Oak huddles in and speaks privately too... “I tend to agree... If we can help these people’s cause while not making it too obvious we’re helping, we may still be able to play both sides?... The rebellion, the dragon... it all seems to be happening whether we help or not, so there’s really no harm in going along with it, or massaging the way for it... for now... At the very least I say we hear Drokki’s boss out”.

“My interest in all of this is just to find out, from someone who knows, where I was taken from: where my herd might be.... Aside from that, I want to free Trill’s friends, and get out of here (ideally) with stronger allies than enemies!”. 

Trill nods her head.

Drokki begins fiddling with his fingers as the party talks. He begins humming an off-key tune loudly to himself as he begins to riffle through his pockets. He pulls out a tattered and dirty sheet of grayish paper and with a chunk of charcoal tied to a mushroom stalk, he crosses something off from the paper. He stows it away and begins picking small stones and pebbles from outlandish clothing while awaiting a response.

Aimon looks over at Drokki and watches him preen. He then approaches Drokki, and gives him a deep bow.

"Let's go have that chat with your boss then."

As the others are conversing, Caelynn keeps a watchful eye on Drokki to make sure he doesn't try to run again. She still isn't comfortable with the whole situation, but she's willing to trust that the Derro isn't dragging them into some nefarious scheme.

He claps his hands in delight. He exclaims, "Follow me!" He begins leading provider oh through the large street, and he takes one of the side passages that branch off. He leads you down this for some time. The sounds of industry and voices fade behind you, and soon all you can hear is the sound of your feet on the stone and Drokki humming to himself. He occasionally says things to himself and then cackles as if he made the funniest joke in the world. You come to a dead end at the end of the tunnel. Unfazed, Drokki pulls out a small knife and slashes his hand with it. As blood begins falling from his hand, he smears the liquid all over the nearby wall. The wall transforms into a dark vapor, and Drokki cheerfully skips his way into Skip he chamber beyond. 

As you follow him, you find yourself in a narrow corridor that opened into a long cavern lined with stalactites and stalagmites. Water drips from the stalactites, forming small pools of water on the floor. The glow of faezres casts and erie soft light across this cavern, swirling into spiral patterns and casting dancing shadows from the jagged pillars lining the walls. The air smells and tastes slightly metallic, and the sound around you is strangely muted.The dripping of water makes no echo, as if you stood in open air.

He leads you to an area where the tunnel becomes three possible routes. The one to your right holds a grisly scene. A stench of rotting meet rises in the air. The floor is carpeted with humanoid remains in varying status of decomposition, arranged in a spiral pattern around the caves center. You can see a strange creature foraging around in the bodies. It looks similar to a massive, green caterpillar with n impressive pair of jaws coated in blood. It pays you know heed.

Straight ahead of you, the tunnel slopes down to the edges of a large pool that fills the cavern ahead. The opposite shore is nearly 100' away, but nothing can be seen beneath the surface of the black water.You see steam rising from the still surface. 

Drokki takes you to the small chamber to the left. As you follow him in, you can see that this chamber has a thicker of brightly colored fungi growing at the base of the walls. Drokki stands before a tall yet narrow crack in the wall. He stares at the crack for a moment, then leans down and rummages among the fungi, cackling with glee as he plucks a short mushroom and eats it hole. As he finishes the last bite, you see him shrink down to a dolls size, then run into the crack. You hear his say, "Follow me!" in a high-pitched tone.

Aimon can't help put laugh at the situation they find themselves in.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," Aimon says. "It could be a trap but he looked okay. Just tiny."

Aimon quickly searches for mushrooms similar to the one Drokki ate and hands them out to everyone.

He then pops one into his mouth. If he shrinks, he follows Drokki into the crack in the wall.

Assuming Aimon manages to shrink and dash away, Oak looks down at the little mushroom he’s been handed, and then at Caelynn and Trill, and the others.

He looks over at Trill ((is she still invisible?! Lol)). “Trill? Trill? You okay after that blast?... ...”.

He looks concerned at Caelynn, “You okay, m’Lady?... Allying ourselves with ANY of these groups isn’t exactly ideal.... We maybe have to just pick the best of a bad bunch?”.

After any resulting banter, he’ll gobble up the mushroom, and if it works he’ll dash after Aimon.

