26. Layers of Mould

* On a swampy island in Driscoll's territory, the party and Quinn fought mould folk on the second submerged level of the former troll village.
	+ There were nearly two dozen dog-like mouldies, accompanied by several small humanoid-shaped ones too. One of the humanoids had pinkish-red hews to its fungal growths, was slightly larger than the others, and carried a spear with a tip covered in rust-like mould.
	+ The creatures didn't stay dead until they were subjected to cold, fire, or necrotic damage.
	+ They communicated with each other through a series of alien clicks, whistles, and body slaps. The larger, pink one was clearly calling the shots and organising the others.
	+ During the fight, Pyt became a mammoth again, Malak showed his storm magic had come even further by evoking a huge lightning bolt through several of the dog-like mouldies at once, Clwyd fought through a mix of her newer pact magic and older alchemical creations, and Clark's spirit guardians ran rampant through the mould folk's ranks while leaving his allies unscathed as always.
	+ One of the mouldies slipped away at the start of the conflict, running to the floor below on the orders of his leader.
* When the fight was done, the group caught their breath and chatted to Quinn some more while she saw to the wounds some of them had picked up.
	+ They learned that Quinn's crew picked Ingela out of a floating wreckage when the she was a six-year-old girl. She sailed with them for ten years, and she had everyone aboard the ship wrapped around her finger by the end. Ingela had them take her to the end of the ocean so she could see it, and also over to Agnor so she could ask some questions - Quinn didn't know the nature of the questions Ingela had asked. After all this, she left suddenly, without preamble.
	+ When asked, Quinn explained that the end of the ocean looks like an enormous black void. No bottom is visible and the yawning darkness stretches all the way to the horizon.
	+ She asked Malak about his fancy sword, prompting Clwyd to divulge the magic blade's brief history. Quinn then asked what Malak had called the thing, to which he answered 'Midwinter.'
* They poked around on the cleared out level before moving on.
	+ Each of the former troll huts that were now supporting the roof was filled with large, damp compost heaps. Scraps of animal fur and bones riddled the piles, and gaps where it appeared rooted plants had been pulled out of the earth were clearly visible.
	+ The piles of compost were also riddled with the rust-like poisonous mould that the party had experienced first-hand in the fight, both from the tip of the pink mouldie's spear and when it smashed some of its fungal growths to release a cloud of the toxic spores in the air around it.
	+ Wilfred used his mage hand to collect some of the russet mould, hoping to grow it into a potential bio weapon.
* The group then turned their attention to descending further.
	+ Clark sent Flekk down the next hole to scout. The owl swooped into the level below and through its eyes Clark saw that masses of the humanoid mouldies had formed ranks outside the hut they would descend into. Flekk was quickly taken out by rocks flung in vegepygmy slings, the magical owl fading away into nothing rather than leaving a corpse as a regular animal would.
	+ Wilfred descended first, was swiftly ambushed by one of the pink vegepygmies that had been hiding among other mushrooms in the hut, but was still able to get off a fireball that devastated the mouldie ranks.
	+ The rest of the group rushed down and quickly dealt with the two vegepygmy chiefs and any other survivors.
	+ A separate group of regular vegepygmies had formed ranks in front of one hut in particular on this floor. They were also swiftly dealt with.
* The group gathered around the hole to the floor below, down to the fourth submerged level, which would be over 100 ft below the surface.
	+ There was a large wad of vegetation forming a bung that blocked the way.
	+ The hut below had a large piece of tree bark covering its regular entrance. It was also somewhat uneven, slanting more than the other levels.
	+ Moving the bark, the group emerged in a dark cavern. It seemed to be more natural in formation than the levels above. The troll hut they'd come from seemed to have spilled down through a gap in otherwise solid bedrock that was forming the ceiling. In the room, the group could see the underground river that had carved out the space over the years, but their attention was dominated by something else.
	+ Growing in the dark deep under the ground was a lush field of panacea, the most valuable plant in the world - key ingredient of healing potions. The group seemed to have found their payday.