TBSI Episode 5: He-That-Carries

## The Story

The party follows Tevin through the scholar tunnels to meet Augustus. Due to the decreased height of the tunnels, Valen and Pheoebe are having to duck some in the tunnel. They try to make small talk with the teenager who is understandably a little wary of the strangers he's leading and keeps a distance between himself and them. Phoebe invites Tevin to visit the library if he ever wants something to read but Tevin is non-committal. He does reveal that he lives in the tunnels. Valen does see Mooshrim along the walls as they travel.

He eventually leads them to Augustus's Commune, a crossroads that has been carved out for a small group of people to live in the cavern there. They pass a few people on their way to Augustus who all wear patchwork clothing, a heavy-set male human, a figure in patchwork clothes of all types of fabrics and patterns with a hood, and a third figure across the room from the patchwork clothed figure. Augustus himself stands before the party holding a staff, wearing a ragged purple woolen cloak that was once better made and hiking clothes with thick soled boots. He is also is adorned with several small Mooshrim, who cling to his clothes, skin, and hair. His eyes appear covered with fluid.

Lumi bows in dramatic bard fashion by way of greeting. The purple robed man greets the party, confirming that he is Augustus. He welcomes them to the scholar tunnels and asks them how they communicated with the Mooshrim so easily. Misha introduces herself and explains that between her abilities as a druid and Mirabella's magic talents, they were able to use magic to speak with them. Mira offers him baked goods. He asks if there are enough for his friends, introducing them as Grizz, Patch, and Shimmer - and of course Tevin who they have already met. He explains that they all live there. Mira introduces Lumi and Phoebe in turn, but Valen stops her before their name is said which Mirabella politely explains is just a comfort level thing. Augustus tells them that there are a few other residents out in the tunnels and one person who's gone out into the world for supplies. Misha confirms with Augustus that he is in fact He-That-Carries. Phoebe asks how he got the nickname, but he simply says it's a long story and that he carried them from their home.

Augustus returns to the question of why they are in the Scholar Tunnels. Misha tells him they're trying to read the Drachenfeld Surveyor's Guild. Augustus says that they collapsed that tunnel, though no one is sure who collapsed it but that it was apparently intentionally collapsed. The only tunnel that was collapsed was the one leading to the Guild. Phoebe is surprised that she and the scholars hadn't heard about it, but Augustus suggests it might just not be common knowledge because the tunnels are rarely used anymore.

Mooshrim continue crawling around on Augustus's body. Valen is disgusted and is periodically making faces from the back of the room displaying how gross they find it, viewing them more like cockroaches. Pheoebe says they must tickle and Augustus replies that he doesn't feel them anymore and that he didn't even know one was there. Augustus changes the topic to tell Phoebe the Mooshrim appreciated her kindness.

Tevin breaks the silence after a moment to ask if he can eat the cookies he was given. Augustus gives him the go ahead. Mira offers the baked goods again to the others. Grizz takes three cupcakes and immediately puts them in his mouth. Shimmer, who is humanoid and thin but difficult to discern what they look like in shadow, declines taking any snacks. Patch stands up, revealing himself to be a huge half-orc. He nods in greeting to Valen as he makes his way over to Mira. He takes a cupcake and a cookie. Lumi notes the similarities between Valen's behaviors and Shimmer's behaviors and asks, "Family?" to which Valen replies, "Mmidunno," and then, "No, my folks lives in Wraithtown."

Augustus explains he was curious to meet them because of their being able to talk to them, to which Valen asks, "How do you talk to them?" Augustus explains it's more of a telepathic communication and says he's been with them a long time. Valen asks him about the discrepancy between his statements, as he had previously told them they'd been in the tunnels about a year. Augustus seems to be wobbly about time, saying it might have been a little over a year or maybe two years and that time is very strange there. Valen then clarifies how long a bloom was, as the Mooshrim had told Misha they had been down there for about 20 blooms. Augustus explains that the period of a bloom, which is the period between when the spore erupt to when the sporelings begin to arrive is about 3 months. 20 blooms is closer to 5 years.

