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That night, however, they had an extremely unexpected visitor. Kithrak Voss himself – appearing on foot, in twilight, and holding his hands out in a gesture of peace.

Kithrak told them he had heard of what had happened at the Creche… and now saw an opportunity. He said the Vlaathik had lied to the Githyanki about many, many things. Among them Ascension – an honor where highly accomplished Githyanki take their place living in her own demi-plane. According to Kithrak, instead she consumed the souls of powerful Githyanki to fuel her godhood. The Githyanki were as much enslaved to her as they ever were to the Illithid, and he wished to free his people from the madness. He believed the “resident of the prism” could help accomplish that by proving her deceit.

Lae’zel was initially outraged at this blasphemy, but when Jasper reminded her that Vlaakith had already branded her a traitor and marked her for death – before they had even had a chance to act inside the Prism – she was forced to accept the truth. She struggled – staring into the fire. But ultimately decided- in her words – “I did not betray Vlaakith. She betrayed me. She betrayed us all.”

Kithrak gave them a psionic detector, to warn them when Githyanki assault squads portaled in nearby. And he asked them to meet him at a place called Sharess’ Caress in Baldur’s Gate. In the meantime he merely asked that Lae’zel think carefully about what she believed vs what she knew. Then he disappeared back into the shadows.

Back inside the hidden Selunite Sanctum in the former goblin stronghold, they descended the secret path they had discovered earlier. It quickly turned to a long ladder leading down vertically for what seemed an eternity.

At the end they found themselves in an old Selunite outpost. Scattered notes indicated that the outpost had failed because it simply underestimated the inherent hostility of the Underdark. Drow raiders, monsters… they all took their toll until it was abandoned.

Nearby the found more evidence of this hostility – a petrified garden of goblins, dwarves, drow, and others. Jasper was getting a very bad feeling about this…

Borne out when the garden’s reason showed itself. A Spectator!

This resulted in a running battle spreading out and taking turns shooting at the beast from cover until they finally brought it down. Jasper wondered what else waited for them down here.

Further along, they came to a strangely lit are with a dreamy haze and a background chorus of barely-audible song. And Jasper heard a raspy voice in his head repeating “THEY”RE COM ING”. They weren’t sure if it was a threat or a warning, but they immediately took position.

Sure enough, a pair of angry Minotaurs came charging down the path. But forewarned was fore-armed, and they were ready.

Pressing on, the area appeared to be populated by mushroom men…Myconids. And infected bodies of underdark races like Duergar tending to fungal growths. And all of them somehow contributed to the undercurrent of “song” they could feel permeating the air.

The song grew louder in their heads, until they eventually came to a Myconid calling itself “Sovereign”. It was wary of Jasper’s intentions, but at this point he could hear the “song” well enough to devise a harmony and assure it of their peacefulness in its own melody,.

The Myconids had apparently been sheltering a Deep Gnome woman suffering from Duergar poison. They had come into conflict with the Duergar due to refusing to hand her over, and much damage had been done to the colony as a result. But the Sovereign still refused to guve her to them. A guest was a guest.

Jasper gave her a potion to neutralize the poison, and spoke with her as she regained consciousness. She had been a member of the Ironhand Gnomes of Baldur’s Gate, who had been attacked by the Duergar while searching for components in the Underdark. The rest of her companions had been either killed or captured in a village raid, and she wanted Jasper to find and rescue them. They had been taken as slaves to work in some sort of dig in an old temple on the other side of the lake.

The Sovereign had a similar request. He wanted the Duergar raiders on the outskirts of his colony “cleansed”, but he also wanted a more permanent solution. He showed Jasper a vision of a harsh Drow Wizard leading the Duergar. A wizard named Nere. The Sovereign wanted Nere’s head, as it perceived him as the source of the conflict. Jasper was already inclined to rescue the Gnomes, and while he was not in the business of being an assassin he rather doubted their freedom would be won without Nere’s death.

Within the Myconid’s territory they met a curiously well-mannered and well-spoke Hobgoblin named Blurg. He was an alchemist, and claimed to be a member of the “Society of Brilliance” – a collection of scholars from various races of the Underdark studying interspecies conflict and how to mitigate it. All in all a very unusual sort of Hobgoblin. But when he learned of their infection, he showed immediate interest – claiming he had an associate with very relevant expertise who could perhaps help.

His “associate” turned out to be none other than an Illithid Wizard! But the creature – introducing itself as Omeluum – claimed to be a rogue Illithid which had freed itself from the Overmind through the forbidden study of Arcane Magic. Omeluum too was a member of the Society of Brilliance, and offered to investigate their curious tadpoles if Jasper would only open his mind. Maybe it was the Myconid mist. Maybe he was just desperate enough to try anything. But Jasper allowed it.

Omeluum poked and prodded a bit, but then quickly withdrew. He said the tadpole had been enhanced with arcane defenses, and while he could potentially remove it they would be killed in the process. However, he *also* claimed that if they could procure a few rarer alchemical ingredients in the Underdark he could bypass the tadpole’s defenses and perhaps learn more. There had been a mage named “Lenore” who lived in a tower in the area some time ago, with a speciality in alchemical components with arcane purposes. Omeluum suggested they seek her out for help.

