Fianna, considering this, ponders for a moment.  The threat of many raiding parties doesn't worry her too much, FinFin has eyes outside and will give warning.  Besides, this group was not all that bothersome.  

     "This adviser...  The one you say knows about this place and sent you magical knowledge.  Tell me what you know of him..." Fianna says is softly, almost as one would ask a friend.  She may not be as persuasive as the bard but she did have some skills in the area.  Jahren could always play the bad cop if need be.  ((Fianna would really reach for this information, pressing for it.  She's eager to find out if this is the same figure as Mirica and she faced early in their adventures - the one with the displacer beasts. Persuasion roll if needed: 17 ))

     "The raiding parties...  Are they raiding in search of more weirding vats or just raiding in general?"  ((Fianna will dance around this topic a bit too.  Looking to find out if there are more of these vats, of course.  But also trying to find out if there are indeed more raiding parties involved in this little chemical romance, their numbers, locations...  Persuasion again if needed: 11 ))

((lol, rolled 6 for each of the three rolls...  that is ominous!))

     "Now this cave where you were delivering the items to..." Fianna says, teasingly.  "We really do not need to kill you.  We are taking you stuff, will be burning those nasty scraps you were wearing, but your life is still very much in the balance.  If you guide us true, you will earn your freedom...  Do you promise that you will not guide us astray?"  ((Basically she is trying to read the creature, to find out if he is being true or not.  Insight: 13 ))

((And edited my comment on the rolls into the wrong spot... but not fixing for fear of it saying roll tampering!))

Jezun is also trying to read the goblin, and he eases up on the restraining hold, but has been watching body language, feeling for trembling, trying to help Fianna get a read on things. (Insight: 16 -- feel free to take the vanilla 20 roll and add Fianna's modifier if this is a real help action, or could also take Jezun's roll!

He also offers two questions: "Who's this adviser, tell me more about them" and "does the goo in the weirding vats have any... risks? Can it explode? Does it burn? Is it volatile? Is it all connected in this fragment of city?"

Mirica did not interfere with the questioning. Her job was to make sure the goblin is alive and able to answer. The only comment she made was to herself "I feel like I need a book or something about "Netherese culture". Now the Shadow city...  No doubts bound to the Shadow realm". Mirica promised to herself to ask Toc later - he had to have some kind of library in his mansion.

Jahren had been looking about the room, flying up over any ledges on the side on his carpet if need be to ensure there are no more chambers, passages, etc.  Upon hearing Fianna's questioning, he happily focused his attention on Gorig to discern if he is lying at all or if he is holding anything back before the bard considers getting involved in the conversation.

Insight: 24

Gorig's head seems to be clearing as he glances around at the carnage in the room.  Where his first few answers were straight forward and honest, a shrewd gleam enters his eyes. Fianna doesn't think much of it, but Jahren measures each word carefully. 

Gorig responds to her questions, somewhat haltingly, "The advisor...was a great and powerful wizard. He seemed to know about weirding vats, things impossible to know...but...Gorig is clever, he was only ever here as an illusion. He would stroll about, but sometimes his body would pass through a hanging chain or a rock. He was Netherese though...I know this.  He was called Aldlas. He helped me learn how to improve the goblins and gnolls with the weirding fluid.  My raiding parties exist to do the dragons work. Raid farms, raid travellers, bring back treasure to appease the dragon. This is their only job. They come back with treasure, they are ok. If not, things are not ok. Maybe I try weirding vat to do things haven't done before. Not always work out so good. Anyway, there are no more vats. Netherese city destroyed, this is all that's left."  (Jahren thinks he's telling the whole truth on all of this.)

"Sure, I will take you to cave and not guide you astray."  (Jahren believes he's telling the truth about not guiding them astray, but....if the mistruth in his voice is probably because if he gets the chance to escape...he will.)

