Improving Neverlight Grove (OotA Spoilers)

[Goober4473]

My players are headed for Neverlight Grove next, and I really like the setup here, but I feel like there could be more for the players to actually do, besides "kill a monster." I'd like to have it take just a little longer for the place to start to feel really dangerous. From there, I love the finale, but in the meantime, I'd like to have some tasks or activities for the party to take part in that feel more natural than a myconid with an exclamation mark over its head.

Perhaps something along the lines of each visitor, given the new rules on communion, must choose a circle to commune and stay with. This could lead to a few different perspectives on the situation in a way that's natural, but if the circles then require their guests to aid them in their daily labors, I wouldn't want said labors to be much more than a single skill check or short roleplaying situation, since the party would be split. Which still leaves me with not much for the players to do here.

Has anyone run this location, and if so, what worked/didn't work well? Did your players go fight the monsters the myconids are having trouble with? Did that feel like it fit the plot, or sort of out of place and video gamey?

[Falcon X]

I have not yet run it, but here are some ideas off the top of my head:
- Ultimately the fight will be Zuggtomoi vs. Juiblex. Why not give a foreshadowing of this. It can help the players get attached to the grove by defending it. Also, what if the players end up enabling Zuggtomoi? Perhaps there are slimes creeping into the Grove and you help irradicate them. Or the slimes are surrounding the area and you have to hunt them. Maybe, through rapport spores, the mycanoids are able to draw information from you that shows their future enemy.
Play around with that. There are lots of ideas.
- I'm not looking at the book, but I remember something in the section about Araumycos and the fetid wedding. There is some breach into the astral plane. I could be wrong. However,, if through rapport spores you could go Astral, there are any number of opportunities for a side quest. Possibly they are able to see the giant tear in the Faerzress that is allowing the demons to come easily from the abyss to the underdark.
- Have the players EARN the right to go into the inner sanctum by accomplishing things for a circle or three. Have them be promised power by the infected circles. Then, of course, they learn the truth once they get in there.

[mgshamster]

My players are nearing the end of it.

A few pointers:

I gave my players a mission unrelated to the quest for the Grove, and it helped them all keep an extra eye out for solving it. For our group, it was finding a source of demonic spores to use as a component for a magic weapon.

Since I had issues with player attendance practically this entire portion of the book, I used random encounters and the two side quests in the chapter to bide some time. One thing I wish I did better was use terrain in those combats. Even though they had fun fighting the Grick and the Shambling Mound, I think t would have been a lot more fun with terrain. Even with that, I had all life gone from the area of the shambling mound, to represent it's hunger (it ate everything but inorganic material). It was the one area of the grove not covered by fungus (it also helped show the danger of the mound to the colony).

Even though there was minimal player interaction, my players loved the guided tour(s). We ended up doing it twice; once by Stool and once by Sovereign Bassida. It was interesting trying to tell the same story and point out the same things from two completely different perspectives. Stool's was more from a child's perspective where he'd point out the fun things and how things grow and how the spore servents protect them and how everyone is happy with each other and loves their work. Bassida tells a story of industry and productivity, of this history of the grove how the grove came to be and how they acquired two sovereigns in harmony with each other, of defenses and scout missions and the importance of migration vs the stability of settlement, and how he's concerned with some of his colony members and that some areas have become forbidden to even him.

Coming up to the grove, I rolled for a random encounter every hour in game, which massively increased the chances of engaging an enemy, interesting NPC, or terrain feature. That really opened up the grove chapter and made it seem more important and larger.

I have very vivid descriptions of the grove itself, emphasizing on the beautiful colors and how different colors fluoresced from different areas on the walls and ceilings depending on the fungal growths that gave off the light. Every color (except purple, but I didn't point this out until later). The significance of purple was that was the color illuminating the entire Garden of Welcome and beyond (and once they saw that area I told them that they realized it was the only color not represented in the main colony). The color difference means nothing, but it was interesting watching them try to "solve" the puzzle. :)

Getting to the Garden of Welcome was interesting, too. There's only one visible entrance, a narrow path up a steep cliff topped by a living fungal palisade (see the chapter description of living zhurkwood for examples of these - I forget what they're called specifically). On the top of the oath are two guards forbidding entrance to any who cross. At the bottom of the path is the myconid (who is swayed by Zuggtmoy) who can give permission to pass. Our Druid turned into a spider and just climbed up the wall to the ceiling to bypass the whole thing. Our Bard started swaying and mimicking the myconids-under-influence and convinced that one guy to give his permission. It was clever enough that I allowed it.

Once in the Garden, the fight with the myconid/maggot thing was really good. I had them fight it plus 4 myconids and 4 spore servants. It's madness spores can make for a lot of fun in the battle, especially if you have the random madness take effect right away, mid combat.

Describing the oozing and puss filled sacks that hold bodies (which randomly explode) was a ton of fun. Try to describe those in agonizing detail and watch your players cringe. Then have them go off like random land mines. Watching them go off from a distance on the side of the mushroom tower makes for some great visuals as well. Especially once they realize that they need to get to the top of the mushroom and they only way up is to climb past those sacks. >:) I mean, they don't have to get to the top - not unless you place something up there that they need, like visiting Zuggtmoy or some special item/fungus that they need to collect for some other purpose.

