Aoko placed the bottle-ship in her left palm, softly chanting a spell. The ship floated into the air and, with a flash of magical light, quickly grew larger.
Soon, a wooden sailing ship big enough for dozens stood before them.
Though it looked old-fashioned, its interior was full of magical enchantments. Most of the ship's functions required no crew; as long as a spellcaster input magic and set the direction, it would sail itself.
Aoko's inspiration for this ship came from a book on magical vessels she read in Neverwinter's Arcanist Quarter. Though she couldn't yet make a plane-hopping ship, a magical sailboat for water travel was easy enough.
The ship was crafted from a detailed model, enlarged by a major magic. If Aoko herself didn't maintain the spell, it would soon shrink back to its original size.
After boarding, Aoko stayed in the captain's cabin to charge the ship and use a crystal ball to monitor the surroundings and set their course. The others kept watch on deck for dangers, including aquatic monsters or Underdark raiders.
Of all the Underdark creatures, Aoko was least eager to meet the aboleth—the ultimate slavers.
Aboleths' mental powers were disgusting to deal with. Though Aoko was skilled in enchantment, her own mental defenses were only average—no match for these mind-control masters.
Luckily, they had good fortune. Sailing the underground lake for nearly six hours, they encountered nothing as dangerous as an aboleth—just two groups of duergar pirates, easily dispatched.
"Why didn't those duergar come over and attack us...?" Holga looked suspiciously at the residents of a duergar port village. "Aren't they in league with those pirates?"
"Human bandits rob human merchants, too," Edgin shrugged, being the first ashore. "They just happen to be the same race—doesn't mean they're united."
"Those duergar pirates probably came from other lakeside villages," Xenk said, scanning with Divine Sense. "So the villages are rivals, preying on each other."
"What do we do now?" Doric asked. "We can't resupply in a duergar village, can we?"
"I know a place," Aoko said, shrinking the ship back into the bottle. "We'll head north for a while and rest there for the night. Tomorrow, we'll set out for the Arcane Tower."
The six set off through the duergar village. Though not many fighters were present, the villagers' evil natures meant most eyed them with ill intent.
If not for the gleaming adamantine gear and weapons of Holga and Xenk, some greedy fool might have tried to make a fortune off them.
"Damn! I thought we'd have to fight those stunted duergar in the village," Holga breathed a sigh of relief after leaving. "The way they looked at us, it's like they were weighing how much our meat would fetch!"
"That's why, in the Underdark, strength and judgment are the keys to survival," Aoko said. "Enough strength keeps you from being bullied, and enough judgment keeps you from provoking the wrong enemy."
"By the way, where are we resting tonight?" Edgin asked.
"Have you heard of myconids?" Aoko replied.
"Those fungus folk?" Doric said. "I saw one deep in Neverwinter Forest once, but we didn't interact. I thought it was just some monster."
"Myconids are a strange fungal race," Aoko explained. "They're mostly peaceful and good-natured, but have a very odd way of reproducing."
"How odd?" Edgin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"They plant spores in humanoid corpses," Aoko said, "and use the body's nutrients to grow a new myconid."
"God, and you say they're good-aligned?" Simon gulped. "That's not very nice!"
"It's just a different perspective," Aoko said with a shrug. "They can reproduce with just spores, but it's slower. They also intentionally limit their population."
"Why?" Simon asked, puzzled. "Isn't more population better?"
"Of course not," Aoko replied. "Besides the resource limits of the Underdark, myconids can't live far from the fungal forest. Even they don't know why. So a myconid village never has that many."
"Are you sure they won't do anything weird to us?" Edgin asked, a bit worried.
"I don't think so," Xenk said. "I've worked with myconids before—they're good guys, as long as you don't attack them."
…
After more than an hour's trek, Aoko's team entered a spore-filled fungus forest.
They occasionally felt they were being watched, but sensed no malice—a rare thing in the Underdark.
"Careful!" Aoko pulled Doric back. "Don't go near those orange-glowing mushrooms—they explode!"
Doric froze, then carefully skirted the pulsating mushroom patch.
"We're almost there," Aoko checked her notebook. "This myconid village is fairly well-known. There should even be traders from other races there."