Skameros claps Orubis on the shoulder

"You do good today, Skameros pleased." and gives a large toothy if not somewhat offputting grin in their direction.

Rodolfo looks around very carefully, looking for any danger.

"We need to keep Orubis very very safe for a minute or it was all in vain."

“Aye-  nice werk all!   Now let’s see whot we kin do fer the main battle.  We may be needin some healin”. Thurnir says.  He reaches over and pats Rodolfo on the shoulder.  The scent of a hot forge rises up and warmth flows into the wizard’s wounds, healing for 10 HP.

Beegred is sluggish (Haste ended), but still looks around for something to stab with his sword.

"What happened? Did Orubis eat the dust cloud? I didn't know that was an option; I should have tried that earlier."

"Glad to help, but... That was most everything I had. I don't have enough strength left to reach for much magic today. And some of the spirits got away, right? So this seems like it was all for nothing. We still can't use the town's elementals, and the Pudding King will come rolling in without much standing in his way. And now, we're even weaker than if we had just decided to take it all head on." 

orubis punches the ground. "I think we just lost."

"We should consider if we want to join the main battle, even though we are wounded and down some spells.
Or since we've seen maps, we could try to get to where the Pudkin is hiding out.

"But before that... Did we ever figure out why the Bane had all these statues here? Maybe there is something it was hiding, that might help us with the battle."
While talking, Beegred will poke around the piles of rubble, to see if there was anything inside any of the destroyed statues.
Also push a few over to see if there was anything underneath.
At some point, look around the room to see if there are any obvious alcoves, wall-safes, or passages leading out from this cavern that seem inviting.

Doesn't know what he is looking for, but hopes his Observant feat (passive checks) will help him on where to spend more time investigating.

Rodolfo says, "We can look around later, lets go see if we can help with the Pudding King."

He starts heading north and towards where the wall was supposedly blown apart to make way for the attack force.

Thurnir follows along, having switched to his bow, looking out for any signs of the oozes.  

In the short time Beegred has before Rodolfo heads off, he scans the cavern.  In the back there are traces of old furniture, now rotted and not much more than stains on the cavern floor.  There are natural water basins, but they are empty and covered with mold.  The statues that remain still look like drow soldiers, all standing tall at attention, facing someone at the front of the cavern.  Beegred recalls that the medusa's lair was very near to here.  There isn't much to find, as the cavern is bare.  If something was hidden, it would have to be behind some secret stone wall, of which there is not the slightest indication.

Rodolfo calls out to the others to follow and heads north to the stone menhir.  Arriving there, the two Galeb Duhr continue to stand watch over the holy site.  Beegred, Skameros and Rodolfo can't help but feel the missing presence of the third guardian.  From the holy site, the caved in wall to the north has been blown outward and there is now a passable corridor.  From that corridor, sounds of battle echo clearly and it is obvious your party has approached the sea of oozes, as the mental screams of "FLESH FOR THE FACELESS GOD!" resonate much more clearly in your heads.

Rodolfo looks at the others and says, "I believe the time is right and we must help as this also determines our fate."

He produces a large elemental gem (yellow diamond) from his pouch and smashes it down on the ground.

(The gem was cursed!  But I did a search on the thread and Rodolfo had the gem examined by Nomi, and he identified it himself.  So the necessary steps would have been taken to remove the curse before allowing it to be used!)

Rodolfo slams the gem to the cavern floor with intent and it shatters.  From the floor where the gem shards rest, a large elemental rises, turns to face Rodolfo, and waits.

Thurnir equips and loads his crossbow, strapping his shield across his back.  “Ready t melt some bolts, methinks-  let’s try to find this puddin king”. He grunts and starts moving silently towards the sound of battle.   

Skameros shakes his furry head and sits on the ground and picks up a drow statue head.

