Chapter 82: Take a Sniff – Chapter 82

Kelly claps her hands, “Well we won’t ever find out what is there if we don’t go and find out, now will we? Jim, don’t you think it is about time we go check it out? With what little I can see from here, it is just another large room.”

Jim shakes his head, “Whatever, let’s head in everyone!”

They all enter the next room. At the center of it is a stalactite grown into the stalagmite below. Water can be seen oozing out of the stalactite and pooling at the bottom of the stalagmite before dribbling out into the trickle of water they had seen running across the previous room. All around this small pool of water are a collection of larger than normal mushrooms.

Jim whistles, “Well, those aren’t natural.”

Then several mushrooms stand up and charge the group. Jim backs up and draws his bow while Bill and Tess step forward. Though as they meet the myconids release puffs of spores.

Tess with her staff was further back so had time to hold her breath. Bill is not so lucky. Being up close to use his clubs does not give him a chance. Instead he gets a face full of spores and his charge turns into a forward flop as paralysis catches hold. This sudden change causes Tess to yell out in shock. Not the best choice as this allows the spores to infiltrate her as well and she joins her boyfriend on the floor.

Kellinger is the first to react to the scene. He drops to the floor and shoves his hands into the rock itself. Below the couple, a pair of large stone hands rise up and lifts the two out of harm’s way. Jeremy comes in right after this, the spores unable to affect him as he slashes the myconid sprouts apart. 

Kelly has a spell ready but shakes her head and cancels it. A fire spell would be more likely to do harm than good. No one wants a dust explosion right now. Jim also stands to the side. He fired his first arrow, but without any skill the regular arrow doesn’t do all that much damage. Jim can only shake his head and mumble about needing a better variety of arrowheads.

Of course it was only a single group of myconids and all the sprouts had been quite small, so the fight was soon over. Kellinger lowers Tess and Bill to the floor before turning to Jim. “So, can we leave now?”

Jim massages the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, sure, we can leave. Can anyone detox the two of them?”

Kellinger shrugs, “Healing magic isn’t really my thing.”

Jeremy shakes his head at Kellinger’s comment. “Learn a healing spell. Doctor is nice and all but with how magic works anyone that can use it should have a basic one on tap. Luckily, I have a few things on hand. The spores tasted odd, but since my resistance kept me up, my stuff should work.”

He took out a little pouch filled with vials as well as a tiny mortar and pestle. With care, he pours small amounts of various herbs into the mortar and grinds it up. Jeremy pokes the dust with his pinky and tastes it. He shakes his head and taps some of the contents of two other vials into the powder before grinding it together again.

Another taste and he nods. “Okay, this should do.” Jeremy then takes out a tiny spoon and fills it. He grabs Tess’ mouth and dumps the powder in, then repeats that with Bill.

It takes a moment, but first Tess and then Bill sit up and try to spit out what is in their mouth. Sadly for them, the powder had fully dissolved on their tongues and the flavor wasn’t going anywhere.

Kelly hands them both a small bottle of water to clean their mouths out before turning to Jeremy. “So I’m guessing that isn’t exactly something you can whip up large batches of?”

Jeremy laughs, “It uses a number of relatively common plants. At least they were common before all this nonsense. Now we can’t exactly pop over to the local Asian market to grab a few of the odder ones. So I have to go with no, no we can’t make more of this. I don’t mind using this right now because who knows if anything came up behind us. Otherwise I would have just hauled their butts out of here myself instead of using my supplies.”

“Don’t worry though. Me and my wife have been working on a small garden when not trying to feed the entire settlement or building walls. We won’t be to the point of mass producing anything, but our supplies shouldn’t run out.”

Jim nods, “That is good to hear. Now how are we going to deal with the fact that the third floor is apparently infested with paralyze causing mushroom monsters.”

Jeremy points at where the monster bodies had been. Though now in their place was a couple of blocks of mushroom and a small wrapped up package. “So I suspect that package has a sample of those spores in it. I come to that conclusion because of how it is wrapped. When thrown against a hard surface that package will come apart in such a way as to dispense whatever is in it. Basically a little paralysis consumable.”

“While those kinds of things are always nice. Though of course potentially usable for some nasty stuff as well. I believe the best use for those packages is instead to concoct antidotes or some kind of protection against the effect. I do have to admit that my wife is better at mixing these sorts of things up and we will probably need more than one packet anyway. So yeah, let’s grab the loot and leave. I don’t want to find out paralysis isn’t the only poison we have to deal with.”

