To Topsy and Turvy - That's one of the reasons why we wanted to talk to them; in hopes of finding you a home. It's been great traveling with you, and you're welcome to come back with us anytime.
At the inn - Galenus purchases some cigars and a mug of ale. Ah. Finally, he says, blowing out a puff of smoke. It's been too long.
After at least two mugs and one cigar, he pulls out his violin and starts repairing it from their travels. Waxing the bow, polishing the wood - the travels have been rough. Once satisfied, he lights another cigar and starts playing.
Once Galinndan realises the wins are looking to leave, he looks at them.
"Thank you Topsy and Turvy both. I wish you the best of luck living with Chipgrin and the others."
Derendil smiles broadly, showing bizarre, large teeth. "Ah yes... The mean... nothing like it..."
Galinndan turns to look at Derendil.
"So Derendil, tell me more of your home, if you would."
Irdril nods to the two..
"I can understand that completely.. I long to get back to the surface and reunite with what little I have left. Good luck to you all and perhaps we will cross paths again some day!"
Irdril at a loss of an instrument will join in with Galenus and attempt a tune of yore.. Something that reminds her of sunny days on the surface.. She will enjoy a glass of wine as well..
Irdril sings a lovely song of her past life on the surface. The dwarf shield maiden nods to the music and sips her ale then walks over to Odak and Zoltan. "So, where do you two hail from?" she asks.
Eldeth smiles as she remembers her home. "I hail from the Kingdom of Gauntlgrym in the North. King Bruenor Battlehammer seized it back from the Drow some years ago. The vaults and the great forge there... are... breathtaking." She leans back in reverie.
For the first part of the evening, Odak has been solitary keeping to himself. Still obviously uncomfortable to be surrounded by so many people. It takes some doing but the barmaid eventually gets through his defenses and gets him to order a drink. A few of those go down and now Odak can be found standing near some of his companions quietly listening to their conversation.
As the evening wears on Odak finds himself at the table of dwarves. He has had a significant amount of drinks and is feeling fairly sociable. He comes up behind Zoltan and drapes his arm over his shoulder and leans into the table ”Hello! It’s nice to be hearing some words I be knowin with me own ears.“ he looks around with bleary eyes at each of the dwarves for a moment settling in the shield maiden. ”Gauntlegrim eh? Sounds familiar but just can’t seem to place it... Hard fer me to be rememberin’ anything these days. “ he taps the large scar on his for head with the worn knuckle of a close fist. ”Good thing ole Zoltan showed up when “e did. I’d be hider food or worse by now if not. Got lost and couldn’t find me way home.” he finishes by looking over at Galenus and nods his head affirmatively. ”You too. Seem familiar but..” his bidding head shifts from a nod to a shake. ”Nope, nothin.”
Eldeth claps Odak on the shoulder and assures him "If we ever get to Gauntlgrym, you'll never forget it. That is my promise as a dwarf."
The evening grows late, as shown by your fatigue since there is no sun to guide you. Eventually, you all head to bed.
You wake refreshed in the morning, prepared to deal with your difficult task.
After re-supplying yourselves and resting, you head toward the outskirts of Blingdenstone, ready to scout the Pudding King. After winding through the tunnels for a while, you crouch in a dark tunnel that takes a corner. From around the corner, you hear wet slipping and squishing sounds, many of them.
Galinndan clutches his paired hammers and tries to find cover.
What do you see? Galenus whispers.
Irdril whispers.. "That' sounds like a lot of trouble. I would think it wise to avoid as many of them as possible.."
Galinndan heads around the corner and to find a large cavern. The walls of this great cavern are covered in slime — dripping, sickening green slime. Echoes of dripping water also fill the cave, in the center of which a large spherical structure is held up off the floor by stone pillars. Around these pillars crawl dozens of living oozes, heaving forward while reaching out with grasping pseudopods. The sphere’s surface, like the cave walls, is covered with slime. Black slime swirls with yellow and gray slime in a disgusting soup, the unearthly patterns in the movements of the slime straining your eyes and tugging at your mind. A disembodied voice fills the cave. “What’s this, what’s this? Visitors? Now? Not yet! We’re not ready! Go away, pests! I will call upon thee and all of Blingdenstone to announce our glad tidings of the Faceless Lord to come at the proper time! Begone!”
Galinndan quietly returns.
Then, he explains what he witnessed.
"I think words will only carry us so far. But we can try, if only to seek an edge for conflict to come."
You think we can survive going through there? Awful lot of them.
"In truth, I think it is possible but uncertain. We could seek another route."
We should seek a giant alchemical bomb, and blast the entire room! Kaboom! Haha! Wouldn't that be great? Galenus says, getting perhaps just a tad too loud in his excitement.
"Yea this girl isn't going in there.. We should look for another way. And I doubt someone dealing with a demon lord can be bargained with."
”At least it’s not talkin in me head.” Odak mumbles as his skin turns to stoney armor. Along for the ride, he merely waits for the other to lead on while keeping a fire bolt dancing on his finger tips.
We should go back and warn the city council of this. Perhaps they have some ideas and better support for dealing with oozes.
