"Dear Abbot Fel, we are looking for a way to reach the Elder Brain undetected in order to destroy the nest of Illithid and it's progenitor. Can you help us with that?" Lawrance says, without preamble. "Also," He adds, "That remarkable watch creature of yours - are there many of it's kin in possession of the mind flayers?"

The creature pauses for a moment, "This is a most foolhardy endeavor. I hope that you at least, ah, I see that you have taken some precautions against their most odious abilities. Even with such precautions, I would urge you to use great care."

"What you ask may be possible however. The elder brain lies protected in what was once a keep built by the drow who founded the city. There are a few natural fissures in the rock just behind that keep. They have been long sealed, but if any among your group have a talent for rapidly shifting stone, it should be possible to reopen them. That would leave you facing a crumbling wall that the illithid have no reason to watch closely. Do you have such a talent at your disposal? We could guide you through the maze of passages to where you need to be."

"As to the tainted beholder, no. This was their only one. It is not often they get their hands on such a powerful entity to corrupt. They believe this one to have perished in a rockslide. We set it off to save a group of travelers under attack. The mindwitness survived the collapse, but was cut off."

Nodding Lawrance answers "It's true that we risk much by this goal, but we feel it is far better than letting them build to even more of a threat and danger, both below and above ground. We do have some ability to pass through stone, as long as it is not too much distance so that sounds like an ideal 'back door' for us. I'd like to inform the other members of our party of this before we commit to a path. It was decided that some of our varied group might not be welcome within your home.

Lawrance goes back out to Velon and the rest and updates them on all that was discussed. 

Soon enough everyone is reunited and made aware of developments, Zz'Pzora speaks up, "It certainly sounds promising, I can shape stone fairly well, so this should not be a great challenge. Shall we?"

Velon looks to Lawrance, Seath and the rest of the scout team.  "Very well done!  Um, I hope they are willing to work with everyone in our party..."   He glances from Lawrance to Zz'Pzora briefly.  "Otherwise, let's get to it!"

"If we are not needing to rest for me to change spells, then yes, let's indeed get to it." He heads back inside and agrees to the partnership, telling the Abbot about the others. "As long as we are all on the same goals, we should be cooperative to get this done, yes?"

"I agree  As long as we all can agree to get along and get to where we need to be all will be great."

The group, guided by a few of the flumphs, winds their way through the tunnels around the illithid city. The passages get quite narrow at times, forcing you to pick your way along single file. Eventually, they stop, at a seemingly random section. One of the flumphs trails a tentacle along the wall, leaving a faint trail of acid that steams and marks the rock. "Here, the passage was sealed here, and then again at the other end."

Zz'Pzora growls as she begins to grow, "Stand back. I will handle this." Within a few moments she is back in her natural form, and begins clawing at the wall, her claws sinking into it like it was soft clay and molding it just as easily. It takes a few minutes of effort, but soon enough she has scraped the stone aside, revealing another hidden passage.

She does the same with the rocks at the other end, and this time a large cavern is revealed. A tall wall that is crumbling in several spots lies before you, and you can see part of a spiraling city beyond it. The keep supposedly housing the Elder brain is only a few hundred paces away, although none of your allies is sure of exactly where inside of the building it was.

Velon smiles when they see the keep and is sure to thank their flumph allies.  "What will you do now?" he asks them quietly.

Velon asks Lawrance and the others how they might best approach, but also casts Locate Object while picturing a giant brain in various forms.

"While we may be protected against their obvious, native forms of attack, all their mind-slaves will be an issue. I can keep up to five of us invisible until we attack, hiding our force's strength for as long as possible, or I could send a cloud of poison into their lair ahead of us as our harbinger. It would even affect those that don't need to breathe. It would be less noisy an approach. I would ask that, once we find the brain and it's tank or container, you allow me the chance to cast one of my most powerful spells on it - before we all move in - and hopefully so serious damage to it, before we attack the attendants?"

"I could definitely use the help of invisibility" replies Velon.  When Lawrance vaguely asks about trying a spell but doesn't say what it is, Velon tries really hard to keep being a better leader., and bite his tongue on all of the times the wizard has tried to force a spell into a situation because he was really excited about it, not because it actually fit the situation well.  "Ah, um, Lawrance, ah, sure, if the situations fits, serious damage sounds great!"

"So," ponders Lawrance out loud "Start with a good cloaking for a bunch of us, then WHAM! with the pillar of gravity reversal before anyone gets too close, then BOOM! let them fall. Any giant brain should be suitably mush from that." Turning back to Velon and the group he adds "Don't rush in until my spell happens, and if we are lucky you may only need to wipe up the mess."

Zz'Pzora, back in her humanoid form, raises an eyebrow, "Good speculation, but aren't you skipping a step? How do we reach the brain in the first place? I'm more used to hunting on my own."

Velon tells Zz’Pzora “forgive him, he gets very excited about new spells.”

Agreeing to approach via invisibility on the least stealthy five or so, Velon tells their dragon friend “we’ll figure it out as we go.”  “You’re with me.”

Lawrance looks abashed as the others point out the lack of access. "Well, yes, but I'm sure we can get there somehow. That's why the Invisibility. I can't cover everyone though, so who else can go invisible these days?"

Cratol will be ready to head into the breech once it is open.  If offered invisibility he will accept it.

Not realizing he should be trying to locate a creature, not an 'object' in the brain, Velon gives up his magical search.  He then focuses his mind on Lathander's Tears and hopes for more luck (via Locate Object).

Velon also asks zz'Pzora if they'd rather go through the wall or over it, if they have more stone shape that could do the trick, and/or even if the team just manually worked to create a hole, could they cover it with an illusion for a time.

Eventually the group decides to go through the wall, Zz'Pzora warns you, "This is the last of my shaping magics for the day." As she finds a spot and begins clawing a hole through it.

The stone is thick, but soon enough you find yourself in what was once a great kitchen. It is obviously no longer in use, its covered in thick dust and the cooking implements are little more than piles of rust. Everything seems quiet.

(Pending any new info from Locate Object, an illusion from anyone over the hole we just made, someone wanting to throw up a Detect Magic, etc....)

Velon nods to his stealth team, headed by Poljen along with Mari, Cratol, etc. to perhaps take the lead in exploring out from the kitchen.  If anyone has an illusion or some detect magic at the ready, he'd also verify if those are options one last time.

Cratol heads out with Poljen and Mari to find the main brain.  He knows the sooner they find it the better it will be for all.  Creating chaos in this city would be grand.