470 Mycelial Grove
Ren also bought a [Tortobas] when he found that Florin was selling one. Tortobas were rare species of giant tortoise that had the ability to grow plants on their shells.
They could grow depending on the amount of food they ate. Their adult size could range from one meter to fifty meters over the course of time.
Some even ended up growing an entire ecosystem on their backs. Since their shells were curbed at the edges, when it rained and when they dived, they could carry hundreds of liters of water, fish, and aquatic ecosystems with them, creating artificial lakes around the shells, which, thanked to their rooting properties, could allow aquatic plants to survive.
Ren could acquire one in lakes, but he didn't want to go through the trouble of doing it. If he could save time by buying the items he needed, then the better.
If players were busy hunting, goblins, or rescuing owlbear cubs from trees to go foraging, the plants they needed could be found for sale or trade across the land. Though they were in few quantities, and never could they found rare to Legendary plants sold in the market.
While they might found that the more common components for sale at a regular market, they could also visit any of the Botanist's Guild guildhouses or Herbalists Shops to trade for uncommon and rare plants, sell any unneeded botanical supplies, or discover the location of hard-to-find specimens.
They could also pick extra work or quests from the guild to earn some additional coins.
After his short interaction with Florin, Ren proceeded deeper into the woodlands, where he finally arrived at Mycelial Groves.
Players who didn't know about this place would find that it was the most dangerous place in all of the Elven Realm.
Sentient fungi folks were usually peaceful and lived in close-knit communities. Many had formed of communal telepathy or empathy, which, when twisted, was a terrible thing. Whether attacked during a time of failed consciousness or manipulated by some fiend or aberration, what was once a community of empathic individuals becomes a screaming hive of hunger known as the Mycelial Grove.
The Grove released wave after wave of spores until the terrain itself was connected to its being. Then it waited until something fell into its midst, and, like dozens of carnivorous plants acting as one, it turned on its prey.
No one knew just how far the Mycelial root network extended. There was also the crucial question of whether a grove was a single mutated creature or a swarm of creatures operating as one.
Anyone who worked in the woods knew to tell people that fungi were serious business. Players who were trying to forage accidentally poisoned themselves all the time. Wanted shrooms for a good time and ended up with death caps? The woods didn't care.
For creatures so much smaller than them, the potential ways fungi could kill them were vast – infecting their brains, so they could climbed high enough to spread spores until death, rotting them from the inside or using their still-living flesh as a breeding ground. Nature was the horror game they wished they could write, and the scariest thing of all, it really wasn't personal.
However, Ren had to brave all that because just passed this, Grove was the Queen Fairy's Tomb.
Ren believed that the Mycelial Grove was put here as an additional guard.
Ren looked over at the darkest parts of the old woodland. With the moss and rotting deadwood piled high in the undergrowth, he stumbled into a hallow. In the center of the Grove lay an enormous tree covered in brown and purple fungal growth. Atop the trunk, the fungus rigs the tree like a crown over the hint of a face in the holes and knots of bark.
Sentient fungal colonies that came from underground and could release a variety of toxic spores. They were typically peaceful when let alone, but the creatures' territory was far larger than it appeared, thanks to an expansive network of underground roots.
There were three parts in the Grove. The Deadwood Hallow which was the entrance. The Glowing Garden which was the middle part, and the Drider Graveyard is at the end.
Ren must go through three areas if he wanted to reach the previous Queen Fairy's Tomb.
There was no going around it.
Taking a deep breath, Ren entered the hollow after equipping [Monarch Sovereignty] in one hand and [Infernal Scepter] in the other.
The deadwood hollow sensed Ren coming even if he was at least twenty meters away. It released [Awakening Spores] in advance and created at least one Deadwood Servant.
Once Ren entered the hollow, he thought that he had stumbled across a particularly aggressive treant with an infectious disease. Fires were easily distinguished here because of the dampness of the place, and it only served to anger the fungi and plants in here.
Once inside, Ren was ambushed by the Deadwood Servant and a [Branch] attack coming from the Deadwood Hallow before releasing [Rotting Spores]. It wanted to poison him and attacked it while activating its [Lair Actions] as early as possible to keep its prey from escaping.
The earth shook, throwing dirt and rock up into the air, and Ren casted [Gravity Zone] to stop the rocks and dirt from hitting him. At the same time, all the spores released by the hollow were useless against Ren because of the [Monarch Sovereignty] ability to null.
Ren continued forward while he activated [Touch of the Golden Sun] when all the plants attacked him. The Deadwood Servant attempted to tackle him on the ground but upon contact with him, it disintegrated into dust.
However, more Deadwood Servants took its place while every branch, vine, and plant attacked Ren. With the things attacking him, they formed a thick web of vines and he couldn't see where he was walking and was only guided by Pii on where to go. And thanks to his [Touch of the Golden Sun], everything that grazed him turned into piles of ashes.
Ren prepared these spells exactly for this case. If it was a group of players' first time entering the hollows, they'd be wiped out for sure if they didn't bring any immunities against all kinds of status effects like poison, stun, charm, and sleep.
