Kinyel looks confused at Kaylyn's response, and only briefly answers: What black jewel? when Sirak draws near. With a wave to Kaylyn to hold that thought, Kinyel turns and speaks rapidly with Sirak in Elvish. The drow dialect is difficult but the meaning is clear, as is the fact that Kinyel is expertly spinning a fictional story to cover the facts. Kinyel persuades Sirak that a drow mage and his bodyguard had arranged to sell some slaves to the Zhentarim, and arrived in the outpost instead of at another location, causing confusion. She brought them all here to temporarily await while the Zhents make arrangements for transfer to the surface. The story seems to satisfy Sirak, who walks back to the drow warehouse.

With a visible sigh of relief, Kinyel turns back to Kaylyn and says softly: Your words are cryptic, half-breed. You know my name, and yet clearly you haven't followed me here from Menzoberranzan. If you've come to arrange an assassination, I must tell you that I'm out. The last one went poorly and I have to lie low. But I'll give you a contact in Menzo you can try. Find Jarlaxle in the ruins of House Do'Urden. You'll need his approval before you order a hit. Now... I'm going to stay here and sort out this mess. If you want to go speak with the duergar or the svirfneblin, then please go now. I've not been here long enough to learn their names, but Krimgol does not sound familiar to me.

Pax turns on her heels and starts walking towards the Duergar section without another word.  After a few dozen steps she stops and looks back to see if everyone is following.

With Kinyel's help, the group have avoided any uncomfortable questions about their presence in Mantol-Derith, and are free to do as they please. After a time Kinyel informs the escaped slaves that she has convinced the Zhentarim to take Derendil and Eldeth back to the surface on their next trip. Jimjar joins up with the gnome enclave and awaits the next convoy back to Bligdenstone. Sarith likewise plans to accompany the next drow shipment back to Menzoberranzan, while Shuushar slips quietly away towards the Darklake.

A few inquiries at the duergar enclave is sufficient to learn that Krimgol is not here and isn't expected any time soon. Clearly the gem has not yet made it to Mantol-Derith. Yantha the gnome is also not yet here, but is expected to arrive within the next few days. Vizeran doesn't appear to have been recognised by any of the drow, which suits him fine (he says he would have come into conflict with any that know him as a heretic who has abandoned the worship of Lolth). He is ready to return to his tower and commence preparations for the ritual while the rest of the group acquire the beholder eye and the purple worm egg.

(Let me know if I've missed anyone's actions or questions or anything.)

Pax spends the the next couple hours making sure all of their group is settled down.  She makes sure she bids Jimjar a good trip back, and to watch out for the wererats and slime folk. Hopefully, she says, if they visit, Jimjar can speak up for them and grant them an audience with the elders. Perhaps they may help them deal with the rat 'problem' and make everyone's lives better.  She makes a note that they may need to go make peacemakers after this is all done, for that issue wasn't a demon problem and made her feel good to resolve. 

She bids a quiet goodbye to Sarith. She asks, if they happen to be in Menzoberranzan, where or how they may look him up. Prisoners have to stick together after all. 

If she's able to notice Shuushar before he's gone, she'll tell him to keep a low profile. Demons are about, but also, she heard a nest of Mind Flayers may be near the lake and their village.  Their clan should take precautious to try and go unnoticed for a while.  She notes to herself that the Mind Flayers is an issue that also needs to be dealt with, regardless of the demons.  It goes next on her list. 

Otherwise, she seeks out Kinyel at the Zhentarim trading post. She thanks her for all the assistance avoiding any unpleasantness.  Then she begs after access to some surface food.  She'll spend a good amount of gold purchasing cheese, meats, potato, fruit, or anything else that she can get her hands on. She'll then stuff her face. 

All that done, she will try and round up the group. "I suggest we do a proper rest here before returning to Vizeran's tower. Who knows if the underdark mists will interfere again, but teleportation has been too error prone for my tastes and I'm exhausted." 