((Nah, she dropped it right after getting hit with the anti-duergar mine.))

"Okay after that blast."

Trill pats his hand reassuringly, and mimics the sound of crackling lightning as she nimbly hops and does a backflip.

((She saved for half, so only took 7.))

Oak holds both Trill’s shoulders, gently, in his big hands, and crouches slightly to look her in the eye. Then his eyes flick quickly over her body and clothes, checking for injuries, before looking her in the eye again, and smiling and nodding: satisfied and proud of her. “Good...”, he says with another nod, before standing back up straight, towering over her again.

"I'm fine. Just worried is all." Caelynn sighs, absentmindedly fiddling with her braids. "I want to do the right thing, but I don't think any of us know what that is. You're probably right about not trusting the druergar either, though. I just... I thought we were doing something good." She looks down at the tiny mushroom in her hands, then glances up with a small smile. "We should get going. Don't want Aimon getting too far ahead of us." If nobody has anything else to say, she pops the mushroom in her mouth and follows the others through the crevice.

Trill will join the others in shrooming out.

As you eat the mushrooms, you feel as if your entire body is being pinched all at once as you shrink down to be about a few inches tall. You watch as the mushrooms skyrocket until they are the size of massive trees from your perspective. You enter the now huge crevasse and make your way through to the other side.

You exit from the crack after want seems like forever and enter into another small fungal thicket. Drokki hands you each an orangish mushroom with red dots and tells you to save it for later. You march your way up the slope of the tunnel and come to an area where the corridor splits into different paths. Drokki leads you down the path to the right that slants downwards into a forest of towering fungi. Even though they are only 5 feet tall, they look like mountains to you. As Drokki leads you through it, a hissing sound starts to rise --- like uncounted tiny voices whispering in tongues you don't understand. 

Once on the other side to the grove, Drokki instructs you to eat the mushroom he gave each of you. As you do, you expand to your normal size with a wave of dizziness and nausea. He explains the the thicket was full of "creepy-crawlies" that attack big people. 

He leads you on through the tunnel that curves to the left before a wide tunnel branches to the right. He ignores it and continues on until the tunnel opens up into a large cavern. The glow of faezres shifts across this chamber as if pushed by an unseen wind. It flows toward and around a large mesa and continues to spiral upward, but the ceiling of the cavern is too dark and high to see. You hear murmurs and whispers coming from atop the mesa, which grow louder as you approach. Its stacked levels resemble steps to a staircase, but a ramp running from top to bottom provides easy access. 

Do you check it out?

Caelynn nears the mesa but doesn't climb it (unless that's where Drokki went). She does pause for a moment to try and pick out what the whispers are saying before continuing on after their guide.

Perception: 19

Oak brings up the rear, still a little dizzy from the experience of regaining his normal size. He thinks about asking ‘what’s that?’, when he hears the hissing whispers but everyone else is quiet and Drokki is to far ahead of him to ask quietly. He sees Caelynn’s ears prick up, and he tries to listen too...

Oak’s perception check: 12 

((lol, doh!)) He tries to concentrate, but a wave of nausea comes over him. Instinctually, he grabs the new trinket Trill gave him, and the feeling subsides.

Trill will cast comprehend languages as they approach and the whispers are distinct enough to hear, assuming that she doesn't understand them already.

Even with her sensitive ears, Caelynn can't quite make out what the sounds are. She's just too far away to separate the sounds from each other. 

The same goes for Trill. The distance is too great to pick out individual sounds.

The mesa rises about 70 feet into the air. You can see the yellowish faezres in the room pulse to a rhythm of some kind. Straining your ears, you think the faezres pulse in unison with the sounds you can hear.

((She'll hold off on casting then.))

Aimon follows their guide, looking back to make sure the others are okay. Maybe he should have discussed eating the mushroom with them first, but it all seemed to work out.

He looks up towards the mesa and then over at Drokki.

”So, what’s up top?” he asks.

Drokki stops in his tracks and looks up the at the mesa. He says, "Nothing but whispers and mental quippers."

Still looking at the top, you see a crooked grin begin to form on is face that doesn't match the manic gleam in his eyes as he says, "Once, Drugguth went up there, and Drokki came down. Drugguth was such a useless clown." He throws his head back begins laughing uncontrollably, and the sound of his laughter echoes loudly in the chamber.