"not our fight, dirt nomes have not helped us get you to surface and back home.  They tell us to risk life for them but no help to us.  Pudding King could be good person just not understood by dirt nomes.  Skameros agree to help get you home, not get dead for nome problem.  Ooze break Skameros axe, Skameros can't protect Rudolfo and Big Red from Underdark.  Skameros might as well stay with Fun guy men in grove."

Rodolfo says, "I understand, Skameros. But I do not agree. Oozes come to the Pudding King and that is not good for anyone - not for me, not for dirt nomes, not for Skameros."

He looks around at others and takes a deep breath.

"I really do understand, Skameros. We have been down here for so long and so many things are happening that I had almost forgotten our initial goal. On the other hand I see how they struggle here for their home and I want to help. I agree that we have kept helping and got almost nothing in return. It's probably not the last thing either - there is drow out there and other bad things. My hope is that this fight here is won and the dirt nomes share all their knowledge of the path to the surface with us. Either way we leave after this."

Rodolfo turns to the earth elemental and says, "Scout ahead 100 feet, I will be right behind you."

"Skameros, can you please go and tell the dirt nomes that we got rid of the dust and that I went to help with the Pudding King."

He takes a few steps after the earth elemental, stops and comes back. "Keep this safe for me, would you?" and hands Skameros all his money (43 gold) and the Wand.

Beegred is willing to go, with reservations.

"We can try to help out, but I don't intend to dive into a sea of oozes. If the sitch gets bad, we should bug out.

"Skameros, you refused this offer before, but I'll ask again: if you'd like to borrow this magic short sword for the rest of day, you are welcome to it. You prefer an axe with real weight to it, but this sword won't be broken by oozes, and with your long arms you can avoid the acid splash. It also stabs, so you can use it against black puddings and ochre jellies (which are immune to slashing)."

Led by the earth elemental, your party makes its way north, keeping close to the east wall of the complex.  From this area, there is no direct line of sight with the massive chamber housing the sea of oozes, but their mental outbursts of "FLESH FOR THE FACELESS GOD!" is much more intense, like a pounding migraine.  Various oozes surge out of narrow fissures or passages, but the earth elemental is more than able to deal with those.

Amid the maddening screaming of the oozes, another 'voice' can be heard, "FIGHT FOR YOUR KING!  GLORY TO THE FACELESS LORD!"

As you continue to move north, you come across the first signs of combat.  The ground still sizzles where pooled acid is actively dissolving rock, and there are splashes of blood on the floor and walls.

Moving even further north, you begin to find more distressing signs that the strike team had a hard time of it.  There's more and more blood everywhere, and in many places bloody hand prints can be seen on the wall where an injured individual leaned against it to take a rest.  There are also useless discarded weapon hilts lying about, their business end devoured by acid.

Then you come upon the first corpses.  Two small svirfneblin sized remains, unidentifiable after acid dissolved any individual features, lie next to two large acid pools still sizzling as the rock beneath bubbles and hisses.  In the middle of the pools are two books, seemingly unharmed by the acid they are half submerged in.  

The entrance to another cavern is a few feet away and the desperate cries of embattled svirfneblin can be clearly heard in that direction. 

Orubis runs forward. "There were children on those teams!"

“Argh.. sad t’ see.  Them books might have some magic about em- might want to grab em- careful not to burn yerself when ye do ?   Let’s see how we kin help them what’s fightin-“.   Thurnir rushes towards the sound of the embattled snirfneblin.  

Beegred: "Is anyone good at disguising their voice? Maybe they could sound like an ooze, and yell out, fight against your faceless lord, or your king is trying to hurt you... That might convince the oozes to turn on the Pudkin."

Beegred is disappointed at the looks being given to him by his teammates. He can't quite say what a telepathic idea sounds like, but the plan still seemed like a good idea to him.

Rodolfo will grab the books (using gust if needed to push them to the edge of the pool first), put them on a nearby rock and cast a quick prestidigitation to clean then up, then bag them for later.