Location: The Underdark
on the way to Gracklstugh, Party has various encounters
- Party pass by nest of 100s of baby giant spiders
- Party notices Topsy & Turvy getting antsy, but they refuse to explain
- Party must climb up a high ledge, where they discover ShadowScratch
- Party meets friendly dwarf scouts who warn them of a nearby drow trading post; they decide to go the long way around
- Party walks through a cave filled with webs and fights more giant spiders
- Party finds large mushroom forest made of Zurkhwood, Barrelstalk, and Bluecap
one day, Party finds a waterfall that flows up against gravity
- Skjorn plays in the waterfall
- Zaz picks up Junior, then glides it down from the top of the waterfall
- Zaz returns Junior to Sarith, noticing that he's hunched over in pain
- Zaz asks Sarith if he's okay, but Sarith dodges all questions and insists it's just a headache
Zaz takes Dibrael to the top of the waterfall
Mylz notices that Topsy & Turvy have gone missing
- Mylz asks Derendil to help her look; Skjorn overhears and follows them
- the twins were last spotted going further into the forest, so they follow their tracks until they disappear
they spot rat tracks next, and worry the gnomes have been eaten or dragged off
- Skjorn says "it looks like a rat pope has been here," whatever that means
- they follow the rat tracks until they hear rustling in the mushroom bushes
- Mylz tries and fails to stealth, causing the rats to flee
- Derendil catches one, and the other freezes and stays nearby to watch
Mylz tries to communicate with it and deduces that it's scared
- Skjorn gives it some cheese, which it holds but doesn't eat
- Mylz says that they're looking for their "friends," which makes the rats go "🥺" for some reason
Mylz leads them back to the group and asks Dibrael to question the rats
- Dibrael transforms into a rat, surprising everyone
- he explains to the rats that he's a druid and that they mean them no harm
- one rat sighs and says "hi, Dibrael" and explains that they are Topsy and Turvy
- Mylz realizes she can ask Junior to spread its telepathy spores, so everyone can understand now
it's revealed the gnomes are wererats and were afraid of the party's reaction, so they tried to run away
- Party reassures them everything is okay and asks a bunch of questions to learn more about their condition