Every new answer from this poor woman raised several new questions! "Wait, newcomers? Do you mean shadovar? You know, pale humans, black eyes, black hair - did the Queen enthrall them?!" That was troublesome. Irmiel gave Sistri a helpless look. "We definitely do not want to go there... Or anywhere around here too. You know, I am still not fully convinced it is she who is in charge. Drow bragged how they do not serve shadovar, yet, went where they were sent and were very worried about shadovar's attack. That beast-queen is boasting how she gives the orders, yet, is also afraid of the attack." She shook her head. "Either shadovar are complete pushovers or better manipulators than even I give them credit for. More reasons to stick around and wait for the meeting of both parties."

Irmiel stepped away from the prisoner. "I'll check with Osrik". She closed her eyes and sent the call to the tiny owl trying to look and hear through his senses.

Mugta scratches her head at the new wave of incoming questions.  "You...you want me to...what was that first one?" 

Stallock ignores her, looking to Irmiel's comments, "Hmmm, I don't think we know enough about this Queen or the Shadovar to really know. But, agree about waiting to find more." 

Irmiel finds that Osrik is not close enough to share senses with her familiar or communicate. Wherever her small owl has gotten to, it's further than 100 feet from her. 

Mugta speaks up, finally catching up to what's been said, "Yes! Shadovar. Pale. Black hair. Queen enthralled." She nods emphatically. "Then enthralled one say where to dig." 

A loud rumbling, clattering and crashing sound can be heard echoing dully through the tunnels. Stallock glances up, "It came from the dig site.  I'll be back."  He slinks off into the darkness, vanishing from view.  It's during this time that Irmiel hears from her owl again.  

The creature telepathically relays to her a harrowing story of trying to find the Queen and Shadovar, but being spotted by some more of the denizens down here, then being chased about the tunnels, before getting a bit lost, if its honest, but don't worry, it's found its way back now....soon...this part looks familiar....

Stallock returns, "They broke through into some sort of chamber. They all went in.  There's a massive sphere inside this fancy chamber. The sphere is floating and rotating.  One of the diggers went up and touched it, and his body turned into ash....so....let's not touch it...."

"Oohhh... That sounds like the mythallar. Well, if it's massive, we could not have a chance to get it out anyway. Now we can learn what people can actually do with it. Would much prefer to learn it myself in peace and quiet but if they are the first, then we at least can learn by watching." Happy for Osrik to return Irmiel immediately commandet him to get back and watch (somewhere far from Stallock, to keep attention from him away in case when the little spirit will be spotted again. "I bet if shadovar are about to attack it will happen right now."

Llwyd observed in silence as his companions dealt with the interrogation, the memory of his attempt to be persuasive in the castle, back at Suzail, still fresh on his mind. The more the talk advanced the more he saw everything tying to the poem, to the legend. It was so confusing to him. Had they stumbled on some sort of world ending event? He hoped things didn’t came to point where the world depended on them for he was quite sure they wouldn’t be quite up to this kind of task. At least for a good time.

It was the echo of the explosion that brought him back to reality. Whatever was happening there seemed about to reach its climax. Irmiel could be too naïve and idealistic, but she was right about this being the right moment for the Shadovar to attack.

“I think it would make things easier if Mugta assumed her canine form without trying to escape.” He said emphasizing the last part while looking to the prisioners.  “This way we could tie her and move as necessary without having to worry about their fangs.” The druid suggested remembering how Dolf had escaped before. “And speaking of moving, I guess we wouldn’t be able to take the sphere anywhere which would mean we would need to guard it from the many people around here. Can we even do that?”

"Find and secure Netheril ruins with a mythallar," Sistri says. "I think that was how the task was described."  She sighs, "I'd expected finding a hidden spot and just protecting it from random folk wandering through. This is... impossible to secure." 

She thinks about it for a moment, "I don't see how we can fight off all these that the Queen has enthralled. Especially without being enthralled ourselves. It would seem our only hope is that the shadovar attack as Irmiel suggested.  Were that to happen and both sides wiped out, perhaps we'd have a chance. But then, we'd need to hide the location so nobody else finds it. I'm not sure how to hold it!"

"No way we can do it, just a few of us," fully agreed Irmiel. "Not sure how they imagined it, back in the city. Suppose we could send a word... somehow. But not as of now we are powerless. They really had to include something for a case like this!" She did not fume for long though. If Mugta was willing to transform, the show would fully take Irmiel's attention. Sure, Llwyd did it before but there could be a difference, right?