Lastly, before the decide to finally depart Mantol-Derith she will once again seek out Zilchyn.  "I hope that spell book is going a long way to helping you recover your spells. I know you are an information broker, so let me tell you a couple of things, again, in return for our future alliance.  First, when a Duergar named Krimgol arrives, he may have a dark gem with him. Looking into this gem imparts madness. If left unchecked, it will tear Mantol-Derith apart. You may be in a position to stop this, if it's still an issue by the time it gets here. Now, when I first met you, in the future, you asked me what I knew about Fraz-Urb’luu.  Fraz-Urb'luu is the demon that infects this gem. But. Is there another reason you may have asked me about this demon? Is there something you know about it? This information could be helpful, and valuable. Sharing, between friends....is nice. As you've already experienced." 

Otherwise, Pax is ready to move on. 

It was good to have a place to rest, even more so, to have others to be taken care of. Only one thing was still bothering Sekkar and he wanted to clear it up before the big hunt. The lizardman took Eldeth aside after her travel to the surface was assured. "Don't think you need the warning to keep an eye on zhents, but I wanted to tell you about Derendil. He might get worse soon, losing his mind completely. Or he can become a full quaggoth again. Not violent," (Sekkar pushed the memory of Derendil after the charm of the gem was gone away), "but closer to what quaggoths usually are. Don't abandon him, he'll need a helping hand." He checked his backpack and pockets and gave the dwarf 30gp. "Would not get you too far but might help on the way. Good luck!"

With that settled, Sekkar concentrated on preparations for the hunt. He asked around about Pebbles. If the gnome could be found - he'll try to track him down. If not, he'll try to learn how to get to the Chasmleap Bridge to find Pebbles's employer - Xazax the Eyemonger.

"Thank you Kinyel. You have helped us.   I do not need an assassination at this time but will remember who you you told me to see if I do.   As for a black jewel.   If you see one, stay clear of it.   It will cause madness and misery.   Destroy it if you can though it will take a weapon touched by the Weave to do so."

As Krimgol and Yantha are not around Kaylyn forgoes trying to warn further about the black gem.

She will take the time to recall Pensive now that things have settled down and she has the time to concentrate on the spell.

Glad to have him again by her side she gathers with the others. 

"Vizeran needs to rest for the night and then we can proceed to his tower tomorrow.   If we are lucky we may be able to find Xazax before then and continue our quest."

Kirin will ask about Pax about prospect of spell trading, in particular Fly or Dimension Door and if so, ask if he can spend the gold for material for spell copying in the area. 

Depending on how time is, Kirin will go with Pax to the Zhentarim asking about the agents who would be escorting him to the Underdark and seeing he disappeared on route or just never left his research academy yet.

Pax nods to Kirin, "Yes, I suppose that seems fair. Do you have any spells you'd be willing to share with me? Perhaps that Tiny Hut spell and maybe something else, like how those demons got sent away for a while during that combat or something?"  (though it will have to wait. At 50gp / level, and a total of 84gp to her name, she can't scribe anything at the moment.) 

Also, if it's ok, Pax sells the loot from the drow outpost. 323 gold worth. (not including weapons/armor/poison, wand or potions)  She'll give 64 gold to each person.

"First we need to determine if the materials for copying spells are avaiable to us but should it, I'm more then willing to trade spells from our books as it will greatly improve our options going forward," Kirin replies.

Rhayna says goodbye to Sarith. “Take care of yourself.” She is glad she had the opportunity to see him again. Since things seems to be normal at this point in time, she asks that Stool stays close to her, and she stays with the group. She could use some rest herself. While they are resting, she spends some time speaking with Stool telepathically. She mentally shows it their experiences in Neverlight Grove. “So as you see little one, it is not safe for you to go home at the moment. If we are able to make things right, and whenever is safe for you to go home. I will gladly take you there myself.”