Toc responds to Mirica, "I have limited material on Netheril. I will share books with you when we return. I can tell you it was an ancient empire. Perhaps the first human empire on all of Faerun.  They received some special magical scrolls of knowledge from another realm that taught them the way of untold magic. They built a massive sprawling empire that included dozens of cities and citadels that floated in the sky and could fly around. They created the precursors of common spells we use today. The floating cities were due to some large magical power source called a Mythallar...which...translates to "Greater Mythal".  So, something greater than the Mythal that surrounds Myth Drannor.  But then their greatest magician, Karsa, attempted to ascend to godhood and cast a spell more powerful than should have been possible. All magic stopped for an instant and the Netherse empire crashed to the ground, literally.  The god who controlled magic, Mystryl, was killed, and instantly reborn as Mystra. She changed the rules of magic to limit how powerful it could become, to prevent such folly. But the damage was done, the Netheril empire was largely in ruin, and went into decline. Recently with the spell plague, something changed about magics limits. Then, one of these Netheril cities, Thulthanthar, or Shade, appeared, floating in the sky.  Apparently it escaped the downfall of it's empire by hiding in the shadow realm.  Hundreds of years in the shadow realm had changed them though...and their leadership had become the Shadovar we know today.  However, their leader brought their city here, trying to use the power of our Mythal for some foul deed, and were at war with us, when Elminister in his infinite wisdom decided to bring the city crashing down upon Myth Drannor, destroying both cities."  Mirica gets a hint of spite, and Jahren turns, hearing a subtle but insidious taste of pure venom in Toc's voice.  It's clear, Toc has a burning rage somewhere deep inside and for part of it, he directs it at Elminster.

Toc undergoes a subtle shift as he clearly tames his emotions, then...rather flatly says, "So, where to next?  Visit the dragons cave with this goblin, or something else?" 

Jahren approaches Gorig, stares at him intently and uses Message to silently interrogate him with a bit of extra effect, casting it multiple times as necessary.

"You are wise to tell the truth, Gorig, as I would know if you lie and could finish the job of shattering your mind with a single word."

"Where does Verdant Cloud make her lair?"  "Where do her children rest?"

The goblins was pretty much taken care fore and Mirica could allow herself s bit of useful distraction in form of a small lecture about Netheril. Toc's bitterness did not surprise her - even if Elminister was saving the whole world, he used that elf's family, home, all his people as as means to stop the threat. It is very hard to see some bigger picture trough such lens. But she only nodded in understanding: "All as usual - greed of one costs lives to many." She did not specify who she meant. "Thank you, this was informative. So, this stuff is from the Shadow realm... Back in Cormyr there is always someone around talking about the Shadovar who are just about to come and conquered the Cormyr, or the Silver Marches or the Dales - anything close enough to the Sand Sea. Never listened, of course, but now I think I had to pay more attention to those doomsayers. Even if it is a pure superstition and baseless, I would like to see this stuff burned." She looked at the good with even more disgust now. "If only for precaution. And I will remind you about the books later - time to learn about the enemy."

(Would Jezun remember anything about his experiences with the cult of Shar being connected to what he's hearing now about the Shadovar, if in fact he can hear what Toc's saying?)

     As for next, assuming there is no sighting of any incoming raiding parties, FinFin will fly to the Halflings.  FinFin, or rather Fianna through FinFIn, will explain that the goblins that raided them have been caught and dispatched.  There danger is not gone, for there are definitely stay fragments that escaped but we believe we have taken down the brains of the operation, and the cause of the weird mutations and explosions. They will further be advised of directions to this location - There is bolts of cloth, kegs of fish and of beer as well as unworked iron rods. These would be poor recompense for their losses, but they are here for their taking if they wish to risk the journey.  ((Much safer journey, but still not free of danger...))

     While FinFin is flying, Fianna would consult with Toc.  "Surely this 'weirding vat' must be destroyed...  But I worry there may be others out there.  And, could there be some connection to this warped magic with the damage to the weave itself?"

     To the group in general Fianna will point out that Aldlas is surely much more than Mirica and she took him for when they first encountered him.  "He is going to need to be stopped.  He is a many with fingers in many pies, it seems.  And all of them vile."

     For now, except for destroying the vat before they depart, Fianna sees no real target besides the rendezvous where Gorig drops off the loot.  It's unclear exactly who would be found there but it's likely someone higher up the food chain than the goblin.  They could try to track down the supposed other raiding parties but that is grunt work, their time is better spent targeting bigger threats....  But if someone else has an idea, Fianna is all ears.  ((Though not literally. A person who was all ears would be weird and useless...))

As Toc tells his abbreviated historic story, Jezun is indeed reminded of Shar.  "Yes, Shar is the one who rescued the city of Shade from the downfall of Netheril!  And kept them in their domain. The Shadovar worship her and their return is one of the reasons the city I came from is overrun by Shar's servants!" 

Toc raises an eyebrow, but adds nothing. 

Gorig looks to Jahren in sudden alarm. He mentally responds to Jahren, "I don't know where her lair is. Nor her children...though....I heard a rumor the biggest boy one got killed by a golden dragonkin. We had to give some of my gnolls to a orc chieftain who was ordered by Verdant Cloud to hunt him down and kill him. That was a few days ago...." 

