When your party enters Blingdenstone, you immediately sense the atmosphere is different.  There are no more gnomes going about their daily business.  Any open space large enough is being used to drill formations.  Blingdenstone proper is now packed full with the added presence of Clan Goldwhisker who are participating in the drills, some of them fully transformed into hybrid wererats next to intimidated gnomes who don't appear to know how to be comfortable in such company.

Every bit of material is being weaponized in some way.  Clothing and bed linens are being made into slings.  Rubble is being collected into piles, bins and bags.  Long stringy mushrooms are being fashioned into spears and javelins in large quantities, as each will obviously be a single use weapon against enemies such as slimes and oozes.

The attitude in the gnome city is grim.  When you enter the Foaming Mug, it is also being used.  Linens are being stockpiled here, cut into strips that will serve as bandages.  There are ointments and salves.  Large cauldrons to be used to boil water occupy most of the floor space.  Taking a peek in the kitchens, you find Tippy and some priests laboring away, distilling liquids and sealing the finished product into clay pots.

Everyone is busy and exhausted, pushing themselves to keep going.  No one is paying any mind to your presence.

Beegred will look for any of the gnomes with more of a leadership position, and ask where Gnomey (Nomi) is currently, as our group has information for her.

The preparations have thrown the city into chaos and no one seems to know where anyone is.  Your party heads to the council chamber where Senni and Dorbo met you previously but they are not there at first.  You continue to search in the city, seemingly always a few moments behind the leaders.  Eventually, after circling around a few times you finally cross paths with Senni as she is about to exit the council chamber once again.

Seeing your party returned, she seems a bit surprised and relieved all at once, "I wasn't sure if you'd come back.  Either lose your way in the madness of the underdark, or just leave us to our battles as you continued your search for a route to the surface.  I hope your return means you have good news for us?"  At the mention of seeking good news, she breaks down and sobs for a couple minutes.

Rodolfo quietly waits for her to collect herself. "Yes, good news indeed. We found the Entermoch's Boon and can describe precisely how to get there."

Senni looks at Rodolfo, "The Stoneheart Enclave will be ecstatic.  Doesn't help if you can't get rid of Ogremoch's Bane though."

Rodolfo is taken aback, "We better speak with Stoneheart Enclave then or this would all have been for nothing."

"How are the rest of the preparations going? Anything we should be aware of?"

At Rodolfo's question, Senni looks about to break down into sobs again, but she hardens up to ask, "The preparations... I can't live with it.  You have to help."  She takes a moment to gather herself before she explains further, "Getting volunteers to go after the Pudding King while the rest of us draw the oozes away was difficult.  None of us here are warriors or experienced in battle.   We're just settlers.  And the sickness that is making our people's behavior erratic and untrustworthy means less able bodies to choose from.  We finally put together a team of six and they started training under Burrow Warden Jaeger."

Tears begin to well in her eyes, "Then another group came forward to be the volunteers.  When we arrived in Blingdenstone, there were many families among us.  As the situation became clear to us, we put our children in the only place that seemed to be immune to what was happening.  We cleared a space in the crypts and met Burrow Warden Jaeger for the first time.  After that meeting, we felt we made the correct choice in sending our kids there to play.  We had no choice but to have the older children keep the younger ones busy and teach them what they could.  Burrow Warden Jaeger also volunteered to teach what he could.

"Little did we know, at some point, the children asked Burrow Warden Jaeger to teach them how to fight.  All this time, we though the children were learning their letters or just playing with each other, but they have instead been drilling under the Burrow Warden.  They say the dead offered them weapons and armor.

We refused to let them go after the Pudding King.  But Burrow Warden Jaeger asked for a demonstration of their skill.  The six that came forward so thoroughly trounced our volunteers that Burrow Warden Jaeger immediately took them and continued their training.  They are just too young to sacrifice themselves like this.  Dorbo tried to put a stop to this by force and now he's recovering from a concussion and will probably not be able to walk again in time for the assault.

The six are all orphans.  Their parents have all died or are missing.  They're nearly of age to take up a trade and they've been training all this time, so they are strong enough to overpower anyone we send.  We don't have anyone able to stop them.  They're too young to sacrifice their lives like this.  You have to do something. Please."