And describe the wedding scene with extreme detail. When you're done, try to make sure they know that the fungus Zuggtmoy wants to marry is pretty far away. My players had the impression that it was the giant mushroom in Neverlight Grove, and I had to show them the map and point to the giant fugal colony on it and say, "no, it's this giant thing that's hundreds of miles wide."

Most of the fun with the grove is your descriptions of it and their interactions with the NPCs, rather than the quests involved. But there's still room for quests.

[Goober4473]

I have not yet run it, but here are some ideas off the top of my head:
- Ultimately the fight will be Zuggtomoi vs. Juiblex. Why not give a foreshadowing of this. It can help the players get attached to the grove by defending it. Also, what if the players end up enabling Zuggtomoi? Perhaps there are slimes creeping into the Grove and you help irradicate them. Or the slimes are surrounding the area and you have to hunt them. Maybe, through rapport spores, the mycanoids are able to draw information from you that shows their future enemy.
Play around with that. There are lots of ideas.

I really like this idea. It gives all of the myconids, corrupted or not, something they agree needs doing, giving the players a little more time before they discover the truth.


I have very vivid descriptions of the grove itself, emphasizing on the beautiful colors and how different colors fluoresced from different areas on the walls and ceilings depending on the fungal growths that gave off the light. Every color (except purple, but I didn't point this out until later). The significance of purple was that was the color illuminating the entire Garden of Welcome and beyond (and once they saw that area I told them that they realized it was the only color not represented in the main colony). The color difference means nothing, but it was interesting watching them try to "solve" the puzzle. :)

I'm definitely planning to continue to describe the environments vividly. I've been trying to play up the weird and alien nature of the Underdark, and this is a perfect opportunity to bump that into overdrive.


Once in the Garden, the fight with the myconid/maggot thing was really good. I had them fight it plus 4 myconids and 4 spore servants. It's madness spores can make for a lot of fun in the battle, especially if you have the random madness take effect right away, mid combat.

My plan is to also have Sarith go nuts here and have his head split open, as the book suggests.


Describing the oozing and puss filled sacks that hold bodies (which randomly explode) was a ton of fun. Try to describe those in agonizing detail and watch your players cringe. Then have them go off like random land mines. Watching them go off from a distance on the side of the mushroom tower makes for some great visuals as well. Especially once they realize that they need to get to the top of the mushroom and they only way up is to climb past those sacks. >:) I mean, they don't have to get to the top - not unless you place something up there that they need, like visiting Zuggtmoy or some special item/fungus that they need to collect for some other purpose.

I'll be sure to make this part especially horrifying if they progress this far. They might flee instead.

[Falcon X]

Thanks mghamster, that gives me some good fuel for my game too.

[mgshamster]

My plan is to also have Sarith go nuts here and have his head split open, as the book suggests.

My players actually cured Sarith before they got to the Grove. He became fanatically loyal to them for it (and the loyalty box was checked off on their companion cards).

Even with that, though, Sarith refused to go to the Garden of Welcome with them - he did not want to go anywhere near Zuggtmoy. (My players also knew before hand that Zuggtmoy was here - they came with the intent to destroy her. Now that they've seen what he minions can do, they're instead focusing on disrupting the wedding and finding a way to banish her).

[Falcon X]

Nope. Sarith was the first to die in mine. I let one of the players play Buppido, and Sarith was the first target.

[mgshamster]

Nope. Sarith was the first to die in mine. I let one of the players play Buppido, and Sarith was the first target.

That's pretty cool! Buppido only managed to kill one person before my players effectively halted the campaign and did a full and complete investigation to determine who did it. They were fortunate enough to be in a location where they didn't have to worry about the Drow chasing them.

Once they accounted for everyone except Buppido, they stopped trying to see if he did it and just assumed. They tied him up the rest of the adventure until they got to Gracklstugh. Right before they got there, they had another interesting conversation with him and decided to execute him for his crimes. They beheaded him with the judgement of the law (one player is a city guard of Neverwinter) and judgement of Helm (another player is a cleric of Helm).

In addition to curing Sarith, they also cured the twins of their lycanthropy. I'm not sure if they're going to go to Blingdinghelm, but the twins are no longer afraid of going there.

[Goober4473]

We're partway through this now. The players were a little unnerved by the whole "celebration" thing, and suspected Zuggtmoy, since they had already encountered one demon lord, and this is fungus ville, but they happily went out to kill some oozes that were threatening an offshoot of Yggmorgus. I got to have a little fake-out there when one of the oozes, an ochre jelly named Jelly Gut (not quite Jelly Belly), psychically rambled about Juiblex.

When they got back, Basidia took them aside and told them its fears about Phylo and the new order being established. They sent a familiar up to the Garden with the warlock's long-range sensory connection, and saw the heads in the ground, plus I had the mound the Circle of Masters meet around be partially a pile of meat and bones. Basidia went to warn its loyal circles about the danger, and prepare to evacuate if necessary.