FinFin sees no returning battle parties and flies north to the halflings. Once out of the forest finding their farm from the air is pretty easy and she swoops in. They clamour with excitement, speaking over each other in an attempt to each get a turn talking to the tiny creature. Their appreciation is clear, they thank FinFin and the group so much. Though it's clear there will be no attempt to breach the forest and search for the remaining treasure. 

Toc looks to the vats after Fianna's comments.  "I share your concerns about these vats Fianna. I...can do limited damage here.  I suppose I could spend a few days here, using a powerful disintegrate spell to eliminate some of these pools...or try to cause a cave in....and leave Tic with you and catch up.  That may be best. Or we could hire miners from Hillsfar to come here and collapse this place."

(To correct you, Aldlas is the Netherese wizard that you've already killed. The one with all the demons. He was restricted from leaving that tomb, but it's possible he used magic to project himself to appear in other places. The guy you both first met was named Ezhia.) 

((Ack, yes yes...   really need to take notes! lol))

     "I'm not comfortable leaving this... stuff... here.  There surely are more goblins out there that know where it is, and even innocents who could stumble in and find it.  Also don't want to leave anyone here alone though.  I should stay with you, at least.  I could throw a few fireballs at the place each day, at least, and be here in case anything sneaks up on this place...  And if FinFin travels with the rest of the group we'll still be in touch and know where they are."

     ((Hmmm... How much of this evil goo is there?  We DO have the Dust of Dryness...  Even if our 5 pinches isn't enough to soak up all the goo...  We could have 5 pellets worth of transportable goo that we could chuck at groups of enemies and douse them with it.))

"I would think your ... double can do the job, but if not - why on earth would we leave you here at all? Surely combined afford of five people can crash that cave. May be if this necklace is thrown at once - that will be enough to collapse the cave and burn some of the stuff. Then, gods willing, I could cove it with thick plants growth and nature would do the rest. Would that work?"

     "Let's save the necklace for desperate times?  I see no point in wasting it when we can get the same effects with just some patience," Fianna advises.  "I'd rather you save the necklace for the heat of battle when we couldn't just rest and do it the next day..."

"All for that. Just do not want us to separate. Especially now when we learned about orcs chieftains running around with hoards of gnolls with them in search of Chen and the rest of us too most likely." Mirica looked around - she was not that accustomed with the masonry or mining. "How do we start?"

Toc shrugs to the group, "My double is capable, but not of casting daily spells. He can cast his spell slots once...ever...and then they are gone. So...they are only used in an emergency."  He begins walking around, inspecting the place.  He returns and sighs, "None of us are laymen with construction or mining skills. I think we can collapse the entrance easily enough, but destroying this whole place is beyond us without a mining crew. And it seems as if something below or in this structure is feeding these pools, so just drying them up may not work.  I suggest we collapse the entrance and then send or escort a mining crew back here later to permanently deal with it."

     "We must, at the least, prevent accidental or easy us of this place until we can think of more permanent solutions,' Fianna agrees.

     "I wonder though... Do we have a way at all of safeguarding the goods we are not taking?  If we're going to spend some time here to collapse the entrance, does anyone have a speedy way to transport the kegs and bolts of fabrics and such to the Halflings?" Fianna asks.

     Fianna also briefly considers how knowledge of this location could possibly benefit Jahren in his dealings... But she does not raise the subject.  Likely he will consider that himself, but if not, perhaps that is for the best.  Fianna decides she would be most comfortable if nobody at all knew about this and they were able to bury it for all time.

"We can do it the old-fashion way, one at the time? It's not like the entrance is too far off. While we are doing it, FinFin could tell to halflings to send some wagon to pick up the goods." Mirica would like, of course, for everything to be done in a second, so they could proceed with more important things, but was a bit overcautious about using magic around that stuff.

Goes without saying, that she would actively help in any of the task - getting everything outside the cave, collapsing the entrance and covering it (if needed) with growing plants.

Once it was done, she was ready to continue their travel to the meeting cave. "Let's have a look at those ettercaps and large spiders. Sounds a bit too simple for a treasury but may be that is the point - just to  be dangerous and unpleasant enough but not overdo it?"

     ((Halflings afraid to come this far to get it... So we may not be able to get it to them, just trying to think of a way...))

(Will roll Insight again if Jahren has any doubt that Gorig truly doesn't know where the various dragon lairs are.)

Jahren asks Toc if he could send Chen a message and warn him of Verdant Cloud's kill order.  If Chen cannot hasten his exit from the region, Jahren will try to find a way to lend additional help.

Jahren is eager to follow the chain of these goods to the next location with the ettercaps, etc.  He has little concern for barrels of fish or bolts of cloth, but offers to help carry the cloth if it helps.