Contents
Chapter 2: Seagrow Caves
This chapter assumes the characters come here before going to the wreck of Compass Rose, and they are still 1st level. It also includes simple instructions to scale up the danger in combat encounters if the characters complete chapter 3, "Cursed Shipwreck," before coming here, and are now 2nd level.
Caves Overview
The sea caves on the southwest side of Stormwreck Isle are inhabited by an unusual colony of myconids—fungus people who normally live deep underground. Though they can't abide sunlight, these myconids used to welcome visitors now and then. In particular, they traded with Tarak from Dragon's Rest, giving him rare fungi that grow in their caves in exchange for food scraps and other waste from the cloister, which nourished the fungi in the caves. Recently, though, the myconids have rejected Tarak's visits and placed a monstrous guardian at the entrance to their caves that keeps all visitors away.
The reason for this sudden shift in the myconids' behavior is that a blight has spread through the caves and is poisoning the myconids, twisting their gardens, and even laying low their leader, Sinensa. The source of the blight is the tomb of the red dragon Sharruth deep beneath the island. Noxious fumes from the dragon's tomb normally filter up through the rock and vent to the surface through a cavern at the back of Seagrow Caves that the myconids avoid, but the vent has become blocked, and the fumes have spilled into the myconids' caves.
Besides this insidious poison, visitors to Seagrow Caves must face one additional threat: the stirges that nest in the caves. These blood-sucking monsters aren't much of a threat individually and don't bother the bloodless myconids, but they can be deadly in large numbers.
Seagrow Caves Features
The caves have the following features:
- Ceilings. Unless noted otherwise, the ceilings in the caverns are 20 feet high, and the tunnels connecting the caverns are 15 feet high.
- Light. The interior caves are illuminated by bioluminescent fungi, which provide dim light throughout the area. See "Vision" in the Basic Rules.
- Walls. The cave walls are formed from hexagonal columns of dark gray basalt—volcanic rock originating from Sharruth's undersea tomb. The walls provide hand- and footholds, so climbing the walls doesn't require an ability check.
- Fumes. Toxic volcanic fumes from deep below the island are slowly poisoning the fungi in the caves. A faint smell of sulfur pervades the place, growing stronger the closer one gets to x. If the characters take a long rest inside the caves before opening the vent in B6, each character must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned (see "Conditions" in the Basic Rules). The lesser restoration spell ends this effect, as does finishing a long rest in fresh air.
Running This Chapter
Once the characters decide to visit Seagrow Caves, they have two options for reaching the site:
- By Boat. Dragon's Rest has a rowboat the characters can take around the western end of the island. (This is Tarak's preferred method.) The trip to Seagrow Caves is 5 miles, which takes about 3 hours and 20 minutes to row.
- Along the Coast. Walking around the coast of the island is a little easier than rowing, even though it's farther because the characters have to walk around the bays instead of rowing across them. The 7-mile trip takes only 2 hours and 20 minutes at a normal walking pace. The characters can choose whether they want to walk on the cliffs high above the sea or pick their way among the tide pools at the base of the cliffs. The lower route is available only at low tide (see the Tides table).
Approaching at Sea Level
If the characters arrive at Seagrow Caves at sea level, read the following text:
Approaching from Above
If the party approaches from above, read this text:
Entering the Caves
At high tide, the 40-foot-high tunnel (x) is flooded all the way to x. The natural stairways, which are not shown on the x, descend the cliffs into the sea. The characters can either wait for low tide or row or swim into the tunnel. At low tide, a 5-foot-wide pathway is exposed along the base of the cliffs and the edge of the tunnel.
The tides shift every 6 hours, as summarized on the Tides table.
Tides
| Time | Tide |
|---|---|
| Midnight to sunrise | Low |
| Sunrise to noon | High |
| Noon to sunset | Low |
| Sunset to midnight | High |
Interacting with Myconids
The myconids' initial attitude toward outsiders is hostile (see "Social Interaction" in the Basic Rules). They aren't malicious, though, and they don't resort to violence immediately. Adults use their Rapport Spores to telepathically warn visitors to leave. (See "Rapport Spores" below for details about this form of communication.) Sprouts flee toward the nearest adults to warn them of intruders. If the characters attack, the myconids defend themselves.
To convince a hostile myconid to converse or to allow the characters to do anything other than leave the caves, a character must succeed on a DC 20 Charisma check. Depending on the character's approach, the Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion skill can apply to the check. Mentioning Tarak's name or presenting the offering he sent the myconids grants advantage on this check.
