up just in time for the melding.

# Bernhol Almost Dies

* When the melding began Sovereign Phylo and the Hook Horror Spore Servant that was guarding the door went towards the central basin where all the other members of the inner circle were gathering
* Just as Basidia had previously mentioned, Yestabrod sent a representative to attend the melding instead of participating personally
* On his way to the melding Phylo stopped to greet Basidia and the Acquaintances, happily welcoming them to the village
* Bernhol took this opportunity to activate the invisibility on his Stealth Boy and sneak into Phylo’s house
* Getting around the Mini-Mushrum guarding the gate wasn’t too difficult but once inside Bernhol just narrowly avoided a conflict with another Spore Servant
* The area the house was in resembled the surface, or at least what Bernhol imagine the surface to look like. There was grass, a blue sky, and a bright light; though the air was just as cold and stuffy as anywhere else in the Underdark.
* The house itself was wooden, and very quaint. There was a railing around the front porch and a rocking chair by the front door.
* Bernhol circled around the side of the house and broke a window to get in, relying on his Stealth Boy to cover the sound
* The interior of the house was equally unassuming, fully furnished.
* Inside Bernhol found:
	+ Yestabrod- a massive twisted Myconid who had a mouth and required sleep
	+ Several bottles filled with a pulsing red liquid
	+ A locked door behind which occasional movement could be heard
	+ Some papers written in common covering a multitude of subjects (full list included below the TL;DR), including a diagram of a Deep Dragon egg and a map showing that the ponds in the Myconid and Troglodyte villages were connected underground and there was a chamber hidden beneath the Troglodyte’s pond.
	+ Unfortunately Bernhol was unable to escape as cleanly as he had entered, during his investigation he had put Yestabrod and the guards on high alert. One of the Spore Servants grappled Bernhol and began savagely beating him. However Bernhol was just barely able to escape without being seen.

# The Usual Suspects

* Bernhol returned to the party but maintained his invisibility as he recovered from his injuries.
* Shortly afterwards a Myconid exited the door leading to Phylo’s house and made its way to the melding. The Myconid then went back to the house with Phylo and its Hook Horror Spore Servant in tow. As Phylo passed the party it took note of Bernhol’s absence.
* Then Rat King returned and the party shared all their new found information with each other.
* Seeing the map between the two ponds, as well as a potential connection to the Deep Dragon, the Acquaintances decided to investigate Myconid pond. While the surrounding Myconids were preoccupied with the melding Bernhol donned the magical water cap and tried to scout out the underground cavern. However a Chuul Spore Servant prevented his passage.
* Then Phylo came back and began questioning the Acquaintances about the break-in. It was clearly most suspicious of Bernhol and Rat King. It also told the Circle of Explorers to keep a close eye on the party, and told the Chuul to prevent passage.
* Once Phylo returned to its house Basidia wished the party luck and instructed the Chuul to let Bernhol pass.

# Bernhol Almost Dies Again

* The distance to the secret cavern was equal to the distance between the two villages. At a standard swim it would’ve taken an hour to cross, with few opportunities to catch your breath. However Bernhol made shorter work of it with his roguish speed.
* When Bernhol emerged at the otherside he immediately cast invisibility again.
* He saw a cavern filled with faezerness and thick undergrowth, he also saw a pile of scattered papers with a round dark object on top of it, and saw a lone Troglodyte child.
* Bernhol approached and was able to identify the object as a Deep Dragon egg. Bernhol tried to steal it but at the sight of the floating egg the Troglodyte transformed, extending the size of his mouth and having his throat extend to the bottom of his stomach, and let out a debilitating psychic breath.
* Bernhol fled and just narrowly managed to escape other creatures that made their appearance solely to pursue him.

# Plancrafting

* Once safely returned to the Myconid village Bernhol described what he saw.
* The gang returned to Basidia and shared the evidence they had linking Phylo to the Deep Dragon, but nothing about the other disparaging information they found in the house. Basidia was devastated, assuming that was all the bad news the Acquaintances had, it gave them the promised reward of varied gem stones and offered to help with the Deep Dragon in any way he could.
* The party asked if he could grow more water caps, which would allow the party to enter the secret cavern without worrying about air. Basidia agreed but said it would take until around 4pm the next day for them all to be ready.
* In the meantime the party went through their typical downtime routine, noticing several suspicious glances from Rasharoo and the Circle of Explorers. They also had another spot of difficulty getting to sleep but managed to claim a rest.
* The next day they picked up their new water caps from Basidia and headed to the Troglodyte village, not wanting to attract more suspicion from Phylo and its goons by entering via the Myconid pond.
* They managed to mostly avoid attracting any undue attention from the Troglodyte villagers. However a greatsword wielding kobold named Stabbicus was refusing to let them enter the pond, until Ivis magically commanded him to flee.
* With that crisis dealt with, the party entered the dragon’s den.

# Bernhol Almost Dies a Third Time

* Once inside the den Ivis saw the Troglodyte child feigning a leg injury, but they immediately dropped the act and began combat when they saw Bernhol.
* When the Troglodyte child was slain its body transformed into that of the Deep Dragon.
* After dealing with the Deep Dragon and most of its minions Stabbicus returned and began attacking the party with his magical greatsword.
* The party claimed the fungi-like growths from the Deep Dragon, the Deep Dragon egg, Stabbicus’ sword which Ivis attuned to, and read through some of the files tossed in a pile on the cave floor.
* The files mostly seemed to be random information. A few documents resembled the ones in Phylo’s house, there were some drawings of the teleportation circle Errde mentioned which Ivis suggested they take, and other files written in Undercommon describing the nature of Spore Servants and an affliction that caused severe insomnia as well as numerous treatments and failed cures for the afflictions.
* Weary and not wanting to risk another fight once top side, the gang found a relatively Faezernessless area of the cave and hunkered down for the night inside of Fergus’ magic dome. All just barely managing to get a restful sleep.