Augustus changes the topic to ask if they know where they're going. Phoebe explains they have an old map that marks some of the tunnels beneath the city and a map of the city above. Augustus offers directions in exchange for their help. When he asks how they are with violence, the whole party looks to Valen. Lumi points at Valen and says, "I kill people for a living," in Valen's voice. Augustus explains they all try to stay below the city in the Scholar Tunnels and try to stay together. The Mooshrim are often able to warn them of people coming, but he is concerned by visitors and would like to move to a different and hopefully safer tunnel. Unfortunately the new tunnel has an issue. Patch explains there is an ancient automaton down there that they stumbled across accidentally, originally used for drilling and digging. Patch, responding to Lumi, says it's a fairly large automaton about as big as him but made of metal.

Phoebe has some knowledge of automatons. She knows they are not mass produced and are created by mages to help with tasks. They are hard to make and hard to upkeep. They're also expensive to make. Phoebe looks through her books and notes, trying to find anything about a lost automaton.

Augustus apologizes, knowing it's a big ask, but explains that it would be helpful to them so that they could get past that area and to the new tunnel. Valen asks if it needs to be stopped temporarily or permanently and Augustus says it's an option to leave it there, but that it would be a safety hazard for them to go back out for supplies which they do have to do on a regular basis. They ask where the tunnel is exactly and they let Augustus look at the map. He explains where the tunnel is and point to where it should be on the map, but there is nothing drawn in on the map to indicate a tunnel is there at all. Augustus also mentions that the automaton runs on an arcane core, which is a very rare thing. Phoebe is shocked. She asks if there were any symbols on it, but Augustus doesn't seem to know. Phoebe suggests the automaton might be guarding something and Augustus finds that interesting. Lumi begins to make the clicking sound from the gate trap earlier in the excursion. Misha suggests dragon artifacts, which Lumi agrees with excitedly.

Valen notices Shimmer is gone and they didn't see them leave.

Augustus presses them for a choice: help him or try the tunnels on their own. Phoebe really wants to see the automaton. Valen has the group huddle up and expresses she hasn't killed machines in their work as an assassin. Lumi plays music to try to disguise what they're saying. Valen also suggests they might want to warn Augustus's Commune about Lyra who might be following them. Mirabella asks how they would go about dealing with it. Valen suggests making a trap to remove the core, but when queried no one in the group knows how to remove one from an automaton. Misha asks if they want to study it or destroyed it. Phoebe suggests disarming it. Mirabella asks how they would do that.

Lumi makes a pantomime suggestion to pop the core out. Misha suggests a few different ways of limiting the automaton's motion. Valen suggests talking to it. Mira takes it into consideration and then suggests turning it into a walking Mooshrim farm. Mira suggests employing the Mooshrim to get into the automaton's inner works to pop the core out, maybe paying them in cupcakes. Phoebe asks about that possibility. Augustus asks how many they would need and Mira explains what they're thinking. Augustus likes their thinking and pauses a moment while he speaks telepathically with the Mooshrim. They ask if he freezes a lot and Grizz tells them it's very normal. Phoebe takes the opportunity to invite all of them to the library. Suddenly, Augustus snaps to it and says up to half of the Mooshrim would be willing to help and that there is another group of them elsewhere they might be able to convince to join them.

Mirabella and Phoebe warn Augustus's Commune about Lyra and her body guard who might be following them.

Since the party seem to be interested in helping, Augustus suggests he show them the automaton. Tevin leads them, with Augustus close behind. They resume their tunnel order of Phoebe, Valen, Lumi, Mirabella, and Misha. Patch brings up the rear. Grizz remains behind to wait for Ember. There is still no sign of Shimmer. Tevin leads them to an opening that has recently been dug out to a tunnel that runs parallel to the one they're in. They funnel into the tunnel in question, which leads downward rather than being level like the other tunnels have been. It is also a slightly wider tunnel, though it does narrow as it slopes downward. There are no lights in the tunnel either, as their have been in all the other parts of the Scholar Tunnels. Pheoebe creates a light ball of her own. Augustus asks if they would like some help seeing and when they say yes, the Mooshrim begin to glow blue around them as they join them in the tunnel. Valen backs away from as many of the Mooshrim as they can, further down the tunnel. Augustus notes their discomfort and offers to have them keep away from them. Valen says they're fine. Augustus says some of the Mooshrim have already gone ahead, warning Valen. Valen, resigned, returns to the group. The Mooshrim light up the hallway.