An indifferent myconid is willing to explain what is going on in Seagrow Caves. The sprouts know only that their leader, Sinensa, has fallen ill—and that a nasty smell pervades their caves. Adult myconids know that the "crystal cave" (x) is the source of the foul odor and that Sinensa fell ill after going into that cave to investigate the issue. The myconids normally avoid that cave because sunlight filters into it by way of the vent at the western end of the cave, and even diffuse sunlight is unpleasant to these cave-dwelling creatures.
Rapport Spores
A myconid's Rapport Spores ability allows all intelligent creatures in the area to communicate telepathically with each other. The characters and the myconids are effectively speaking thoughts at each other. This effect doesn't allow any creature to probe invasively into another creature's mind. But it transcends language barriers, and you can play around with the kind of communication that the spores allow. Myconids' facial expressions might be difficult to read, but their telepathic communication might carry a direct expression of the myconids' emotional state. For example, when the myconids talk about their ailing leader, the characters might feel a deep sadness and a sense of anxiety much more clearly and powerfully than mere words and facial expressions can communicate.
The effect of Rapport Spores lasts for 1 hour, so characters might be telepathically linked to each other whenever they're within 30 feet of each other even after they leave the cave. Encourage the players to think about how this might affect their characters. Does it make them feel closer to their friends? Does it ease any suspicions they might have had about each other?
Distress Spores
When myconids take damage, they release spores that alert all other myconids within 240 feet of them. All myconids in the cave are in range of each other's Distress Spores. Myconids in x and x move to x if they detect Distress Spores.
Seagrow Caves Locations
The following locations are keyed to map 3, which shows the layout of the Seagrow Caves.
B1: Entrance Tunnel
At high tide, the tunnel is flooded, so visitors must approach by boat or swim. At low tide, walkways formed by the tops of stone columns line the sides of the tunnel, leading to a flight of natural steps up to x. A spore servant octopus lurks in the water and attacks any creatures (other than myconids) who enter the tunnel, regardless of the state of the tides. Before the myconid leader lapsed into unconsciousness, it created this guardian to keep outsiders away.
As described on the previous page, the water level here varies by up to 10 feet with the tides. At high tide, the water is about 8 feet deep along the edges of the tunnel and 25 feet deep in the middle. At low tide, the walkways along the edges are exposed, and the water is 15 feet deep in the middle.
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, two stirges clinging to the tunnel ceiling are disturbed if fighting breaks out in this area and join the battle. The stirges ignore the spore servant.
B2: Fungus Farm
The waterfall is fed from a pool in the upper cave, which in turn is supplied by runoff trickling down from the surface. Both pools are 5 feet deep at most.
The two mushroom people are myconid sprouts named Molen and Kraz. They are spreading fertilizer from x, while two myconid adults named Hipsiz and Rugoso tend the mushrooms near the upper pool, out of sight from below. All four myconids are oblivious to the true threat in the cave—three violet fungi that grow among the harmless mushrooms here.
If the characters move into the cave toward the myconids, one violet fungus attacks them, extending long tendrils that cause immediate rot when they touch living flesh. Read this text:
Running the Combat
Because the violet fungi move so slowly, it's easy for the characters to stay out of their reach and kill the fungus monsters with ranged attacks. The interesting part of this encounter is identifying the danger. One violet fungus moves and attacks to start the encounter, but the other two remain motionless until characters move close to them.
You don't need to keep track of exactly where everyone is standing in the room. Instead, rely on your sense of what's fun and exciting. When a character moves away from an active violet fungus, have another fungus stir and attack that character on the fungus's next turn. If a character scans the fungus farm looking for more violet fungi, cast as much doubt as you can: many of the fungi look sickly and purple but pose no danger.
Myconids
The myconid sprouts avoid the characters and the violet fungi. If the adults become aware of danger through the noise of combat (or the sprouts' Distress Spores), they move as quickly as they can to protect the sprouts.
If the characters defeat the violet fungi, the myconids' attitude improves to indifferent, and they are willing to speak to the characters (using their Rapport Spores). The adults agree to accompany the characters and vouch for them with the rest of the myconid colony, improving the other myconids' attitude to indifferent as well.
Blighted Fungi
A character who examines any of the fungi notices that many of the mushrooms are sickly, shriveled, and blotched with black patches of decay. The blight has no obvious source.
Treasure
The fungus farm contains heart cap mushrooms ready for harvest. A character who spends 15 minutes searching this chamber for useful fungi and succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Nature) or Wisdom (Survival) check finds 1d6 of these reddish mushrooms, which bear an unsettling resemblance to human hearts. Tarak can make each heart cap mushroom into a potion of healing.
