Salt Miners Lost To Mist and Mushrooms

Pinned to the Notice Board

An elegantly written on, yet darkened parchment reads:

Salt Miners Lost To Mist and Mushrooms

Fog exudes from strange fungi that appeared across the salt terraces overnight. Any who have ventured in are now perpetually lost; they are barely seen silhouettes aimlessly wandering the mists, retreating further into the unknown when called.

A 15,000 Gold Reward has been donated by Lady Crowell for any who can return the terraces to normal and rescue all persons.

Ways to approach

Whenever mists get involved it's always significantly creepier. Throw in some mushrooms and now you've got some real weird stuff going on. Where did these mushrooms come from? Are they something natural that was unearthed from mining the salt? Did the salt keep it dormant (a possible way for the players to fight it)? Or are they a magical creation by a malevolent entity trying to cause harm in the local area?

I'm really enjoying this poster because there are so many questions you can ask and each one takes you in a totally different direction. For example, what's up with the people in the mists? My immediate thought is fungus zombies like we see in 'The Last of Us', but if that goes into too much of a horror vibe (because yeah it's kinda gross), then my next thought is the mist is actually comprised of spores that put everyone within them into a controlled hallucinating state. Stepping in, the party find themselves waking up in an idyllic dream where they're encouraged to do certain tasks. In the real world, those tasks correlate to the mushrooms being fed, spread, and maintained.

Finally, who is this Lady Crowell and why is she offering up such a hefty reward? It could be a simple matter of her being a significant investor in the terraces, or perhaps she has a secret love that was taken into the mists and wants to make sure they're safe. Let the romantic sub-plot commence!