"That makes sense, Galenus. Let us withdraw for now."
Galinndan is not keen to depart but even he knows a hard fight.
You head back to Blingdenstone and assemble the two factions represented by the Diggermattocks and Chipgrin before you. Chipgrin nods knowingly as you come to report while Ms. Diggermattock awaits your news nervously. Mr. Diggermattock crosses his arms and looks on skeptically.
Galinndan speaks up.
"There are many oozes. Dozens. A large sphere held by pillars. We request assistance to help face the oozes and destroy the pillars."
+5 to check
"Unless someone knows a back way into his lair.. There are just to many for us to face alone.."
Chipgrin nods as Galinndan speaks and agrees immediately. "What'd I tell you? Tons of trouble there. We'll help fight, as long as we're guaranteed a place in Blingdenstone after the trouble." Senni looks open to this but Dorbo crosses his arms even more firmly, if such a thing is possible. "We don't want you spreading your disease in our town!" Senni places a calming hand on Dorbo's arm. "Dorbo, this is our chance for peace on two fronts. We will take it." Dorbo looks very reluctant but, swayed by Gallindan's speech, agrees. "Fine. We'll fight alongside the wererats. But we need a plan." The council then begins discussing various options with you.
The Stoneheart Enclave in Blingdenstone has earth elementals that could help but they would need you to help them with a little insanity problem first.
Kazook Pickshine could make a special oil to protect armor and weapons from ooze acid but he needs specific fungal ingredients from Neverlight Grove.
There are ghosts and burrow warden spirits who live in Blingdenstone as fairly well-accepted citizens. Burrow Warden Jadger leads them. You might be able to convince him to help, but he probably would need some help from you first.
I do not want to go back to Neverlight Grove. Let's take of things closer to home, first, and then if we absolutely need to we might go back. I'm partial to those earth elementals - those will come in handy.
"I am not keen to return to the Grove either, but we need every edge we can gather. If it means the difference between life and death, we return. But first, I suggest that we tackle the earth elemental matter first, then the spirits."
Ok. That sounds good. Let's do the elements. Who knows where these things are?
You quickly determine that you need to head to Stoneheart Quarry, the headquarters of Stoneheart Enclave. The enclave is in charge of summoning earth elementals to aid in the work and defense of Blingdenstone. Upon arriving there, your inquiries bring you to the attention of a priest, Gurnik Tapfinger, and an earth elemental wrangler, Nomi Pathshutter. Pathshutter nods eagerly when you explain your desire to help with the earth elementals. "Fantastic! Perhaps you could look for Entemoch's Boon? Legend says it was a powerful summoning circle used in the early days of Blingdenstone. It would greatly improve our odds of victory." But the priest, Gurnik Tapfinger shakes his head gravely. "Any elemental we summoned would be as much of a liability as an asset as long as Ogremoch's Bane threatens them. It is an extraplanar creature that drives our elementals insane. Perhaps if we knew more about it we could protect our elementals from its influence." Pathshutter nods thoughtfully. "Yes that could be very helpful. Ogrebmoch's Bane resides in the southeast corner of the old abandoned city. If you could retrieve part of an insane elemental for me or give me any more information about it, that would help greatly."
"An how do ye capture a piece of elemental, wit' a bottle then?" Cyrus asks.
Gurnik shakes his head. "These are earth elementals. Shards of rocks will remain after you defeat them."
"Then it can be done. Let us hunt these deranged elementals."
It'll be easy! Nothing we can't handle! Galenus says, clearly overconfident in himself and the group.
Your business concluded, you leave Stoneheart Quarry behind, the picks of Svirfneblin and groaning sighs of the working earth elementals fading out. Occasionally, you see a deep gnome leading an earth elemental carrying a heavy load through the passages of Blingdenstone. You head toward the southeast portion of Blingdenstone, where Ogremoch's Bane is known to be active. Here, you find no earth elementals working for the deep gnomes as they are kept out of this city because of the risk posed by Ogremoch's Bane. You walk through a cultivation area where racks of fungi are grown for food into a well-guarded cavern. Eight deep gnomes and four cave badgers guard a locked entrance.
Their captain, a scarred deep gnome, walks forward and introduces himself. " Sark Axebarrel. Heard Stoneheart Enclave wanted you to check things out in the Rockblight. Careful. Heard reports of something nasty out there. Some sort of woman-thing turns people into stone. If you can confirm this, I can reward you. Reward you even better if you can prove that you've dealt with the problem." He nods gruffly. "Anyhow. You ready to head to your death?" He gestures to the heavy, adamantine door which his guards are beginning to open, releasing a series of complex locks on the door.
Galinndan thinks briefly upon Axebarrel's words before replying.
"If we encounter such a being, we likely will have to deal with it in order to survive. As for the door, yes."
Strangely, Odak seems excited to move out. The prospect of being turned to stone doesn’t seem to phase him at all. He looks back to the others and waves everyone forward while smiling widely.
Galinndan believes he recognizes the description as matching a medusa, a creature that can turn people within 30 feet into stone if they look upon her. He does believe that reflective surfaces could be useful in fighting such a monster.