Darkshroom Tower

Hex 34.23. Home to a cannibalistic cult of MUSHRUMS who stalk the Quagmash, capturing other MUSHRUMS, ORCHES and wayward travelers alike. The lair, a towering, dark red and weeping mushroom, is surrounded by fields of FUNGHOULS.

lair layout

AREA 1: THE FUNGHOUL HILLS

Darkshroom Lair is entirely surrounded by rolling hills of ravenous, biting FUNGHOULS stacked upon each other in mounds. Intermingled among the funghouls are clusters of DARKSHROOMS (Herb Component). Spores waft through the air like poisonous snowflakes.

AREA 2: THE BULBOUS CHAMBER

An entrance guarded by no one leads into a chamber of fleshy red walls, oozing with mucilaginous goop.

• Twelve MUSHRUMS (1xL5-B, 11xL3-G) wearing black bark armor (+2 Block) are engaged in a foul ritual. Two slain mushrums, clearly from another clan, lie on a dais, their lifeblood draining down into a central red pool.
• Weel and Zola, two wayward youths from Mushmush, are among the twelve cult members.
• The mushrums are deep in a trance, vocalizing an unsettling hum in unison, almost like a gravelly coo, which echoes throughout the chamber.
• If the walls are touched, it recoils as if alive, and the goop inflicts 1d6 Dread. This alerts the participants of the ritual.
• At the far end of the chamber is a door to Area 3. Faint wailing sounds come from an open hatch in the floor to the left of the entrance (leads to Area 4).

AREA 3: THE STIPE STAIRS

A long winding staircase winds up the length of the mushroom tower's stipe. The air is hot and musty with mold and mildew.

• Traversing the long staircase is taxing for any non- mushrum PC. Vitality to resist becoming WEAKENED.
• Two stout MUSHRUMS (L6-B) wearing black bark armor and carrying Magnificent crystal swords [slash] walk down the stairs.
• At the top of the stairs guarding another door are two trained GUARDVARKS (L4-B). Touching the walls at any point alerts them.

AREA 4: THE RHIZOME TUNNELS

A labyrinthine tunnel matrix of the tower's roots. Completely dark.

• The wailing of prisoners comes from the prison, guarded by 4 MUSHRUMS (L6-G). Countless prisoners cough and moan from inside fungal cages. The MUSHRUMS just stand there, emotionless.
• Following the opposite path from the wailing leads to the living quarters of the Darkshroom clan members.

AREA 5: THE TOWER CAP

The Darkshroom Elder worships before the Darkshroom Hivemind: thick, vein-like mycelium that plaster the ceiling, pulsing like a heartbeat.

• The Darkshroom Elder MUSHRUM (L8-C) is donned in red fungal armor. His head is three times the size of an average mushrum's, and he can cast 3 random spells (see Spells table in Core Rulebook).
• The mushroom tower itself is the true leader of the Darkshroom clan, compelling its minions to feed it blood.
• The tower can be slain by destroying the pulsating mycelium. Doing so alerts all of the MUSHRUMS in the lair (4d12+12).