"If it's meant for a wizard or magic user then I'd be happy for you to have it. I understand that magical things like this require one to spend some time with them before their powers are revealed. Would you like to examine this jade?"

"Again, not really good with that stuff, but I am always happy to look at shiny things." Woe says with a smile. She stops at a small clearing in the forest and holds the gem up to her eyes. When the sun catches it there is a shimmer to it, as if deep inside there are weaves of magic trapped within. Woe has seen something similar before.

"There is a spell trapped inside. You can release that magic if you wish to..." Then she turns the stone again. This time closing her eyes, her mind reaching out towards the stone. Slowly, the parameters of the spell populate her mind.

Then Woe opens her eyes again: "This is a Jade Spell Gem containing Banishing Smite, a high and very difficult spell! It imbues your melee weapon with extra damage. A LOT of extra damage for a whole minute." She turns the stone again. "This is extraordinary. Just extraordinary!" Then she hands it back to Koll's open hand and closes his fingers over it. "Unfortunately, this spell can only be cast by a Paladin. But once it is used, it can be filled with another spell from any school."

It doesn't take long before the eeriness of the jungle is felt by those travelling through it. The lack of life and the quiet of the jungle keeps everyone on edge. Perrin and Singe continue following the modron through the jungle. After about an hour of the quiet eeriness, they pass a massive ruin. The construction of the object looks like it used to be of masterful construction. Almost two-hundred feet tall, this marble obelisk looks like it used to jut into the sky before falling centuries ago. It looks as though there's material missing from the obelisk at various locations, leaving just the husk of ruined marble. it continues for nearly a mile, parts of it still high in the sky, before it ends in a small clearing. 

The clearing looks as though it was intentionally covered, as massive trees are tied together to block out direct sunlight. In the center of the clearing is what appears to be a building. Perrin's sword hums, propelling intense feelings of doom to Perrin's thoughts. The building is made of iron with copper runes all about it that glow with the occasional spark. The clearing itself is populated with hundreds of modrons. Two of those giant elephant creatures sit on their haunches, a few modrons checking them for repairs. There's another seven of the gorilla constructs, one of them getting their glass emptied to what appears to be a chute that goes underground. At the flying machine's arrival, all of the modrons stop as if frozen in time. 

A few seconds later they are active again, lining up in front of the building and staring at the flying machine. Their modron escort joins those modrons, standing in front of them. Each modron stares at the machine and everyone around it with their bloodshot eyes, eerily silent. 

As Shanolia, Koll, and Woe follow the trail under Dapple's lead, he's able to cut through areas and regain the trail to pick up on time. They make short work of the jungle travel, but are hampered when Dapple stumbles into an odd scene. In front of them, a small city of tiny creatures are harvesting the plants in the jungle and trimming the lower plants to prevent overgrowth. There are thousands of them. All of them small black creatures with an expressionless white mask-like face. Dapple has seen these creatures before in the jungles of Chult, but he has never seen them represented by such a population. Normally they're curious about humanoids as they traverse the jungle, but these chwinga continue their labor without giving the group a second glance. 

Singe looks at the assembled modrons, "Hello everyone, we are here to investigate and learn about portal mechanics and gnomish culture, we recently received a notice to leave this island but we are here to appeal said ruling and come to a peaceful conclusion. Is there a central authority we should speak to?"

Grasalfan stops the flying machine and lowers the rear hatch. He catches the tail end of Singe's words, and when the modrons respond everyone that can hear them start to feel the same sense of dread that Perrin did. 

"We," one modrons says.
"Can," another says.
"Not," a third says.
"Permit"
"Unless"
"Help"
"Is"
"Provided." 

The building pulses once, and the modrons look relieved for a moment until the pulse ends, they then stand rigid again. 

"Provide"
"Help"
"Or"
"Accept"
"Consequences"
"For"
"Tresspassing."

Singe nods, "What form will this help take?"

One of the mechanical gorilla's leaps forward, its arm and half of its back completely missing. You see the signs of rust all about it, and it stumbles and falls after performing the leap. 

"Clear"
"Our"
"Mines."

Singe raises an eyebrow, "What's in the mines?"

"We"
"Do"
"Not"
"Know," the modrons respond. 

There's another pulse from the building, the modrons relaxing again before standing rigid. 

"Give"
"Us"
"Your"
"Answer"

Grasalfan finds his feet again and makes his way over to Singe. "Mebbe this wasn't the best idear," he whispers. 

Singe nods, "If you will allow us a moment to deliberate?" The modrons don't respond, it appears to be a yes. Singe skirts to the back of the plane, looking at Lera, Zamar, and Perrin. "So?"

Working to catch up from behind, Dapple leads his team through the jungle in hot pursuit. At the worksite, he pauses to let the others catch up. "We're doing well, I think. As far as i can tell, we're only about 15 minutes behind them now. This," he pauses and gestures at the horde of creatures working up ahead, "It's not right.  These are good little beings, and I've seen them in their normal state back in Chult. This isn't the way they act. Something is controlling them. Enslaving them. If it is these modron things... it needs to be stopped." He growls, low and rumbling in his chest. Dapple is not pleased. It's a bit scary - you haven't seen this side of him yet.

