(With his Observant feat making up for short attention span, Beegred will tag along with Rodolfo to Help with his investigation.

He also shakes the sluggish Narstin, to see if he is willing to give a little Guidance before he goes back to his spiritual trance.)

With the swirling dust creature overhead making everyone feel like they're being watched, Rodolfo, Beegred and Narstin try to search the cavern looking to see if the magic of the spell gem and the menhir resulted in any changes that they can observe.

Besides the signs of their own passing, the battle with the elementals and finding one of Narstin's teeth, the only difference is the magical pocket devoid of the dust creature that surrounds the menhir, the two galeb duhr and the pile of stacked stone.

Rodolfo says, "Well, lets go back to the previous area and see if anything changed there. If not then we'll just head back to the entrance and let them know it's done."

You all leave the cavern with the menhir, climbing the stairs back upwards.  You once again enter the large chamber with the crystals that reflect the bioluminescent fungi light in a kaleidoscope of colors.  The petrified gnome still stands there, looking toward the Medusa lair in horror.  All is quiet here as well.

Rodolfo says, "Beegred, can you quietly take a look in the cave with all the drow? I'd like to go back and say that all is safe. Maybe it means we'll try to kill all of them first, but lets see."

Beegred gives a dirty look to Rodolfo, but follows his suggestion.

Walking back to the cave with all the statues, Beegred will back his way (slowly) into the room, at all times facing the exit and ready to run. If any statues move, he is out of there. (If the evil dust/smoke cloud shows up, he will wait to see if it animates any statues or if it is impotent.)

Beegred learns that the cloud quickly shows up when he enters that chamber, and does animate another half dozen petrified drow.  However, the animated drow do not pursue Beegred out of that cavern when he flees.

Rodolfo goes, "hmm... well, at least we know it's there and can warn them about it. Lets head back and report on our progress. I have no doubt they will have further requests."

You all carefully trek through the Rockblight to get back to Inner Blingdenstone.  It takes a half hour of banging on the doors before anyone responds, and then another ten minutes of yelling through it to convince the guard on the other side you're not some crazy monster trying to fool it.

You make your way back into Inner Blingdenstone and when the giant doors are shut and barred behind you, a guard you don't recognize stands watch staring dumbly at you all as you stare back at him.  It seems you are free to go where you wish.

Rodolfo says, "Thank you. Any idea where we could find Father Gurnik at this hour?" (had to go back 25 pages to find this!)

The gnome guard replies, "If Father Gurnik is not in the cavern with the Standing Stones, then he will be sleeping.  If he's not there, best return at another time."

(Note, he's not there since I want you to return to The Foaming Mug)

"Skameros need drink...." and he'll wander off towards The Foaming Mug

(Ta da!)

The concept of days and nights in the Underdark is much different than the surface world, where that is governed by the rising and falling sun.  Here in the Underdark, you're awake until you need to sleep, and the gnomes seem to have arranged their cycles to maximize the available beds to sleep on.  Blingdenstone, and probably likewise elsewhere in the Underdark, never truly rests as one half the population is about their 'day' when the other half are resting during their 'night'.  It feels odd to the surfacers among you to be heading to The Foaming Mug for a rest when other gnomes seem quite busy going about their business.

When you arrive at The Foaming Mug, Tappy Foamstrap quickly ushers you in, offering food, drink and strongly suggesting a dip in the hot springs.  When you are settled, Tappy informs you, "There's a new gnome in town.  He's staying here for the time being.  He was asking a lot of questions about 'the surfacers'.  I think he's excited to meet you.  His room is over there..." and she indicates where to find the gnome.

Ask Skameros takes off towards the inn then Rodolfo says, "I ... we need to ... "... and then follows him.

He just sighs defeatedly when Tappy announces another diversion. He stands up and says, "I'll go get him.. or her."

He goes and knocks on the door (and invites the person over to their table if someone does answer).

The door to the room opens, revealing a young, bedraggled deep gnome. His hair color is difficult to discern through the layers of grime, but appears to be white or silver. He wears tattered leathers, a rusty dagger and threadbare satchel. Within the satchel, a book that appears to be far too ornate to be carried by this particular gnome is barely peeking out. Despite his rough appearance, there is an energy about him and his eyes gleam almost unnaturally.

 He smiles broadly at the gnome standing before him, "Hello? Is there something..." He pauses mid-sentence looking over the visitor, his eyes widen with excitement "You... you're not svirfneblin. Are you?" He is almost vibrating as he continues. "Are you one of the surfacers the others were talking about? That ventured into the Rockblight?"

Rodolfo takes a step back and says, "Oh. Hi," and he trails off listening to the row of questions, "Yes. We also came back. I'm Rodolfo, the others are..." he looks back towards the tables, "very thirsty. Come and join us and don't be intimidated by the big guy, he's very sweet."

He goes back to the table and says, "This is ...," and he shuts down scratching his head. "I apologize, I forgot your name."

"Oh yes... I'm Grithik." He replies, slightly embarrassed. "One of the other gnomes mentioned you were from the surface. I have a great desire to see the world outside of these caves and it seemed more than coincidental that our paths might cross. I was hopeful that you might be able to help me."

As he speaks his hand moves almost unconsciously to his bag, holding it slightly closer to his body.

Beegred: "Ehh.. hey Gree-tick. (Grithik. That's what I said already.) What's with the bag?

"Are you a salt-miner? I'm not accusing you of anything, but a while ago some Blingdingsting gnomes robbed some of our stuff. Are they in your bag?"

Rodolfo sits down and sighs, "You too? Welcome to the party. We're going to eat and drink real quick and then try to find Father Gurnik and some others who sent us to the Rockblight in the first place."

"I did work the mines back in the city of blades, though not by choice, but this is my first time to Blingdenstone." Grithik replies. "What're all your names? Are you trying to find a way back to the surface?"