From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 408: Mushroom Village

"Ladies, there is no doubt that the Supreme God has used the Mind Flayer Tadpoles to control a large army. With just our small team, we cannot use normal methods to end the tyranny of the Supreme God. So we need allies, troops, weapons and various supplies. The Adamantine Furnace sounds like a place that can provide a steady supply of weapons for the army. Occupying it will only benefit us, not harm us." Ivy interrupted the quarrel in the team, "Even if we don't take the initiative to control it, we must never let the Supreme God's tentacles reach out to it. The army composed of ogres, goblins, humans and other races is already terrifying, and we can't let the Supreme God strengthen it."

"I knew you would make a wise decision." Minsala smiled proudly at Ivy. "Very good, our next target is the adamantium furnace."

"No, the matter in the forest is more urgent. Our top priority is to find a way to the ground as soon as possible. The Mithril Furnace has been underground for a thousand years. It won't matter if we let it wait a few more days. Besides, the information we have now is incomplete, and we don't have its exact location yet." Ivy nodded to Harsin. The druids in the forest are also a target to be fought for.

The adventure team is suitable for breaking into the ruling center of the Supreme God, but it is impossible to take over the entire Moonrise Tower without reinforcements. Even if the tiefling refugees and woodland druids can provide little help, Ivy will not despise it.

But there is no need to explain this part. Maintaining a lawful and shining personality will be of great help to Ivy's plan.

"Doom... Archmage?" Dawn asked cautiously. Ivy's powerful spellcasting ability had given this drow who wanted to become an archmage a great shock. "Can you help remove the petrification of all my guards? We are all homeless now... So, they will definitely listen to my advice and follow in the footsteps of Lady Minsara with me to build a great city in the Adamantine Furnace!"

To enhance his persuasiveness, Dawn immediately added, "Of course, after following you to find the adamantium furnace, Madam Minsara can lead us to stay there and help guard the furnace and produce weapons... If I heard correctly, we are about to face a war?"

All drow are political animals, regardless of gender, and they all have an inherent urge to climb up. Dawn seems to have begun to regard himself as an advisor to Minsara, and other drow elves who have escaped from the petrified state will undoubtedly enhance Minsara's strength. Perhaps it can also help his drow mistress gain more say in this weird team.

Dawn's idea really pleased Mingsara, but before she cleared the Mind Flayer tadpoles in her brain, she would never be able to stay away from the Astral Prism in the evil mind's hand.

After all, Mingsala never wanted to experience the feeling of losing mental freedom a second time.

“We do need some minions, DOOM.” Minsara looked at Ivy. “I owe you this.”

Yingxin rolled her eyes and said, "If you had considered our food supply, you wouldn't have said that. At least Shitou doesn't have to worry about eating and drinking."

"I can use the power of nature to produce berries, each of which can provide the nutrients needed to sustain life for a whole day." Harsin smiled friendly at Minsara, "We are on the right path, and we should gather more partners to fight against the Supreme God."

"I thought so too." Ivy began to pluck the strings of the lute. "Don't worry, our journey will continue soon."

Dawn had a high reputation in the team looking for the adamantium furnace. When Ivy rescued his companions from petrification one by one, Dawn convinced them without much effort.

The number of people in the adventure team has exceeded double digits, and they seem to be moving in a mighty manner in the Underdark.

Continuing forward in the direction indicated by Dawn, everyone soon discovered that more and more mushrooms began to appear in the surrounding environment.

"Most of these mushrooms are poisonous. Where did you lead us to?" Will did not trust these drow who joined the team temporarily.

"This is the only route we know to get away from the Underdark!" Dawn's expression was very innocent. "There weren't so many mushrooms here last time we came!"

"The spores in the air are getting denser and denser..." Minsala frowned and took a breath. The humid air was full of spores, and it looked like there was a layer of purple mist. "This reminds me of the mushroom people... Near their gathering places, you can always see all kinds of dangerous mushrooms. Sometimes we also enslave the mushroom people to cultivate poisonous mushrooms to make poisons. But rebellions always break out among the mushroom people... If there really is a village of mushroom people here, I suggest that it's better to burn it down!"

"Hmm..." Xie Nian covered her head and groaned, then shook her head. It seemed that just at that moment, she had completed a spiritual communication with a certain existence in the distance. "I heard a lot of singing... It was a chorus... The mushroom people here just suffered a tragic defeat... But they seemed to welcome us... Even though we brought so many drow..."

"You convinced the King of the Fungus People?" Minsala looked up at Xie Nian and smiled playfully. "Very good. It is unwise to clash with them in their territory, but almost all the Fungus People tribes can grow some delicious mushrooms. We can get supplies here and make a surprise attack plan. If we can control this Fungus People village, my upcoming city will have food security."

"How did the mushroom people do it?" Xie Mind asked curiously, "Is it some kind of mind link? Like the Mind Flayer?"

"I guess it's these spores in the air." Ivy stretched out his hand and waved it gently in front of him. The faintly visible purple spores formed a vortex in the air and then drifted everywhere. "They are the medium for the mushroom people to transmit mental information. Since they built the village on the road leading to the outside world, perhaps we can ask these local creatures for directions. After all, Dawn and the others' information has been outdated for too long."

"Okay. He used his singing to show me a path not far from here, next to a high ground, surrounded by a stream and a waterfall." Xie Nian muttered. She was still wondering why she was the only one who received the mental communication from the Fungus King. Could it be that there was not much left in her head, so she was more similar to the simpler fungus people?
No matter what the truth was, Xie Nian had indeed found the way to the mushroom village. Under Xie Nian's leadership, the team only moved forward for a few minutes before they heard the sound of water coming from the front.