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, add two violet fungi to this encounter.
B3: Larder
Three myconid sprouts named Bispo, Valup, and Popple work here gathering fertilizer for use in x. The bulbous object is a stirge nest, which characters can identify with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check. If a character moves more than 5 feet into the chamber, six stirges emerge from the nest and attack. Meanwhile, the sprouts flee toward x at the first sign of intruders, relying on the distraction of the stirges to escape.
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, add two stirges to this encounter.
B4: Circle Chamber
Six myconid adults are here. Two of them (named Agric and Omphalo) are tending to the other four (Craterel, Pleuro, Subrufus, and Virosa), who are standing stock-still in a dream-like trance called a meld, experiencing a shared transcendent state. The two conscious myconids move quickly to confront any intruders who aren't escorted by other myconids, and they respond with violence to any threat.
All six myconids are ill and fatigued from the blight that is spreading through the caves, so they take turns resting here.
B5: Sinensa's Sanctum
Two myconid adults named Auranta and Enok are tending the unconscious myconid who leads this colony, Sinensa. The adults collect spores from a barrel-sized, glowing red fungus that vaguely resembles a human brain and puff the spores around the leader's head. The treatment is keeping the leader alive for now, but it is a losing battle. Sinensa's only hope is for the blight to end. The adults zealously defend their leader, immediately attacking intruders who aren't accompanied by other myconids.
Treasure
If the characters bring the glowing red fungus, called a ruby morel, back to the cloister, Tarak uses it to make them an elixir of health (described in appendix A).
B6: Crystal Cave
Two fume drakes lurk amid the sulfurous fumes. These elemental creatures look like little dragons formed entirely of greenish smoke. They don't leave this cave, but they rush to attack any creature that enters it.
This cave is the source of the blight spreading through the myconid colony. As the characters explore the cave, they can easily determine that noxious fumes from deep beneath the island seep up around the vein of purple crystals. Ordinarily, the fumes vent to the surface through a fissure in the west wall, but the fissure is now blocked by the enormous orange crystal, which is also the source of the light here.
The heart of the problem is the tomb of the red dragon Sharruth, deep beneath the island. The presence of such a powerful dragon far underground causes the volcanic activity that produces the noxious fumes. What's more, the dragon's energy occasionally tears open small rifts in the fabric of reality that lead to the Elemental Plane of Fire—another dimension of reality that is the cosmic source of fiery energy. The Plane of Fire is the origin of both the orange crystal blocking the vent (which is actually an egg case) and the creatures currently in the cave.
Fire Crystal
Destroying the orange crystal blocking the western fissure allows the noxious fumes to escape the cave and stops the blight that is harming the myconids. A single strong whack with a weapon, a crowbar, or another tool is sufficient to shatter it. When the crystal breaks, a two-foot-diameter sphere of smoldering obsidian falls to the floor amid the other pieces and breaks open, releasing a fire snake from this stony egg. Seeing the characters only as fuel, it attacks them at once.
Breaking the fire crystal also reveals the reason the myconids avoid this cave: the cave is immediately filled with shimmering sunlight refracted through the crystals that line the vent. Bright light fills the entire area.
Treasure
The fire snake's egg breaks into 25 tiny chunks of obsidian worth 10 gp each.
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, add a third fume drake to the room when the characters first arrive. Then, at the same time the fire snake hatches from its egg, two more fume drakes emerge from the cluster of purple crystals.
Ending This Chapter
If the characters destroy the orange crystal so the toxic fumes can escape the caves, the myconids' attitude improves to friendly. Sinensa, the myconid leader, regains consciousness the following morning. If the characters are present when Sinensa awakens, Sinensa gives them the ruby morel from x and permission to keep any other treasure or mushrooms they collected in the caves.
Once the characters return to Dragon's Rest, Tarak can use the ruby morel to make an elixir of health (described in appendix A), which he gives to the characters in gratitude for their efforts.
Gain a Level
After they complete this chapter of the adventure, the characters gain a level. If they visited Seagrow Caves before the wreck of Compass Rose, they advance from 1st level to 2nd level. The residents of Dragon's Rest urge them to visit the wreck of Compass Rose next (see "Shipwreck").
If they've already explored the wreck of Compass Rose in x, they advance from 2nd level to 3rd level and are ready to visit Clifftop Observatory in chapter 4. See "x."
The x explain what happens when characters gain a level.