"So, we are staying and watching, right? Let's hope we are well hidden here."

Stallock looks about, "I'm sorta...just the scout you hired to get you through the forest. I don't really know what this thing is or why you're looking for it. You've been asked to like, secure this location? The whole place? For how long? Against whom? It sounds like the Drow and these Shadovar are after it....are you expected to hold it forever, or...is there like some cavalry you can call, so to speak, to bring to this place to secure it?" 

"It is for Cormyr. I think something was said about a 10 day period. Or was that to register as a company?"  Sistri shakes her head in frustration. "I don't know all that nonsense! Charlie probably would. The payment was 100,000 gp though. We'd have to go back,  let him know, then he'd handle paperwork." 

Her voice trails off. "But we can't secure anything." Her voice hints at frustration, but a small part of her says that they actually did it. "You know, even if we can't actually get the thing, we do seem to have found what we're looking for!"

Stallock scratches his head, "10 day...waiting period? Registering a company? There's a reason I don't spend much time in cities. So, we're going to wait here for 10 days, and then leave? I'm confused. When does someone blow a horn and knights riding horses come charging in?  Or, have I been reading too many stories?"

"I wish we had cavalry ready to ride in," Sistri says wistfully.  She looks at the others, "For now, more waiting?" 

“If we could take the Mythallar I would say that simply escaping and handing the location of the ruins to Cormyr would already count as missions accomplished, the question is: how big and heavy is the sphere?” The answer, Llwyd knew, could change the situation drastically. “Assuming we take a full rest I would be able to use the Enlarge/Reduce spell to reduce the size of the sphere and cut its weight to one-eight of its total for a minute. I could also cast a spell called Longstrider on myself to gain ten feet of speed and turn into a pack animal. With Irmiel’s Haste I could double the total speed and dash two times in the time a creature could dash only once. That means that if I assume the form of a mule, in the minute the sphere is reduced and I am hasted, I would be able to move almost a mile. If I carry Irmiel too, we could repeat the process once. From there I will have two hours in the form of the beast of burden. After then, for each hour of respite I can become a beast of burden for further four hours. If on said form I am able to at least push the thing we may be able to take the Mytahallar, but that would mean separating the party.” Is there a way to minimize the risk? The druid thought to himself. This whole operation was too complex for his taste. “We could scout around two miles ahead, decide on a meeting point and have everyone that won’t be transported wait there. But even this is risky and if I can’t carry the thing after the spells… We would be caught soon.” And that was assuming he could move the thing with the spells and in the form of a mule. If it took an ox to push the thing the distance would be dramatically reduced. “Irmiel, do you know Enlarge/Reduce? We could double reduce the Mythalar, or reduce it and have Sistri enlarged to throw the thing away.”

"No, not something I researched ever, though I know of such a spell. However, as sound as the strategy is, there are three problems. First, an army of the Queen's beasts plus untold number of shadovar that are about to come between us and the Mythallar. Second, we do not know if any spell can be cast on the sphere at all. From every description we heard, it is a concentrated magic of itself. Can a lowly spell affect it? And lastly, you just heard - a man who touched it was disintegrated. Who would we transport it?" Irmiel sighed. "The survivors of this place took everything of value when left the city, yet, they left the Mythallar behind, though, well hidden. Could it be because there is no way to move it at all?"

"I actually agree, that a simple report about the place has to be enough for us to fulfill the contract, at least partially, without bringing the mythallar with us. We might just try to return and do that. Or we can wait and see what will beasts and shadovar do to learn more about Mythallr first."

The group settles in, to wait and watch. At least for the time being. 

This starts with demanding that Mugta transform. She seems quite pliable to your commands and everyone watches in amazement as her body rapidly transforms from human into a Jackal. You tie up, bind and gag the growling creature to match the unconscious male, and take them both with you. 