Next they went to go see Phylo, and got out of it using psychic powers that the Circle of Masters were experimenting on new ways to use their spore servant spores, and that they were celebrating the wedding of Zuggtmoy and her betrothed. Then they fought and killed Phylo, but not before Sarith's head popped open.

They plan to go tell Basidia what happened next. I'm thinking I'll have Basidia be worried about Yggmorgus being corrupted, and ask the players to try and save it, if they don't seem like they're planning to stick around any longer. I'd like to use the creepy stuff and fake wedding and everything if possible. Otherwise, I'll probably have Yestabrod chase them so we can at least get that fight in.

Assuming the non-corrupt myconids evacuate, where are some interesting places for them to run to? Has anyone had the friendly myconids flee with the party?

[mgshamster]

I'd caution having them save Yggmorus, as that means facing Zuggtmoy, which can get them killed. However, it's also not an unreasonable request from the perspective of the Sovereign, it's only an issue from a meta-game/adventure design view point. If the players understand that saving Yggmorus is a long term goal, then it could work really well.

I had Bassida decide to take whoever wasn't currupt and leave the entire colony, becoming a migrating fungal group again, rather than a stationary colony. He told the PCs that of Neverlight Grove ever becomes safe again, he may consider returning. If his new group happens to go the same direction as the PCs, then that could be construed as "fleeing with the PCs" until they part ways at some point in the future.

One really good place for them to settle - if they were to become a stationary colony again, would be in Gracklstugh, in the Whorlstone Tunnels. There's quite a bit of fungal growth down there and it's relatively hidden - even if it is right underneath the dwarven city. My players were also working with the remnants of the Grey Ghosts to turn them into a non-evil slave rescuing operation; if yours do anything similar they could work with Bassida and the new established colony there to make that happen.

[Falcon X]

Assuming you are, in fact, going to have them flee, here are a few thoughts:
- Just some random location. In the Drizzt book, Exile, there was a group just chilling out somewhere between Menzoberranzan and Blingdenstone.
- Blingdenstone. In my game Blingdenstone is going to get a few refugees after the battle. (Of course, in my game the battle will be against a raiding party of Orcus, because it fits character backstories and whatnot.)
- To Araumycos. Have them throw out "We are going to the father fungus". or something like that.
- A lower, yet to be reclaimed portion of Gauntlgrym.
- Somewhere in the lowerdark. They could stumble upon the Deep Imaskari or some other hidden race.
- Phlumphs. Could go to Phlumph habitation (which won't be far from a psionic race habitation)

[MintyNinja]

Just finished with Sloobludop and have only 3 NPCs left: Ront, Eldeth, and Jimjar. Has anyone else had problems corralling your PCs to go to the "next" town once the NPCs advocating for it are dead? I think Stool will be replaced by Rumpadump, but I'm not so sure my PCs will bite that hook.

[mgshamster]

Just finished with Sloobludop and have only 3 NPCs left: Ront, Eldeth, and Jimjar. Has anyone else had problems corralling your PCs to go to the "next" town once the NPCs advocating for it are dead? I think Stool will be replaced by Rumpadump, but I'm not so sure my PCs will bite that hook.

Give them a McGuffen from another town if you really want them to go there, otherwise don't worry about it. You can fill in the levels with some of the optional side quests in chapter 3, or even take portions of the other towns and move them to random locations as they try to escape.

Baring that, let them go to the surface early and give an extra adventure up there before they get summoned to see the Dwarven King.

They don't have to experience every aspect of the book in a single run of the campaign. :) That's one thing I like about this campaign; it'll very different the next time I run through it.

[Goober4473]

I'd caution having them save Yggmorus, as that means facing Zuggtmoy, which can get them killed. However, it's also not an unreasonable request from the perspective of the Sovereign, it's only an issue from a meta-game/adventure design view point. If the players understand that saving Yggmorus is a long term goal, then it could work really well.

My idea is basically to have Basidia be like, "please find out if you can stop this before we just cut and run." Once the party is pretty sure they can't stop it, they'll be out of there.


Just finished with Sloobludop and have only 3 NPCs left: Ront, Eldeth, and Jimjar. Has anyone else had problems corralling your PCs to go to the "next" town once the NPCs advocating for it are dead? I think Stool will be replaced by Rumpadump, but I'm not so sure my PCs will bite that hook.

You could have Jumjar suggest Gracklstugh. It's closer and not right next to the drow capital, so he could have reason to think it's a better bet right now. From there, Rumpadump could suggest Neverlight.

I made an entire companion system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?459858-NPC-Companion-System-Idea) to handle having all these NPCs, so none of them died early on. The system makes them less fragile, but also makes them less annoying to deal with, so killing them off isn't so necessary.

[mgshamster]

My idea is basically to have Basidia be like, "please find out if you can stop this before we just cut and run." Once the party is pretty sure they can't stop it, they'll be out of there.

That's pretty much what I did. In my case, he asked them to investigate to see if it was something he should be concerned about. When they reported back the dangers, he left the grove with his people and became nomadic again.