As the gnomes get drunker and louder, Rodolfo is able to make out their gossiping without needing to hover and eavesdrop.  He hears several rumors...

• Blingdenstone’s ghost problem is getting worse, and there are even spirits haunting the catacombs.
• There was a crazy svirfneblin back in the first days of reclamation who disappeared. Some of the scouts claim to have seen him, skulking around the unrecovered areas of the settlement.
• The Stoneheart Enclave is closing in on a solution to the threat of Ogrémoch’s Bane. The gnomes call a large unclaimed area in the northeast of the settlement “Rockblight,” as earth elementals go mad whenever they go near it.
• People are divided as to what to do about the wererats living in the southwest caverns. Some want them out, while others propose an alliance of mutual defense.
• A merchant from Gracklstugh says there’s an influx of surface-world coins there, but nobody knows where they come from. 

Rodolfo quietly relays to the others of the group that he's picked up a thing or two, but will talk details later.

He will try to mingle, looking for the worst-looking people in the tavern. Someone or a group who seems to be really down on their luck or maybe sitting alone or something like that.

He'll just try learn about them, maybe buy them a meal and just be interested in that person or a small group, with no ulterior motive.

Beegred, Narstin and Rodolfo mingle with the inebriated gnomes while Skameros eats and soaks in the hot tubs in the back.  After about an hour, Dorbo and Senni arrive without fanfare or escorts.  Tappy rounds up the most drunk gnomes and ushers them home to get some sleep, freeing up space at the Inn.  The remaining gnomes are moved to one side of the establishment and tables are brought together for your meal and your talk.

Dorbo seems pensive while Senni begins the conversation, "Lets do away with pleasantries.  You tell us what you know, and we'll tell you what we know.  We have several problems here in Blingdenstone, such as a constant stream of oozes passing through our city.  Also many of our merchants are late or missing.  You've been beyond the outskirts of Blingdenstone, so what do you think is causing the oozes to travel through here, and where do you think our merchants are being held up?"

Rodolfo will recount the story of the temple of oozes, starting with the ambush of the drow.

Dorbo interjects after Rodolfo's story, "A large ooze cube, with telepathic language, intelligence and it wasn't hostile.  And it was looking for a King.  And you lost it not far from here.  It almost seems like you are pulling our legs.  As for the drow, are you implying they are capturing our merchants?"

Senni adds, "Well, the oozes that are attacking and killing our people have been telepathically screaming 'Flesh for the Faceless God' at us.  That is telepathic, language and well, that is all they say.  They fight to the death, so not so intelligent and definitely hostile.  But at least, your story is plausible."

Skameros will come out with a towel around his waist and join the rest of the party.

Rodolfo says, "Yeah. I mean that was very weird. But in the context of where we came from, the myconid village, it's not THAT strange. As for the drow, I don't know. We met a friendly ooze of all things, but none of the drow have even wanted to talk to us, let alone be friendly. At times it seems like they're trying to chase us down, but then we don't see or hear of them for days or weeks. So either they are just hunting everyone or I don't know what else to think. We have been pretty slow as I'm quite short and we haven't had a guide or map for a while, so it's not really a speed thing."

He then describes their adventures with myconids.

Beegred: "Yeah, the Drow weren't going to say much to their victims, but it seemed like they were hunting anyone they could get their hands on. They even enslaved blind old men, like one we came across who managed to escape. (He died during the trip here, rest his soul, but he was glad to be free.) That's no consolation if it is your caravan being raided, but it didn't seem they aiming their trouble at anyone in particular."

"Skameros live with Shroom men for a while before he find these people need help."

"A number of us were captured by the Drow and held as slaves," Narstin says.  "A group of us have managed to escape and have been trying to make our way to the surface ever since, while avoiding any Drow as well as various other dangers as much as possible.  Some of our group have split off to go other ways, and we've picked up new members as we've travelled."  At this last, he waves a hand at the ones who joined since the escape.  "But our end goal hasn't changed."

Dorbo speaks up after Narstin's revelation, "Well then, safe to say the drow are looking to recapture their escaped slaves.  Among their houses and society, having slaves escape would be seen as a sign of weakness.  So then, you don't seem to have any more answers as to why our caravans are missing than we do."