The group is able to find a ruined building within view of the gaping hole that leads to the Mythallar. From the dark tunnels they can easily make out the now well lit tunnel where the Queen's minions have hung lanterns.  Through the gaping hole the party catches only the smallest of glimpses of the massive sphere. Llwyds idea of moving it feels suddenly naive as you catch a glimpse of just the bottom of it. The thing must be over a hundred feet across....as it sits underground implacably rotating as it hangs above the ground.  Magic glitters along the things mysterious surface. By the time the group has setup shop, they're in place to watch the Queen return.  This time, her Shadovar escort is in chains, a gag in his mouth and both hands jammed into a plank that stretches across his shoulders, along with a blindfold over his eyes. It would seem the Queen and the Shadovar are not allies, and that she is taking no chances with him.  You watch from a far distance as he is ungagged several times so that he may respond to her questions.  You can see the exchange but are much too far to overhear and given the tight passage leading through to the well lit room, an attempt to have Irmiel's owl approach unseen seems foolhardy.   Still, for a day you watch as the Queen's minions come and go in shifts, mostly set up to guard the position, while the Queen herself seems to spend much time in the room in meditation. The Shadovar at one point is removed from the room and now remains chained, gagged and blindfolded, outside the tunnel just within the torch light.  You are witness to the rough Jackal people feeding him twice, removing the gag long enough to spoon water and some sort of porriage into his mouth for a few minutes before gagging him once more.  As the time slips by and your two prisoners become conscious and struggle, and then settle into their fate...you wonder how long its worth observing for.....

“The problem starts before anything you analyzed – if the thing it’s too big I won’t be able to assume a form able to carry it.” He mentioned looking at Stallock that didn’t answer his open question about the size of the thing. “As to why the inhabitants left the thing I can only think about two options, those being they didn’t manage to blast the door or the thing can’t be moved. If it’s the latter, then we best chance of escaping would probably be mid Shadovar-Queen fight. Assuming a fight even happens here.” 

If the Shadovar decided to ambush this Queen in another area even their observation would prove itself to be hard. If they set traps by the exits of the place, then the party would have no way out. A thought the satyr left unsaid as they relocated, this time with both prisoners on their jackal form.

“That explain why they left it behind. And it is definitely too heavy to anything I can turn into about now.” He whispers as they glimpse the sphere. “So we wait for a fight and pick the weakened sides, use hit and run tactics to reduce the jackals little by little or just look for an exit?” As soon as he made the question Llwyd noticed a detail. “Oh, we don’t know an exit.”

Notes: Been away from Discord lately so I will let some questions here - How many enemies can Llwyd count? While observing would the party be able to finish a short rest? Any sign of anyone noticing the party lurking around?

Perception Check: 13
Guidance (if applicable): 1

"I feel like we should have discussed things with Charlie more. The contract was to provide locations and secure the location. The best we can do here is provide the location. I'm not sure what more we will learn here, unless we are fortunate enough there is a battle and both sides are decimated." Sistra sighs. "It may be time to go and hope for the best." She glances around the place. "Is there anything else we could learn here to help us? I'd really thought we might find information rather than a mythallar itself.  I still think if we could somehow get to one that nobody else was looking for then we might have a chance." 

(Osrik was sent to watch again. Could he get into the listening distance to make out queen's questions?)

Irmiel took the lead from the jackal jailers and tried to feed Mugta (after the worning to keep silent, of course). Other than that, she was all eyes and ears. Even if it gave no new information. "I agree, we have to go. Hopefully, you, Llwyd and, you, Stallock can find the way back. We need to share the information about everything here. However... I might be wrong, but it seems that freeing that shadovar would help to facilitate the fight. I would go as far as to say, it would be amazing to get that shodovar with us - he had to know how to activate teleport on this side, but it might be difficult..." Irmiel carefully crawled to where she could see the prisoner. "I can become invisible or make invisible any of you to cut the man free. But others might still smell us, I'm afraid."

"That's a pretty good idea Irmiel!" Sistri says with a smile. "You can make me invisible. I'll take the risk," she says firmly. "I'll be ready to flee if something goes wrong."

She pauses a moment to consider. "My armor might be noisy. Perhaps I should take it off for this."

Sistri begins to peel off her armor.  Laying the plates of steel down in a small wrapped package, she stands in her padding and clothes, smelling of oil and a bit of sweat, but sounding much less 'clanky'.  She waits for Irmiel who then summons forth her magic, weaving it about Sistri...who promptly vanishes from view.  

Sistri then sneaks off towards the Shadovar. 

(Roll Stealth Sistri)

Sistri moves quietly towards the shadovar, her sword already drawn.

(Stealth: 18)

Irmiel kind of hoped Llwyd could add anything to hiding Sistri and (potentially) the shadovar. Not to mention, once the man is freed, they will have to deal with consequences - like run for their lives? Somehow conceal the tracks? But the rash plan will have to do.

Before she went anywhere, Irmiel gave the last instructions. "Try to convince him to cooperate. We have more chances to escape together than him get away alone. And good luck to you both!"