#11 The Lady's Gift

Location: Gracklstugh

the next day, Mylz disguises Zaz; the party will call him Zam for now

Party splits up to investigate West Cleft District and Darklake District

Spiderbait is sick, so Yuk Yuk stays at the inn with him
Topsy & Turvy are too scared to go to West Cleft District and they advise Ront & Derendil to stay behind with them; their appearances will frighten the derro
everyone else flashes their badges and makes their way to Laduguer's Furrow

upon reaching the bottom of West Cleft District, the Surface-dwellers are shocked by the living conditions

Skjorn casts light; Mylz and Zaz spot some derro waiting in ambush
Mylz gives a coin to a nearby derro and tries to explain that they'er looking for someone; the derro keeps the coin and yells at her to leave

Skjorn and Mylz decide to go back to Darklake District, leaving Dibrael, Zaz, Eldeth, Jimjar, Junior, and Sarith behind

Zaz recognizes a symbol in thieves' cant carved above a house
Jimjar offers to speak to the resident in Undercommon, but he doesn't know thieves' cant, so he gets a dagger pulled on him
Sarith roughly translates between the resident and Zaz, and they successfully get a meeting time but no location

Mylz keeps an eye out for shady people in the Darklake District

she spots a suspicious derro and persuades them to talk about Droki in exchange for money
the derro tells Mylz how to find Droki's home and where they last saw him: at the Darklake Docks
Mylz questions some fisherman at the docks, who say Droki was last seen coming from here and heading in the direction of Laduguer's Furrow

Mylz and Skjorn return to West Cleft District to meet up with the others

Party makes their way to Droki's home, being forced to intimidate, fight, and evade multiple hostile derro along the way
they hide outside until Droki comes out at the specified meeting time; he immediately spots Jimjar (who completely failed to use stealth), shouts "WAH," and starts running
Party chases him, having to literally push past hostile derro trying to stop them, until he makes a sharp turn and disappears

Mylz immediately spots the hidden entrance to Whorlstone Tunnels

Party follows Droki inside; they see him eat a mushroom and shrink in size before slipping into a narrow crack
Party continues to track his movements until they lose him in a tunnel packed with mushrooms

Party meets an unsettling group of dancing myconids and tries to communicate with them

their leader, Voosbur, says they came here "through the Lady's dream" and offers to "share the Lady's gift" with them
- Junior is apprehensive and Sarith seems to be in a daze; he tries to communicate but can't
Rumpadump, who Junior recognizes, sends a subtle distress signal to the party; they invite it to join them and it quickly agrees
Party declines Voosbur's offer and hold back Sarith while the myconids dance past, melding into the mushroom tunnel and disappearing
Skjorn is sad he couldn't dance with them

Party goes back through the mushroom thicket and runs into a flumph on the other side

Party finds room with faerzress swirling up around a mesa; it echoes various sounds from around Gracklstugh

Mylz climbs to the top and focuses on Themberchaud's voice; he is complaining about his meal

Party tracks Droki to a locked laboratory and Zaz breaks in

Party fights 3 duergar, during which Skjorn fails a spell and casts mirror image instead; he flirts with his copies until they disappear
Party catches a 4th duergar trying to flee and intimidates him into answering some questions until his self-administered poison kicks in
- he reveals that they work with the Gray Ghosts, but were told not to explore further into the caves; Droki has already left
Party loots laboratory and finds a letter from Gorglak, revealing that he was the one who hired assassins on Werz Saltbaron

Party squeezes into a small cave nearby and takes a short rest to heal