Rodolfo listens carefully. "Indeed a lot has happened while we were away. If what you say is true then it seems that our option is to make sure their determination is fruitful. We should do everything in our power to make sure it is not a sacrifice, but a victory to be returned from." 

“You need someone else to go in, then… if we can get the ogremach’s bane taken care of, the elementals can take the volunteers’ place, yeah?” 

Senni replies, "Elementals don't reason in that way.  They can be told to guard a place, to attack or to defend themselves.  But 'Go kill the Pudding King' is too difficult.  Elementals need constant guidance and orders.  Whoever summons the elementals would have to be right behind them telling them what to do."

Turning to Rodolfo, Senni says, "You sound just like Burrow Warden Jaeger."  And she walks away.

Quote from Kerrec >>

"We don't have anyone able to stop them.  They're too young to sacrifice their lives like this.  You have to do something. Please."

Beegred scratches his head in confusion. "You want us to kill those kids, so they don't sacrifice their lives? Doesn't sound like a smart course of action to me."

Rodolfo shakes his head. "By how they behaved when we arrived it seemed like people of great wisdom, grit and determination. It has somehow devolved into a headless chicken situation."

"I understand that they are doing their best, but I had greater expectations. Lets go talk to Stoneheart Enclave."

Your party requests the presence of Nomi Pathshutter and word gets out.  The Foaming Mug is chosen as the place where Nomi can find you once she arrives.  Half a day later, she speed walks into the tavern and is almost unable to stand still as she asks, "Did you find Entremoch's Boon?"

Orubis nods and gives directions. 

Rodolfo waits for Orubis to finish and says, "But we understood from Senni that it's all for nothing if we don't manage to somehow get rid of the Bane first. Is that right?"

Nomi nods, "That is what you agreed to do when we launch the attack.  When we blow an opening from the Rockblight to the north where the Pudding King allegedly has his lair, it will potentially allow Ogremoch's Bane to escape the Rockblight. 

That is assuming it is trapped there for some reason.  We really don't know why it stays there. 

So if Ogremoch's Bane is allowed to escape the Rockblight and we're using Earth Elementals in our fight with the oozes, Ogremoch's Bane can turn them on us.  Then we'll have to fight the oozes and our own elementals."

(The PLAN that was discussed.  See issue 1.)

Rodolfo nods, "Understood. We will go and see about the Bane then."

Beegred asks: "Are there any big waterskins around? I'm wondering if there is some way we could get that evil cloud into a bag and bottle it up. Something like chasing it around with a butterfly net, but without the holes and leaks that a net would have."

Regardless of Senni's distraught state, the war preparations are well under way.  Your party leaves the training of the strike team of young adults in the hands of Burrow Warden Jaeger.  Nomi leaves with an expedition of Stoneheart Enclave summoners, heading towards Entremoch's Boon.  The gnomes have abandoned their daily work routines and now spend every waking hour drilling with the Goldwhisker Clan wererats to stay out of each other's way, but also help each other survive.

With nothing for your party to do and the heavy responsibility of stopping Ogremoch's Bane during the attack, you all decide that exploring an alternate route for the strike team to take to reach The Pudding King would allow the passage to remain blocked, hopefully keeping Ogremoch's Bane trapped in the Rockblight, if it is indeed trapped there.  You make your preparations and head through the now open doors into Goldwhisker territory.  Heading as far north as possible, you then turn east and begin exploring areas of old Blingdenstone that have only been traversed by oozes and slimes for quite some time.

Orubis points out a trap that the party avoids, marking the extent of Goldwhisker territory.  As you emerge into the next cavern, a still pool of water to the north shows evidence of yet another entrance point for oozes and slimes, as the untouched dust and debris from hundreds of years of abandonment is marred by a trail of ichor heading southwards towards the cavern where you witnessed the sea of oozes.

Choosing to remain as far north as possible, you pass by an enormous pillar and find a peculiar scene approximately 30 feet away.  Around a pile of bones stand six motionless statues wielding weapons in various stages of violent action.