Chapter 2.1 The Spirit Furantur, What Actually Happened

General Summary

After finally getting enough information about the cave and the slab, the party decided to go and explore it themselves. The found Hugo in the cooking section of the library and went to Gret for Branwen to start doing her paperwork and fill out a form to further research the island of fog. Afterwards they went to Lyth and filled out another form, this time Branwen decided to make something up so that they don't have to tell the truth again.
They were told it will likely take a week to go through and process their request so they decided to make good use of their time and go off to do various things. Hugo decided to simply take this time to relax. Branwen decided to go and rob a prosperous merchant and succeeded quite well. Fulcrum and Del did research. Fulcrum researched the cave and area a little bit more specifically about terrain and such. Del did research on the Mortal religion. Specifically on some of their members that aren't so great. He learnt about Whitelaw Remenidi, the High Soul priest of the Chauria branch of the religion. He's been looking into the incident that happened in the middle of the continent when a lot of followers were killed by their Goddess for going too far into the 'becoming immortal' thing. He also found out that the rumors and hearsays about the actual Goddess appearing there at that time is actually true.
After that week, Branwen, Fulcrum and Del were in their apartment at 6am when they heard a knock on their door. Branwen opened it and it was Kol. He greeted them and came inside, then told them that their request was rejected...initially. Then somehow, it got to the King, Paddra Sil Sofmyre, and it got appealed into being accepted. After delivering the news, he left and the gang promptly went to see Hugo, who was awake and well rested after that week of relaxation. They told him the news, they got something to eat and decided to get a ride with a merchant going to Chauria to make the trip easier and not as long. They arrived at Fulcrum's designated cave entrance and carefully went inside. They reached the end of it, and saw the one little crystal the same as they saw inside the Chauria Mines, on the far end of the wall blocking passage. It was an enclosed room with a pool of water at the end. After Fulcrum investigated a little bit, he figured out the crystal wasn't naturally formed there, it was put there deliberately, and that there might be an opening at the bottom of the pool. Hugo dove down clumsily to see that there is an opening that continues forward. Del went back into his stone, after Hugo delivered the news. Then Fulcrum attached his sword to his waist so that it would still glow, and dove down to check that the opening continue for about 20ish feet. He then took Branwen and made it across pretty well, finding a ledge to leave Branwen and Del there, leaving them in complete darkness for a bit. He dove back down to go tell Hugo and helped him try to get across. Hugo almost lost oxygen, and panicked a bit to hit Fulcrum accidentally. They both made it however, and now everyone is on the other side of the pool, seeing that the cave does indeed continue forward and downward from that point on.
The moved forward, moving as sneakily as they could. Thankfully they didn't get ambushed and met some Cressm as well as Octocoral. They dispatched the Cressm and continued for a few hours, this time walking slowly upwards. Then finally they reached the surface again, finding an island that didn't have much on it save for a few mountains in the distance and very thick fog surrounding it with wisps of something fading in and out of it. They continued to the mountains and found a temple, looking quite old. They carefully went inside and found themselves in a checkered floor room. When stepping on the checkered floor, they triggered a type of puzzle where they had to move various statues around harmless barriers. After solving three of them, the door opened again and they could move on. They came into the main chamber of the temple that housed the Spirit Furantur and a type of skeletal ghost that seemed to guard the item. After answering questions about it, the guardian seemed appeased/satisfied and dissipated. The party got the Spirit Furantur and started trying to leave the temple. After getting outside they noticed that the fog had completely lifted and they could see the mainland.
Once on on the island again, they made their way back to the same cave they came in from and started the descent once more. They came upon a few Cressm but dispatched them well enough. They also avoided (for the most part) the Octocoral in the area. Then they finally made it back to the surface, passing the pool with relative ease compared to last time. They took a moment to rest themselves (short rest) and continued forward. They walked for another 4 hours before they decided to set up camp. After falling asleep, they got ambushed by a few hooded figures with short swords and black blood running through their veins. Their twitchy movements were unsettling, and the black blood seemed alive somehow, moving and wriggling everywhere. What appeared to be a child ran up to Fulcrum and Del after being spotted and exploded in a spray of black blood, searing the ones nearby with necrotic pain as the black blood tried to seep into their skin. Two hooded figures came out from the forest around them and attacked, mostly Fulcrum. It was a bit of a tough fight, but they pulled through and nobody got downed.
The then decided to investigate the bodies and determined that there were old wounds that they didn't make themselves during the fight. The also determined that this isn't a form a Necromancy, but it does look to be magical in some way. So maybe they thought it was some kind of magical disease. They moved the bodies, and went back to bed. The next morning they got up and made their way to Sofmyre. After getting there around 8pm, they had a lengthy discussion on whether or not they should tell the army about the Spirit Furantur. They decided ultimately, to not tell them, and went to the Shining Goods guild to empty their Bag of Money Absorption and get a scroll of Identify for 100GC. They went back to Branwen's apartment, identified and learned what the Spirit Furantur does, and got Branwen to attuned and hold on to it. They then went to bed.
The next morning, they went to the general affairs building to report they were back. They were told to wait for Kol and they did. When Kol arrived he asked them if they had found anything and Hugo said that they didn't. He asked them if they were able to get to the island and Hugo said they didn't, but Kol didn't exactly believe him. He said to bring out Del and asked him instead. Del told him they made it to the island, but that they couldn't do much once there. Kol, being somewhat satisfied, decided he would maybe send other parties to investigate the island and thanked them for their work. He also wanted a report on how to actually get to the island, then left. Fulcrum decided to write the report, and he wrote it pretty badly, not giving much details, but included a crude map and a drawing of the Octocoral (kind of).

Report Date

31 Jan 2022