Senni scowls at Dorbo and interjects, "And they are not required to have those answers.  I wouldn't relish life as a slave either, and if I escaped I would want a safe haven.  We are not going to ruin our reputation with the drow any further by offering them our protection."

There is a short pause, a tension in the air until Tappy arrives with the food.  While eating Rodolfo recounts your party's experience in Neverlight Grove.

Dorbo looks optimistic for the first time and speaks to Senni,  "Well, if they know where the Neverlight Grove is, then it would be possible to go there and gather the mushrooms needed for Kazook to make his oil to protect our weapons and armor against the oozes."

Senni doesn't look so sure, "Zuggtmoy here in the underdark, that's no small threat.  It could possibly explain much.  Zuggtmoy and Juiblex are rivals and oozes are the creatures of  Juiblex.  Maybe the oozes are fleeing Zuggtmoy and that's why we see so many coming through here.  Doesn't explain who 'the King' is yet.  But a trip to Neverlight Grove to get mushrooms would be a great risk with Zuggtmoy there."

Dorbo adds, "True.  If we consider that, it would have to be a clandestine gathering of the needed mushrooms."  Thinking a bit further, he adds, "There are rumors of the Myconids acting strangely.  And they communicate with their spores, which are transmitted into other creatures.  The oozes may be fleeing the spores, or under their influence, and our people may be exposing themselves when outside the city which would explain their strange behavior.  I will have our priests try to confirm this, and maybe find a way to cure the affected, or prevent further infection."

Senni continues, "This is valuable news.  Fair is fair.  Let me fill you in on our plight..."

Senni spends the rest of the dinner explaining that nearly 400 gnomes set out from Gauntlgrym to recolonize their lost city of Blingdenstone.  The colony left on good terms and there was supposed to be trade and support from the dwarves.  However, since arriving, the Underdark has gotten incredibly more dangerous than it already was and via the very rare and difficult means of communication the two peoples have, it was learned that Gauntlgrym has closed their gates to the underdark and the dwarves were actively closing any other known access between the surface world and the underdark below.

It was understood that Blingdenstone, abandoned for hundreds of years, would be infested with all manner of creatures.  Re-colonizing the city wasn't going to be easy.  The gnomes that came were people who were languishing among the surfacers.  The gnomes that were powerful or successful, did not leave their power and success to risk such an endeavor.  The colony is not gifted with the resources of powerful magic users or skilled and experienced armies.  The fighting force was intended to be summoned earth elementals, with some Svirfneblin militia to back them up.  The initial clearing of Blingdenstone was difficult, but the colony carved out a small area for themselves.  But we ran into problems.  A colony of wererats call the northern part of the city their home, and their curse makes them resilient to elementals.  They can also replenish their numbers by cursing our people.  To add insult to injury, there is a mysterious force to the east in an area we now call the Rockblight, that causes our elementals to go berserk, turning them against us... and anyone for that matter.  The elementals will fight anything, even destroying buildings if nothing else threatens them.  Then there are our own ancestors, slaughtered by drow when Blingdenstone fell.  Many if not most seem to have gone insane, and don't recognize kin from foe.  They are dangerous and will attack us if we invade their homes or places of work.

So there you have it.  Wererats to the north and a mystery to the east that render our fighting force rather impotent if not even dangerous to use.  Oozes that get into our city by every crack and fissure, then attack our people with frightening frequency and intensity.  And a very hostile environment outside our city that is affecting our behavior, for the worse.  We came with 400 or so gnomes and now number barely less than half that.  A good number of those lost still live, under the curse of lycantrophy.  Our efforts to reclaim our city have stalled, so that we can't even house all of our remaining people in it.  We have rotations and work shifts of gnomes that mine and harvest other resources outside Blingdenstone, because we now rely on trade with the other underdark races to equip ourselves.  The oozes are destroying our weapons as fast as we make or buy them.  Yet, sending caravans out to conduct that trade is proving to be tragic itself.  

We are besieged and dying.  We have no gnomes left to spare to help you save yourselves.  Those that know the routes to the surface are needed for other tasks and it wouldn't matter anyway, because the dwarves are closing down all those known routes.  

