Monstrous Lair: Myconids' Grove
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Myconids—peaceful, sentient fungus creatures—live quietly in subterranean groves. They are intelligent and eschew violence whenever possible; they could make useful allies for those exploring the Ebon Realm.
Outside the Lair
Water oozes down the rough, natural walls to gather in small muddy pools at their base.
The ground is broken and rough. Here and there, stalagmites and stalactites grow, and in places, they have merged to form smooth, glistening columns.
The passage slopes steeply downwards toward a subterranean lake and the myconids’ grove.
As the characters draw closer to the grove, the preponderance of lichen and moss increases and the floor grows slick underfoot.
What’s Going On?
Several myconids move about tending the lichen that grows over almost every surface in the grove.
The myconids have gathered in a circle to engage in a silent conclave.
All the myconids stand still; they may be sleeping or communing, or they may be hoping the characters pass by without realising their true identities.
The myconids are mourning the death of one of their elders. A sense of profound sadness fills the air.
Major Lair Features
The grove stands about a subterranean pool fed by several streams falling into it through the ceiling. A fine spray fills the air making everything slick and damp.
The myconid grove sprawls over and down a many-stepped escarpment of crumbling stone.
The grove fills a cave whose floor is obscured by heaped piles of boulders. Water drips from the ceiling into the cave creating a complex array of pools and streams.
The myconids dwell on the banks of a swiftly-flowing subterranean river. Sometimes, they fish strange and interesting things from the river’s dark, frigid waters.
Minor Lair Features
Water drips from the ceiling, filling the air with melodic and distracting sounds.
Lichen-covered rubble cloaks the ground, slowing movement and creating hidden hazards.
The ceiling towers far above the myconids’ grove.
A shaft of light illuminates the grove; it comes from a crack in the ceiling and could be natural or artificial.
Myconid’s Appearance
This ambulatory mushroom stalks about on two mushy legs. It has jet-black eyes and a crimson cap.
A yellow and red cap tops this myconid’s pure white body. Yellowish mould grows over the lower parts of its stocky legs.
A wide gash in this sentient mushroom’s yellow and purple cap looks red and livid. The creature’s arms hang limply at its side.
This jet-black living mushroom clutches a three-foot length of smoothed stalactite in one hand. A shard of green stone—a malachite—surmounts the stone rod.
Treasure
A slender short sword of some amazingly light metal lies on the ground part covered by lichen; only a perceptive character spots the weapon.
These small clay pots hold a magical potion that can heal the drinker’s minor injuries.
This heavy warhammer has a weighty head of some kind of super-dense metal. It is twice as heavy as normal and does twice as much damage as a normal warhammer.
A bulging leather pack hold shards of stone studded with a silvery mineral—mithral!
Trinkets & Trash
This bulging, sodden adventurer’s pack holds nothing but an unidentifiable mouldering lump of something.
Tiny, broken crossbow bolts are scattered about.
Patches of glittering gold in the wall are, in fact, pyrite—fool’s gold. It is worthless—except to the gullible.
The arrows in this rotting, sodden leather quiver are missing most of their fletchings.
Credit
This is a short system-neutral extract from Monstrous Lair #94: Myconids’ Grove by Robert Manson.
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