Being blue gets me down...

Raifer gathered a team and made plans to address his new issue with the Xvarts and his patrol area. Word came in frmo the Dwarves in Al-Alin that the fungus was Zygom, a mushroom that infests a host and takes over the brain and eventually causes the body to die and decompose. He requested a cleansing party from the Dwarves be sent to scour the area of any instance of this fungus. Then he set out with his team of Indigo, Justin, Books, Magenta, Parker, Warrex, Alydra, Ilikiya and Booty.

It did not take long to find the first signs of trouble when Justin spotted an area that appeared to be a battle between one of the outpost patrols and a band of Xvarts. One of the horses was left for dead and evidence of blood from human Xvarts was left behind. This was not far from the previous groups encounter with the infected ants and Raifer decided to attempt contact with the watch post manned by Sarge and his team. They made quick time to the area of his watch and found large scorch marks on the mountain near his perch.

They approached the path leading to his post and were unexpectedly assaulted with a hail of crossbow bolts. The first volley hit several of the group and Alydra dropped, paralyzed. Raifer gave the order to spread out and rush the path. More bolts rained down. Ilikiya and Warrex were struck but withstood the effects. Indigo utilized a Mirror Image spell but was struck nonetheless and dropped to the ground as Parker used a Neutralize Poison on Alydra to bring her around.

As they reached the base of the path Raifer shouted up to the guard post attempting contact in an effort to stop the attack. Sarge responded as he recognized Justin and allowed him to come forward to talk. Unfortunately for Justin's ego, he ordered him to strip before he would allow him to approach. When they gathered Sarge made it clear that they had an encounter with others and had to kill them. The infected victims had a bunch of fungus and mushrooms growing on the back of their necks into their hairline. Those they killed were eventually burned, thus explaining the scorched areas. Raifer shared word with S.D. via a Talking Crystal and set off with the group to deal with the main cave base.

On the journey to the main cave they quickly caught up to a patrol of Xvarts walking slowly towards the Xvart community. Slowly it marched forward in an odd yet consistent pattern. While following them one of the 6 Xvart fell in his tracks. The rest stopped. Then began walking in odd erratic patterns until they formed a new 5 Xvart pattern and then continued on. Raifer ordered the group forward and to use Hold spells on them to stop them but these spells had no effect and they marched onward. They were now too close to the cave to wait and he ordered them killed. Several bow shots from the team later and all the targets were down. While deciding what to do with them, Alydra went back to watch the first Xvart dropped to make sure it was not merely playing possum. She noticed that the body was already decomposing where it lay. It was decided to burn the remains of all of them to prevent any new spore colonies from growing.

During the burning, they spotted something moving in the distance. They made it out as another Xvart. The group moved to surround the creature to detain, capture or kill it. Warrex and Raifer took off running as it broke away. Oddly, both of their attempts to tackle the retreating Xvart failed and it cast a spell at them causing the grass to grow around them and slow them down. Raifer broke loose and proceded to outrun the little man convincing him to stop to talk. His name was Rill and he had been on the run for some time. He had escaped from the community along with 4 others who did not make it out. It was decided to take him back to Sarge and his post for safety. Sarge was able to warn them of some of the security features, including the guard post pill boxes and the big guard cats they used. Rill provided a general description of the main caves and where the Xvarts were being held or rather had gathered in the main hall.

They dropped off Rill and headed back to the cave. Raifer and Books were to sneak up on the guard locations supported by Ilikiya and Warrex. It was going well until Raifer got caught on one of the large boulders, causing noise and drawing the attention of the post. Quickly he was the target of several bolts and fell to the ground motionless. This was followed by the sound of doors opening and the rapid rush of two mountain lions charging from the guard post while a few bolts flew at Warrex hitting him. The lions pounced towards Raifer prompting Books to shout a plea to the Xvarts in the post to hold off. His shouts diverted one of the lions towards himself. Just as the lion approached him and another was on top of Raifer, a loud whistle blew and the lions stopped. From the post came the call sign that had been previously arranged and Books gave the proper reply.

A couple Xvarts came from the post and quickly escorted them in to the post. These guards were safe but knew about the problem. They relayed that they observed many groups coming and going at night.... mostly. But they never bothered with the post and those in the post stayed put as it was a safe harbor. A decision was made to pin the infected in the lower chambers. They gathered up and used Continual Light on a couple of arrows to embed in the ceiling. One was placed at the entrance to the cave itself and the group moved on down the main chamber to the access point of the lower main chamber.

Movement was spotted in the side chambers and the group readied for an attack as they continued down the hall. Raifer spilled some oil in one of the open side passages to prepare and infected Xvarts poured out from all 4 side passages. Books lit the oil, arrow shots whizzed from bow strings with the unfortunate result of Warrex dropping and breaking his bow. Warrex pulled out the extra arrow enchanted with Continual Light and held some of them at bay while the archers picked them off from a distance. But the trouble was not over as Indigo heard rustling from the lower chamber coming up the hall and saw more infected ones advancing. Books made way and cast a Light spell to hold them off for the moment and Indigo rushed forward through the infected they were fighting to get to where he could shoot the enchanted arrow into the wall, hopefully stopping them where they were.

The group dispatched the remainder of the Xvarts on their cave level as Indigo monitored the progress from the lower path, or rather the lack of progress, as they stopped where the light spread out. They were able to gather up the bodies, move them out of the cave and set them ablaze. This fire set off another jarring and bone chilling scream that emanated from the lower chamber. The group gathered in the guard post, hoping the continual light arrows would hold up and waited for the next morning.

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