Crossing a narrow crevasse, the team saw a large fortification made entirely of mushrooms.

"Torch Mushrooms and Demon Head Mushrooms? What a great combination." Minsala commented, "We should detonate them. Otherwise, if one person in the team makes a mistake, the explosion of the Torch Mushroom will cause the Demon Head Mushroom to spew out a cloud of highly toxic spores. Then the whole team will have to pay for the mistake of one person."

"Detonate?" Xie Nian asked curiously, "Mushrooms can explode?"

"There is more than one kind of mushroom that can explode, surface man." Minsala did not continue to explain, but took out a torch and lit it, "As long as you give the order, I will detonate this mushroom jungle, DOOM."

Although Minsara, as a drow, seems difficult to get along with, it is surprisingly reassuring to be her teammate. Although Rose's doctrine always makes her heart full of conspiracy and trickery, and she never hesitates to show it, at least so far, Minsara has demonstrated a good style as a soldier - obeying orders.

"You said the mushroom king communicates with you through music?" Ivy took out the lute, "Maybe I should play a song to tell it that a visitor is coming." Ivy's lute had just started playing when several mushroom people appeared on the high platform behind the mushroom jungle. These mushroom people looked about the same height as normal intelligent races, but their bodies were covered with mushrooms of various colors, and many spores were falling with their every move.

The one standing among several mushroom people was obviously the mushroom king who had communicated with the evil thoughts before. The purple-red mushroom on his head stretched out its cap to form an alien crown.

No one could see where the Fungus King's vocal organs were, but the Fungus King standing at the other end still sang a low melody. And in the Fungus King's singing, everyone heard his greetings.

"Although there are many drow in this team... I still welcome your arrival... Because I heard a song of friendship... Come to me, Flesh Walker, let us communicate with flesh and blood... Don't worry, these mushrooms will not explode when you pass by..."

"I would rather believe that the shark lizard can fly than believe the nonsense of the mushrooms!" Mingsala expressed her concern.

Ivy made a quick judgment: "Although I don't think the mushroom people will take the initiative to attack, necessary precautions are still necessary. We will split into two teams and pass through in batches. When you see me waving at you, the rest of you can pass through this mushroom jungle. Okay, who's coming with me now?"

Thanks to Ivy's good character, his companions who had fought side by side with him for several days were still willing to accompany him on the adventure.

So Xie Nian, Leizel, Kalak and Gale became the first teammates to follow Ivy through the mushroom jungle.

When his boots stepped on the humus where the mushrooms grew, Ivy clearly saw that the mushrooms that were ready to go shrank, like guards who were saluting proactively.

The teammates following Ivy were obviously relaxed, and in fact, they were right. The 16-person team easily passed through the dangerous mushroom jungle.

The village of the mushroom people is located on a natural high ground. An underground river flows below the village, forming a waterfall on the cliff with a very high drop outside the village. The whole village has almost no traces of human activities. All the buildings are made entirely of mushroom colonies. The huge umbrella cover is enough to protect against wind and rain, but in the underground world, these two weather conditions rarely occur, so the mushroom people rest in the open air.

Mushroom people can be seen everywhere on both sides of the road. They have clear division of labor. They are either taking care of mushrooms or fetching water from the stream that flows in front of the village.

Ivy saw gray dwarves with mushrooms growing all over their bodies. To be more precise, they were the young myconids, or spore slaves.

This spore organism continues its race by parasitizing other flesh-and-blood creatures and completely assimilating their tissues. Just as mushrooms on the surface use dead wood as a breeding ground, the myconids underground also use the dead flesh-and-blood races of other species as a breeding ground for reproduction.

The mushroom king walking in front led the team to a huge mushroom cap, which seemed to be his throne.

In addition to several corpses being sprayed with reproductive spores by the Fungus King, there was also an underground dwarf lying on the umbrella cover.

The mycon king turned to face the group and continued singing in a low melody: "Flesh Walkers... My circle needs help... From your singing, I can feel the friendship and kindness... They are very rare in this dark area..."

"I will show you a memory." The Myconid King looked at Ivy, "Let our minds become one, and you will know who the enemy is..."

Ivy had always kept his Occlumency skills working no matter which world he arrived in, and this time was no exception.

He had too many secrets in his head, and he didn't want to open up to a mushroom aggregate.

"I completely trust my companions," Ivy maintained a perfect smile, and then reached out to pull Xie Nian over. "You had a pleasant exchange before, so let's continue this fate. By the way, Xie Nian, don't forget that we need to find a way to the surface."

"What a pity, I want to listen to more of your melody..." The face of the Fungus King was made up entirely of the ever-changing fruiting bodies of mushrooms. Apart from a pair of small green eyes, he really lacked any expression that could identify his emotions. However, the emotions of the Fungus People could be conveyed through singing, and a music master like Ivy could easily understand what the Fungus King meant.

"Okay, okay." Xie Nian rolled his eyes and made an invitation gesture to the Fungus King, "... Has my brain turned into a reception room?"

The communication between the Fungus King and the evil thoughts went smoothly, because the song he used to convey the image turned into a mournful elegy with a sad rhythm.

"The gray dwarves by the lake have destroyed our young generation. I hope you can remove the corruption and destroy them! For this, I will reward you with magic and spiritual wealth!"

"Killing people for rewards, that's the best idea." Xie Nian was a little excited. It was obvious that the magic items hidden by the Fungus King in the village had impressed her.

"What about the way out?" Ivy asked.

"Wait... let me tell you..." The deep gnome on the umbrella stretched out her hand to the team. Her voice was extremely weak. "I'm from Baldur's Gate... I know how to get out... As long as you help me..."

(End of this chapter)