Immersive Ink

Chegs will continue moving forward until he gets up near both Dougal & Willie if room permits as the turns progress.

To call Tet "stout" is simply being polite. He is in fact enormously fat and heavy.

How will I fit through there?! he worries. While the others are crawling though, Tet removes his mail shirt, rolls it up, and straps it to the bottom of his pack .

When it's his turn, he crawls into the tunnel on hands and knees to heave and squeeze mightily as he worms his way through.

Tet finally emerges, sweating profusely, from the tunnel.

What're these here puffballs? he opines after getting to his feet and brushing the worst of the dust from his wide mid-section.

Willie stands up & stretches his back, then slings his pack back on. He looks at the puffballs with some concern.

"What do you think, Potty? Are they dangerous? They actually look kind of tasty..."

Turn 4

Potty identifies the fungi as Common Cave Puffballs. By reputation they are edible and delicious. In fact some of the tastiest-looking puffballs have had large sections neatly sliced away, indicating perhaps these are the very mushrooms Frederick served today at his restaurant. These immature specimens are pale white and have a dense, spongy texture. Potty reckons that when they some day reach maturity, they will puff up with brown spores, ready to burst at the slightest touch. Potty harvests the smallest and freshest specimen he can find, a bun-sized puff, newly sprouted from the mycelial mat.

Tet is the last to emerge from the north end of the tunnel, joining the party at the edge of the puffball chamber. Does Tet spend a turn putting back on his mail armor?

By the combined light of Willie's lantern and Tet's torch, our heroes take stock of their options. The huge puffballs are packed tightly together. Passing from point A to point B through the thicket of puffballs would be like trying to get to a buffet table through a crowd of sumo wrestlers. To the east (their right) they could push onward into a shadowy, low-ceilinged area. To the west (their left) the cavern opens into into a larger area with a high ceiling. All is quiet save the occasional drip of water from a stalactite.

Willie points to the right into the shadowy area.

"I say we explore that-a-way."

It's wonder these things will grow down here, he comments. Don't they need water?

Tet leaves his mail where it is for now...