Immersive Ink

Dame Simonetta most certainly does not want to head to Level 4, she thinks it's more a matter of luck than skill that we're still be relatively unscathed here on Level 3. She wants to take the E/NE tunnel to see if it links up.

OOC: Yes, the party has been extremely lucky to only have the one wandering monster encounter so far (vs. the spiders).

"Yes, by all means!" agreed Robur with Dame. "Let's not delve any deeper! I for one need to ferment a little longer as a novice adventurer..."
Robur laughs at his own mead making joke despite the fact that Dame will never smile... and then wonders if they have passed any particularly edible fungi (no not those dreadful shrieking things!) that could be collected to infuse in a batch of mead...

Bilfur suggests completing the third level before venturing forth

Kpilyn who is still wounded would look worried at the debate... "I'm not sure how many more fights we can survive."

The party continues to area #11. Or I should say, the party stops in the tunnel, at the threshold of area #11. The entire floor of the cave is completely covered in mushrooms. It's impossible to move into the room without trampling the mushrooms.

These mushrooms are funny-looking: All caps, with hardly any stem. They have wide, flat caps, about 12-18" in diameter, but the stalks of the mushrooms are comically short, only an inch or two long, and they can barely hold the oversized caps up off the cavern floor. The mushroom caps overlap each other and cover the stone floor of the cave like a thick layer of lily pads or lotus leaves on the surface of a pond. Except instead of being green like leaves, these mushroom caps are greyish-tan in color, with a shaggy, slippery texture (like the bark of damp logs).

We guessed wrong, by the way, about this tunnel connecting up with area #2. The party is actually at a higher elevation than area #2 (due to having gained elevation at the ramp). This means the unexplored tunnel heading SW from area #2 must go under your present position, to some sort of under-level. The whole thing is very confusing and three-dimensional, like trying to map a bowl of spaghetti from inside one of the noodles!

There are two additional exits from the mushroom-carpeted area #11: a narrow tunnel leading north, and a wider tunnel leading southeast.

But there's no time to think about all of that! The time has come for another wandering monster check: 1 cave crocodile skeleton waddles into view, heading north from dungeon level 4. It 'smells' the party and turns east, trapping the party in the tunnel (east of the Y intersection and west of area #11).

What do you do??

"Mushrooms!" exclaims Robur as the horrid creature emerges. Robur in a mixture of panic and glee hurriedly stuffs a few handfuls of mushrooms into his pouch and orders the hirelings to help him before readying his sling to fire on the bony crocodilian thing...

"Stones away!" Wilbur calls, firing at the skeleton.

Dame Simonetta doesn't relish rushing across a field of unknown mushrooms, but it is preferable to being mauled by an animated crocodile skeleton! She thinks we should all retreat through the northern exit. She moves towards the crocodile to place herself between it and the other hobbets. If there is enough range, she will sling a stone, but otherwise will stand ready for melee.

Checking where his oil is stashed, Noh figures this is a perfect time to chuck a neato javelin at the skelecroc! "Wish me luck Carc," he whispers as he lets fly when the creature is close enough.