Chapter 4: Royal Favors

General Summary

Upon arriving in Kupferkette, the party headed for the royal castle. Learning that the king would not be available to meet until the next day at the earliest, Archibald did his best to convince the guards of the urgency of the situation. They relented, and allowed the party to met with Lady Enid, a Lady in Waiting to the Princess of Kupferkette. Enid greeted the party, provided refreshments, and let them in on some of the issues at the castle:   King Irnbrek has been very ill for some time, his body slowly but surely shutting down from an unknown cause. He is a proud man, and hides his illness as best he can. Princess Runa has been studying plants for any possible remedies, but has so far come up short. Recently, Enid snuck a peek at Runa's journal and found a passage on a particular rare mushroom- the Ghostring, a jet black mushroom with glowing blue and green ring around its cap. It grows only in deep, dark, and cold caves near water sources. A cave that likely has these features is not far from Kupferkette- one previously explored for mining before those who explored it stopped coming back.   Enid was concerned Princess Runa is planning to go to this cave herself to look for this possible cure and asked the party to help her convince Runa to let the adventurers check it out first, and perhaps even return with a few living specimens. After meeting with the princess, she agrees to the plan and promises payment of 600gp to the party, as well as allowing them to keep any valuables they may find within the cave- except the Ghostring Mushrooms of course.   King Irnbrek met with the party that evening and agreed to send supplies to Jaarvi, though admits it will take several days to get everything pulled together and ready for travel. In the meantime, he asked if the party would be willing to travel to the neighboring Gnomish city of Zaklopat to retrieve the coronation crown he had specially made for Runa. The party agreed that if there was time before supplies would be ready to return to Jaarvi they would be interested in aiding in his request.   After a bit of shopping for supplies and a good night's sleep, the party headed off for the Old Mine Cave. Mining some valuable crystals along the way, they eventually found a secret passage to a room with a pole in the middle of previously burnt wood, a stone altar, and a giant dragon's skull carved out of stone; a large platform at its mouth and deep pit underneath filled with animal and humanoid corpses. Eleanor discovered the area has been desecrated, and the symbols throughout the room are similar to those found at the Gnoll ritual mixed with others of infernal origin.   Deciding that was enough creepy stuff for one day, the party moved on from the altar room and deeper into the cave. In the furthest room was a large underground lake surrounded by a variety of glowing mushrooms, including several small clusters of Ghostring. As the party approched, a gigantic two-faced frod emerged from the lake, and combat ensued. Though there were injuries, everyone but the frog made it out in one piece.   Working together, the party was able to gather two healthy clusters of Ghostring mushrooms and pack them in the containers Runa had provided.