You've escaped slavery, and landed yourselves in prison.

Beegred: "Rumors of the Myconids acting strangely? Ah, you must have meant before now. Like Rodolfo told you, we saw those whacked-out mushrooms and their version of a civil war, first hand... If you have to deal with them, make sure you find the ones we told you about who helped us, who haven't been dominated by Ziggy-toy.

"We are not in a good place to fight were-rats. Our muscle" (nods at Skameros) "would need a magic weapon that befits his fighting style, in order to fight those things. Until we find something that fits him, we would also be at a disadvantage... I suppose a silvered weapon would work, but if you are having trouble fixing your regular weapons, I'm guessing silver-ing is out of the question."

(to the party) "Should we investigate this Rockblight thing? We'd have to be careful, 'cause elementals are pretty strong. But if the smurf-blin can get their dirt soldiers back under control, that will help keep the oozes away."

Dorbo perks up at Beegred's mention of fighting the wererats, and seems disappointed when it turns out to be a word of caution.  "If you promise to slay those things, I'll fish out some silver coins to silver your weapons with."

Senni seems appalled and smacks the back of his head.  "We definitely came into Blingdenstone fists swinging, so our relations with the wererats are not on good terms.  However, of our people that have been infected, there have been some attempts by them to communicate with us.  The guards, which Dorbo assigns, sometimes hear voices from the other side begging to see their family, or begging to parlay.  But Dorbo thinks all wererats are evil and refuses to risk it.  

I think that we never tried to talk with them since we've been here, so we just don't know.  A neutral third party is exactly what we need..."

Rodolfo says, "You said you came with 400 and half are gone one way or another. And that a good number of those lost, the 200ish, are now cursed with lycanthropy. That is a very large number of very dangerous foes. I am sure that killing them all is definitely not an option. Could you tell us more about the other two threats? The ghosts and Rockblight?"

Senni says apologetically, "The ghosts are hostile, but they are confined to their homes, or where they must have worked, or the spot where they were killed.  They prevent us from establishing new homesteads or opening up shops.  As for the Rockblight, there are rumors of what lies there, but nothing is certain.  Some of the guards and militia swear a medusa haunts those halls.  

Nomi Pathshutter is currently in charge of the Stoneheart Enclave while Yantha Coaxrock is in Mantol-Derith.  She has theories, but you should speak with her if you wish to pursue that line of investigation.

As for the wererats, I only wish that our 200 lost gnomes were all infected and living still.  But many are in the catacombs now.  I could only guess, but there are maybe 20 to 30 wererats that were part of the recolonization effort.  That is not to say there are not hundreds of wererats from before we arrived."

Quote from Kerrec >>

Dorbo perks up at Beegred's mention of fighting the wererats, and seems disappointed when it turns out to be a word of caution.  "If you promise to slay those things, I'll fish out some silver coins to silver your weapons with."

Beegred: "I realize you are under pressure and not thinking clearly, but that is putting the wagon ahead of the donkey. If we would need a silver axe for Skameros BEFORE facing the were-rats.

"I can see why your people are having trouble. Ghosts and possessions are not fun to deal with, but medusas and petrification isn't a great alternative. (ugh)"

Rodolfo says, "So our options are were-rats where we might be able to talk instead of fight. But for fighting we would need silvered weapons. Or ghosts where we would need magical weapons. Or a medusa, which I don't know what we need for... does not sound good. We'll need to talk to the people mentioned here."

He continues, "I guess I'll keep the wand for now if we are about to be fighting something. But it is yours once we set off again."

Dorbo says sarcastically, "Of course you'll be keeping your gift...  Nomi will be summoned from the quarry and you may meet her tomorrow."

With that, the pair make to leave.

Rodolfo bows and replies, "I understand that being responsible for this many people and this whole endeavor must be very stressful." And he just finishes the conversation with that.

Nomi is the first to awkwardly return your bow, and Dorbo follows her example, trying to emulate your show of respect.  

Dorbo stares in Rodolfo's eyes for a moment and says, as way of explanation, yet still not apologetic, "Lodirt was a close friend, much like your companions are to you.  You know, the Svirfneblin that died helping you fight the ooze in the mines."

With that, the two leave and you are left on your own in the Inn.