The party continues down further until Augustus brings the party to the stop. He and Patch explain that the path turns to the left and eventually opens up into a cave where the automaton is. Patch says right about where they are is where the automaton stopped chasing them. Phoebe marks it with a line in the tunnel. The tunnel is quiet.

Augustus start to ask a question and Phoebe interrupts him, calling him Gus. Augustus seems okay with the nickname, just surprised. Augustus asks how he should instruct the Mooshrim to help them. Mirabella suggests casting a spell to use the mushroom spores to allow those that eat part of a spore-infused cookie to hear and speak to the Mooshrim. Augustus warns them some of their spores are defensive and could cause the party to forget who they are. He also warns that other spores are part of the bloom, which help the Mooshrim to reproduce. Augustus suggests using mature Mooshrim for Mira's magic, but he thinks it could work. Two mature Mooshrim land on the ground in front of the party and Mira begins the ritual.

The spell is successful and allows those who eat some of the cookie to tap into the Mooshrim telepathic network until stomach acid breaks down the cookie, or about half an hour. Mira, Misha, and Phoebe all eat some of the cookie immediately. Valen, who wants nothing to do with the Mooshrim, does not. Patch and Tevin also decline. Augustus is amazed at the spell. Phoebe tries to telepathically speak to the Mooshrim, but nothing seems to be happening. It takes a few seconds after eating the cookie for it to start to kick in and their minds starts to expand. As Phoebe starts to hear the Mooshrim's voices in her mind, she tries again to introduce herself to the Mooshrim and is a little too exuberant. Augustus has to ask her to lower her mental voice, which she happily does, and then exclaims out loud that it's working. Lumi waits to eat her piece of the cookie until she sees what effects it has on the others, but after she deems it to be safe enough, she also eats the cookie piece. Phoebe gets a little bit more effected by the others by the magic mushroom cookie, being more easily distracted and excited by the situation. Her eyes are also dilated. Those who ate the cookie are also fully aware of the location of every Mooshrim in a 50 foot range. The Mooshrim are also aware of them. The connection also allows Mira, Misha, and Phoebe to hear Lumi's true voice instead of the mimicry she usually uses to communicate. Phoebe gets a little teary eyed, understanding the significance, but no one says anything to Phoebe.

Valen stands alone in silence. The Mooshrim are keeping their distance from them. They have dubbed Valen "The-Danger-One".

Augustus speaks to the party members in their minds, sans Valen, and his voice sounds younger in their minds. He then audibly suggests they continue. Lumi gently consoles Valen, using Mira's voice to say that they'll be okay in a little bit. As they continue, those who ate the cookie hear the Mooshrim calling the automaton "Clunky." Lumi alerts Valen that it's up ahead, an Augustus confirms. He also says that the automaton doesn't react to the Mooshrim. Valen starts walking, with Lumi close behind. Augustus remains behind. Patch follows the party at a small distance. Phoebe thanks Patch, who makes a joke about potentially helping to patch them up, prompting Phoebe to ask if Patch used to be an army medic. Patch confirms that he was.

As the party continues, Mooshrim communicating to the cookie eaters as they move ahead, fresh damage begins to appear on the walls.

## Notable Characters

* Lumi
* Mirabella Rosehip Heartblossom
* Misha van Dyne
* Phoebe Leandre
* Valen Aloro
* Augustus
* Tevin
* Grizz
* Patch
* Shimmer

## Notable Places

* Scholar Tunnels
* Augustus's Commune