Jimjar shakes Pax's hand, nods, taps his fat nose and says: You know stuff, don't ya! I'll bet 10 gold we'll be seeing each other again, what? Whether he accepts the whole time-travel story or not, he certainly is impressed with the fact that Pax knows about the wererat colony in Bligdenstone, and promises to pass on the idea of bringing them in to the main group, as well as vouch for them if and when they do come there.

Sarith is surprisingly cold for someone who's had the shared experience of being a slave, but then he is a typical drow and probably the usual amount of cold, in contrast to Zilchyn and Kinyel for example. He offers nothing to Pax except that in return for bringing him this much closer to Menzoberranzan he won't inform House Mizzrym of the fact that Pax and her crew slew Ilvara and all the others in Velkynvelve. He will make up his own story of a gallant fight and a narrow escape, and claim some glory and hopefully higher standing for himself. As cold-hearted as he is, at least his offer ensures House Mizzrym won't be after the group when they do go to Menzo, as none survived to tell of the slave uprising.

Once Shuushar understands which kuo-toa village is under threat from mind flayers, he prepares to travel there and warn them, confident that he will arrive long before Orcus has time to zombify the elder brain and take control of the mind flayer colony.

Zilchyn has an impressive knowledge of demonology, which is apparently a major subject of study at the mage academy of Sorcere in Menzoberranzan. He says the lore around Fraz-Urblu is that the demon lord formed a black gem to prevent his being forcefully summoned out of the Abyss (having spent many years trapped on the Material Plane in the past). With Pax's warning about the gem, Zilchyn understands the danger and agrees to watch out for it when Krimgol eventually arrives. However, piecing together the order of events, it is likely that Krimgol won't arrive for about another 50 days at least.

Pax has good luck with the Zhents, who at first are reluctant to give up any of their precious surface food, but relent when they see the color of Pax's gold. Since they are due to go topside soon and get restocked, she gets what she needs for a cost of 20 gp. (She also gets a glimpse of Lorthuun, the beholder with only four eye stalks who keeps guard over the warehouse.) This being a trading post, there is no problem selling excess items, and there is even enough scribing material for sale to scribe six levels worth of spells. (More precisely, there is 300 gp worth of scribing components, which at the normal rate of 50gp per spell level will make six spells. Of course the wizard's Savant feature can double that for spells of the relevant school).

Kirin does the maths and realises that he only first learned of the demon invasion shortly before joining the Zhentarim convoy, which is still about another twenty days from now. Seeing that the Zhents here in Mantol-Derith are planning to make another trip to the surface in a few days, taking the slaves with them, and knowing that the journey down here took about 20 days of travel, Kirin deduces that this convoy heading upwards is likely the same one that later returns with Kirin. Whether there is another Kirin still on the surface yet to learn of the demon invasion, he cannot tell.

Sekkar makes a thorough search of the outpost and finds no trace of Peebles, nor anyone that has seen a gnome of his description. Considering that it is at least another 50 days until they were here before, it is likely the surgeon-gnome simply hasn't arrived yet. However, given that the group have in fact met the gnome before (in the future), Sekkar wonders whether the magic-users in the group can't use their fancy sending and scrying spells on people they met in the future but haven't yet met in the past...

Rhayna is pleased to see that Stool seems to be warming up to her. At the very least, it prefers to stay with her rather than be left somewhere alone, and besides there aren't many places safe enough to leave it anyway. Perhaps Bligdenstone, but maybe not until after the Pudding King is dealt with. Perhaps Vizeran's tower, although Rhayna hasn't seen it yet. For now Stool seems content to remain with Rhayna.

Pax uses 100 gp of the available scribing to copy Banishment, an Abjuration spell and now has 1gp to her name.  That leaves Kirin 200gp worth of scribing materials (or 4 levels worth), assuming Kirin has 200gp to buy the materials. 

She relishes the surface food, eating down far more than is reasonable for a person her size. 

Otherwise, Pax is looking forward to a long rest and departing to Vizerans tower after. 

