Quickly rushing to the boy's aid Doric used his psychic powers to pull the kid out of the water. Skia and Nyssa came to his aid and began peeling the mushrooms off the boy's face. It looked like they were ingraining themselves into his skin. So they could only get a little bit removed before they saw damage was being done.
"What is happening to him?" Skia asked worried that he might be too far gone.
"We need to get him to the cleric as soon as we can" Nyssa spoke quickly, she did not have anything on her to help with this condition. She did not know enough about the mushrooms to defeat this infection.
"Let's get back quickly but carefully. If we get caught off guard now, we are going to be stuck." Doric commanded as they started heading back to the city.
A long and agonizing half an hour passed as they made their way to the city, feeding healing potions slowly to the kid to keep his breathing somewhat even. The potions were running low and they were still about half an hour away.
Skia stopped them after their last potion feeding and quieted them. "There's more of them than before. Looks like they are gathering for something."
"Or looking for something…" Nyssa whispered. Worried that the boy might be a beacon for the mushrooms to locate them.
Doric on the other hand was preparing himself to fight. There were 5 of the mushrooms looking around. All of them looked like simple ones nothing like the sniper they took out earlier. If he needed to he felt he could take them on.
"If we surprise them we can take them out quietly and keep moving," Doric responded as he considered what to use to take them out. He only had his psychic powers but it should be enough.
"I agree, we can't keep letting them gather like that. If they kept that up we would probably see a problem like the one we came into when we arrived." Nyssa nodded and pulled out a green potion. She was gauging the distance and strength needed to lob the potion in a good spot to get them all.
Skia felt a little nervous as she thought about combat once again but she nodded. "I think-"
Before she could finish off her sentence the young boy started screaming. It was a scream of pain mixed with something else. Like his airways were slightly blocked and creating an ominous vibration.
The trio looked at the boy who was convulsing now. They tried holding him down. They wanted to cover his mouth but were worried they might suffocate him to death.
Doric noticed the mushrooms they were looking at were also screeching in their ominous tone. They were harmonizing with the boy. He knew that he would have to act fast if they were going to get out of this safely.
Without another moment he shot forward and used his psychic powers to rip off a metal sheet from a roof nearby and slice through the mushrooms with it. It took every bit of strength he had to rip the sheet off but once he did it was light enough to swing around like an awkward blade.
Two of the 5 mushrooms were sliced cleanly in half. Seeing the attack start Nyssa did not miss a beat she chucked her acid potion at the remaining three. Landing squarely on the face of one of them it began to quickly dissolve the mushroom. There were two left.
Skia wanted to react but she was too busy trying to keep the kid from bashing his head against the concrete floor. "Calm down little one, We are almost home. Please calm down!"
The remaining mushrooms charged towards Doric and looked like they were about to slam into him. He braced for impact using his psychic powers to hold himself still. When they got to him instead of hitting him they swerved around him and started going past him towards Skia and the kid.
"They are going after the boy, Protect him!" Doric yelled out as he grabbed one of them and began pulling. It was enough strength to hold one back but the last one was still going full speed towards the two defenseless people.
Nyssa was scrambling to grab another acid potion but with how close the creature was to Skia and the boy she was not confident that she was going to be able to hit it and not them. "I can't get to it! Skia watch out!"
Skia looked at the mushroom and panicked for a moment She tried making herself and the boy invisible to the mushroom and move out of the way. It seemed to work to protect her from the assault but only for a moment. The boy was still screaming and convulsing and it caused her to break concentration.
Doric threw the mushroom he was holding into a wall and in the same motion whirled the sheet into it finishing it off. He could only work so fast though. Nyssa seemed to be struggling to decide what to do. She pulled out a dagger and prepared to charge the creature.
"Nyssa, no!" Doric cried out as he shot forward. To intercept them both. The mushroom ignored Nyssa and continued charging towards Skia and the boy.
Not knowing what else to do Skia did the only thing she could think of. She prepared herself for a spell she had not mastered yet. One that her teacher had told her not to do unless she was in a safe environment and could keep practicing it.
She closed her eyes as the mushroom proceeded to get closer. Nyssa and Doric were too far away. Skia was all on her own. She took a deep breath in and focused her mind on a single point. Holding the boy tight she exhaled slowly.
Everything went silent and the world was black and white. She looked around to see her friends moving in slow motion towards her. The mushroom creature was inches away from her but she did not flinch.
She was in the shadow plane.