Grasalfan follows Singe back as well, worrying his hands together. "The portal is sentient," he says. "It's farken sentient!"

When Perrin sees Grasalfan again he’ll say “Next time I tell you not to put an unconscious little girls life in danger. Listen.” He’ll then turn to the others, obviously angry and Grasalfan “Not only is it sentient it’s evil. I don’t like this place. I don’t like the modrons being under its control. Frank really doesn’t like them. I want to know more about the gnome. And if Frank has his way we’d be chopping them up to bits.”

Grasalfan nods to Perrin, "Ye were right, lad. I'm sorry. But this was the whole reason for us being here! If we didn't follow, we'd have lost any chance of ever finding out what's going on here. I couldn't allow it... I couldn't..."

Singe looks at the gnome, “You are the employer. If you want us to go down and clear out the mines, then we do so.”

“We’d have found out eventually. I wasn’t planning on not going. I was planning on going with full strength. Half of our team isn’t here, we have an unconscious Polly, and if we don’t listen to them they’ll slaughter us and we won’t even stand a chance in a fight against them right now.” Perrin yells back at him.

"We could leave..." Grasalfan suggests. "The flying machine might be able to make it out. Do ye think yer friends are back on the beach still?"

“I left them a note to follow us. They’re probably on their way here now. Hoping that the explosion I heard was them blowing up the boat and not them getting blown up.” Perrin tells him(edited)

Grasalfan worries his hands again, "The gnome we met was made with gnommish flesh.... I think the portal is harvesting everything it can from this island and those that visit."

“But for what. I really wish the others were here. They’re the sneakiest and fastest. Maybe they could have snuck in and gathered more info while we distracted the modrons.” Perrin says.

Lera watched the back and forth mutely, wondering what the leaders of the group would decide. Sparks crackled between her fingertips; she could sense the storm brewing. The hot-headed teen was anxious to blow off some steam in a fight, and she hoped that she would get the chance to burn some of those modrons soon.

You all hear the voice of Polly as she sits up, "What happened?" She asks.

"Polly," Singe walks into the airship, "How are you feeling?"

Polly turns her head to look at Singe and flinches. "My head hurts," she groans. "And I'm tired. Really tired. What happened?"

"You collapsed from exhaustion. You've been learning and practicing too much magic all at once. We're going to talk about that in a little bit but for now, no more magic practice, yes?" Singe looks very concerned for the girl.

"O-okay," Polly replied, sadly. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to be like you."

Singe sighs, "We'll talk about that later." He turns to Grasalfan, "How long do you need to study the portal?"

"The situation is much more dangerous than I imagined," he responds. "I thought the Scarlet Dawn would be enough, but... now I'm not sure." He looks at Polly from the hatch, "We cannae take this girl into the mines..."

Singe nods, "But let's say there was nothing here, just the portal. How long would you need or want?"

"Hours... days..." He responds, "Weeks? It depends on whats in that building."

"I... I promise I won't do anymore magic," Polly said weakly. "I'll stay right beside you and do everything you tell me. I promise! Please don't leave me alone!"

"We won't leave you, Little One. Be at ease." Zamar soothes Polly, "And nobody is telling you not to do magic ever again. Just not for a few days at least. We need to understand why the magic tired you out so much."

Singe nods, "How about in exchange for two tendays of free range of the island, we clear out the mines?"

"That would give Grasalfan ample time to study. It may also give us a chance to figure out how to stop the portal. This Lyre has added a few potent tricks to my repertoire." Zamar remarks.

Singe strolls back around to the line of modrons, "We will clear out the mines if we can be assured free range of the island for twenty days as well as at least two informational discussions with you or another trusted body. Any items of interest we would like to keep will be negotiated on a case by case basis."

 Singe got a natural 20 on a persuasion check against the modrons.

"Acceptable," a modron says. There's a pulse of energy from the building and all of the modrons part. The massive double doors of the building slowly open, revealing a copper-lined hallway. 

"Go"
"Now," the modrons say. Two of them break off from the pack and approach the door. They look your way for the group to follow. 

Singe shakes his head, "Half of us are not present, without them, we are ineffective. In no more than a half hour, we will enter."

There's silence at Singe's refusal. The modrons blink in unison and Singe feels something growing at the back of his mind. It's as if something is trying to split it open and crawl inside. It's a wrenching, skull-splitting pain and it causes him to fall to his knees. His mouth opens as if to scream, but no voice escapes. His ears ring for what feels like eternity, but in reality is only a few brief seconds. Then suddenly, the pain is gone. (5 psychic damage)

"Acceptable," a modron says. The doors begin to close. 

Singe gets to his feet and walks back to the airship. "So, the modrons tried to subvert my self control, don't worry, they failed. But we have two tenday to explore the island but first we must clear the mines in a half an hour. Oh, if anyone can spare some healing power, I would greatly appreciate that; whatever they were trying left a nasty headache." Singe rubs his temples, and looks towards Polly, "How are you doing? Would you be up for dungeon delving soon? It's fine to say no."