Kirin would want to transcribe Fly for 150gp, he wants to be an aerial bomber. Otherwise, he's ready to move on.

Sekkar returned empty-handed but had time to think it over. "So, no one around here knows Pebbles nor could tell where Chasmleap Bridge is. But we all saw that gnome. Can any of you mages track him? He must be by his master, that Xazax the Eyemonger. We find gnome - we find the beholder. Or," Sekkar even pointed up emphasizing the importance of the idea, "we can ask that "good" beholder here. We helped him before... after... no matter, he might know where his other friend is?"

"Sekkar, you are looking for Pebbles. Please let me help." Rhayna finds a suitable place, makes herself comfortable, then she takes out the Stonespeaker Crystal. "Please give me a few minutes." She pray to the Goddess, and casts Scrying, looking for the gnome called Pebbles. (WIS Save DC 18, he should get a -5 because Rhayna knows him?)

(I would classify Rhayna's knowledge of Peebles as 'Firsthand'. She has met him, but doesn't know him well.)  Peebles WIS save: 1

Rhayna seats herself down in a corner of the small mushroom grove in the gnome compound, and focuses on the crystal. An image emerges in her mind... the face of Peebles, scrunched up in concentration... panning out Rhayna sees that he is working busily at a task... sewing... sewing a severed eyestalk onto the outer flesh of a beholder.... panning out more... the beholder has at least sixteen eyestalks, half of which don't match the rest of the creature, and just hang limply, while Peebles the gnome labors at sewing on the newest... panning out more... the two are huddled in a small cave, surrounded by what looks like a random assortment of items - some weapons and armor, some coins both loose and in open bags, and all manner of mundane stuff, some of which looks like it originated on the surface world, including a divan bed upholstered in velvet! That's the extent of the vision that Rhayna can see. The gnome is breathing heavily through his nose as he works, but makes no conversation with the beholder.

Vizeran has sufficient time to rest (he is rather elderly, even for an elf) and is ready to transport everyone to his tower when they are ready. From there he says he can fix the helm, and perhaps make a plan for what to do next...

Presuming Rhayna shares the vision, Pax nods.  She is ready to go. "Good job Rhyana. I suppose we know where we're headed once the helm is fixed. I suppose it's Vizeran's tower. Then until the helm is fixed,  we're going hunting worm eggs? After that we can argue about wether we go looking for a double of Sekkar's sword first, or if we go straight for this beholder."  She grins at Sekkar, knowing the question of the sword makes the lizard man uncomfortable, but says nothing more.

Whether Sekkar was amused or annoyed by Pax's sudden playful persistence remained a mystery. Right now the lizardman listened to Rhayna's description, and listened a bit skeptically - he would not be able to find direction to the beholder's home based on the interior of the cave. He just hoped that for Kaylyn and her helmet it was enough. In the worst case there always was that crippled beholder here, that still could fight. "Maybe he would even want to join us? After all, that monster, the Eyemonger, is after his last eyes."

But Sekkar did not mind a good worm-egg hunt first and was ready to move to Vizeran's tower. (Speaking of which - before the group moved anywhere, he asked the one who hold the portable citadel, if the thing is still in the backpack. Sekkar did not forget the greedy looks old drow cast on the thing.)

"Know your enemy, know yourself. What do we know about Purple Worms? I know it's a dangerous beast and it digs," Kirin comments, "More preparation and even a plan, the better our chances as some of us can better prepare spells for possible encounters. Do we have anywhere or someone who can fill us in on purple worm abilities? Yes, I like information, it helps keep one alive"

Rhayna tells Sekkar what she saw about Pebbles. "I am sorry, that is all that I saw." She replies to Sekkar. "I could ask the Goddess directly regarding this Purple Worm creature, but I need to rest."  She replies to Kirin. (Rhayna is out of lvl5 spell slots) "I could get some rest at Vizeran's tower or here. It is up to you guys."