Jim grabs up the packet and sighs. “We are going to have to be careful with these. Ace is going to hate us for dropping this problem in his lap. At the moment it won’t be a problem because we can trust everyone. Once the others come back or strangers visit, these little packets are going to be an eternal source of troubles.”

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Jeremy shakes his head, “Luckily I don’t think it will be that bad. Spores shouldn’t be able to cause paralysis that quickly and yet at the same time be fixed just as quick. I suspect magic has a large part to play in this. Depending on how it works, that might mean these spores don’t stay effective for long. They might even lose their effect when we leave the dungeon. Hopefully not their medicinal value, though.”

Kelly raises an eyebrow, “Why in the world would they lose their ability to paralyze but not their ability to work as a cure?”

Jeremy waggles his fingers at her, “WoOoOo MaGiC!”

Then he coughs into his hand and clears his throat. “More seriously, the answer actually is magic. Specifically the pre-system idea of sympathetic magic. The thought that like things can affect one another. Most commonly seen being portrayed with voodoo dolls and the like. Good news is it isn’t quite as simple as shown in popular media. Someone can’t just find one of your stray hairs and curse you.”

“These spores are deeply connected to all other similar spores in this dungeon. By using them in a cure or preventative measure, even after they lose the paralysis magic, you can shortcut a lot of things. At least that is what my wife tells me. Once again, she is the one that knows all this. Spent way too much time grilling her guide for this kind of thing.”

Kelly nods, “Even in modern science you see similar concepts such as quantum entanglement. Though that doesn’t explain why the spores would lose their effect when taken out of the dungeon.”

Jeremy shrugs, “Meh, it isn’t the spores that are causing paralysis. Now they might have some small amounts of poison in them that would numb you some, but you just don’t see a full body lockup like that with mundane poison. At least not without it going right to killing the person dosed with it. Even then the cure doesn’t just fix the paralysis.”

“The reason that matters is because you have to remember where that magic came from. Yes the monster technically is the source, but in reality it all springs forth from the dungeon. Without the dungeon’s presence stuff like this either stops working instantly or quickly loses its effect. Of course, we can only really know the answer once we take a sample out and test it. So yeah, lets move out before more of those things show up.”

Kelly grumbles, wanting to ask more questions but Jim agrees with Jeremy and gets the group moving. With caution they backtrack to the floor’s entrance and then use the portal there to completely leave the dungeon.

Once outside they are met by Ace who is doing paperwork on one of those plastic folding tables. Ace turns to them and gestures for them to take a seat. Once everyone is settled he sighs, “So what went wrong?”

Jim laughs, “Did you see something off about us that would point to something being wrong or are you just playing the odds?”

Ace glares at him, “I don’t think you can go in there without causing some sort of problem. Even when we were ferrying people to the cliff something always seemed to go wrong on your turn. Now tell me what new hot mess you plan to dump on my lap.”

Jim turns his head to the side and looks away while Jeremy just shakes his head and takes over. After explaining the changes they had seen and narrating their experience on the third floor, the group lapses into silence.

Ace rubs the bridge of his nose, “So, are the spores still potent? Yes, I know you haven’t checked yet but get on that. Also I have to ask, What About Taking No Chances Did You Not Understand!?”

Ace leans back in his cheap office chair, “The second you saw there was a new floor you should have left. Hell, I wouldn’t have been down on you if you had turned around the second you realized the usual goats weren’t in the entrance room. It isn’t like you couldn’t just go right back to your dive after that. I just want to know what changes you have seen in the dungeon.”

Kelly interrupts his rant at this point. “Yes, yes, care more about our own safety. That aside I just checked the spores. We’ve ended up with a little of column A and a little of column B here. The stuff can still paralyze someone. It just has lost the magic. That means it isn’t some instant knockout drug anymore. Still nasty if slipped to someone, but stuff like that isn’t hard to find. If anything, the fact that these spores can somehow do this with complete safety makes me want it to become the main poison for this sort of thing.”

Ace’s face just goes slack and he lets out a heavy sigh. “Oh goodness gracious, that’s a weight off my shoulders. Still useful without being so problematic. Though I do have to ask, what happens if you’re poisoned by it and then are brought out of the dungeon? Do they instantly stand up, cured? Or is it one of those things that you just have to let run its course if you don’t have an antidote?”

Jeremy grabs the spore pouch and uses his pinky to get a taste of it. “Hmm, tingly. Anyway, I suspect that once a person leaves the dungeon under the effect, it will wipe away the magic and so the person can recover naturally.”

Ace shakes his head, “Good news, now we just have to find out what else the third floor has in store for us.”