He wouldn’t make any ironclad promises, and certainly wouldn’t guarantee a cure. But he claimed there was potentially much to be learned. Jasper thanked him for the attempt, did one more double-take at who/what he was thanking, and then continued on his way.

When they reached the village on the shore…. they found a thoroughly ransacked formerly Gnome village. Complete with discarded pile of slaughtered Gnomes – apparently any considered unsuitable as slaves. Jasper hadn’t needed any extra incentive to put down the Duergar Raiders, but now he had it.

The Duergar were used to attacking from invisibility and gaining advantage through mental assault. Jasper was not terribly susceptible to either, and in no mood to give quarter.

Near the water they found a few of the water-craft the Duergar had used to approach the village. They commandeered one to sail back and find the temple.

As they approached the other side of the lake Shadowheart’s breath caught in her throat. Large statues flanking the channel to a bay indicated that this was a former Sharran outpost. Who knew what they might find here, and what she might learn? But the Lady of the Night did not give up her secrets easily. And Jasper was not at all sure that Shadowheart would like whatever she learned.

The guards at the lake were very concerned with how exactly they had acquired the boat, but Jasper said that had come upon it on the shore – with the Duergar having died fighting Myconids. Believable enough. The Duergar’s mental senses instantly sensed their illithid infection, and they assumed Jasper was a True Soul working for the Absolute. Apparently they had little regard for any of those “barmy zealots”, but accepted their coin readily enough. They were here as hired muscle for the True Soul Nere – who was searching for “something” in the ruins of the Sharran Temple. They didn’t much care what he was looking for, but they were quite put out that he would not pay until it was found.

Exploring a little they saw Duergar cruelly joking as they contemptuously tossed gnome bodies in the lake. Apparently there had been a cave-in during their attempted excavations. Many gnome slaves had died, and Nere was trapped on the other side of the collapse. The Duergar did not appear particularly concerned about either – beyond getting paid. The gnomes were “useless” and Nere was a “Twat Soul” and a “Spider Sucker”. Jasper didn’t know he could think any less of the Duergar, but now he did. But they were simply mercenary. Nere was the real power here making the decisions.

Further inside the temple complex the met other Duergar, seemingly conspiring against their own leader. They were very suspicious of Jasper at first, believing him a True Soul agent due to the infection they could sense. But Jasper convinced them he was a turncoat – fed up with the Absolute and desiring revenge. That tale played well into the Duergar’s own preconcieved notions, and they bought it easily.

They said they were tired of waiting for Nere to “pay up”. At this point they were more inclined to kill him, take the loot directly, and wash their hands of the business. Not all Duergar were in on the conspiracy, but enough were to decidedly even the odds. But first, they needed Jasper to accomplish two things. Find a way to free Nere so that he could be confronted and they could see what “treasure” he was trying to find, and get rid of the seeing-eye orb floating around and reporting back to the Absolute. They considered it impervious to weapons and almost impossible to eliminate before it reported home.

For the former, they had already liberated a small supply of smokepowder from the Zhentarim weapon-smuggling outpost. For the latter, well, impervious to weapons it might have been, but impervious to being grabbed and slammed against a stone wall by an over-enthusiastic mountain of muscle it was not.

In the main antechamber they found gnome slaves being forced to dig out rubble from a collapsed temple section near sharran imagery. There were pools of lava surrounding an altar at one end of the hall, and scenes on the walls indicative of smith-work – not at all a known focus of the Lady of the Night.

Jasper mentioned to the the Duergar headsman his idea with the smokepowder, and they all cleared out of the way. On Jasper’s mark the way was blasted clear!

Nere crawled out from behind the wreckage, choking, gasping, and angry. He felt the connection to Jasper and the others, and immediately assumed they were True Souls sent to aid in his mission.

But before the dialog could progress further, he angrily cursed the gnomes who crawled out behind him, grabbed a young gnome woman, and shoved her directly into the lava – shouting “useless incompetent wretch”!

And with that the battle was on. Jasper was in no more mood for words. He had had *enough* of lunatics tossing away gnome lives like garbage. It ended *now*. If Nere had any knowledge he needed he would pry it from the corpse.

Karlach took the opportunity to play with the Duergar who stayed loyal.

Gale took the archers on the balconies out of contention.

Shadowheart had her hands full with a Duergar Mind Master.

And as for Jasper, he went straight for Nere. No tricks. No quips. He was not in the mood. This was putting down a rabid monster. No more. No less.

Afterwards the Duergar renegades prepared to leave with their share of the profits, and considered the gnome slaves to be part of their share. Jasper let them know in no uncertain terms that they could leave without the slaves… or not at all.

Afterwards they discovered that one of the slaves was Barcus – the same gnome they had rescued from the windmill in Moonhaven. He was still trying to find his friend, Wulbren, who he now believed was mixed up with the Ironhand gnomes and imprisoned with the forces of the Absolute at Moonrise Towers. And he said that wasn’t the worst of it. The Ironhands were apparently attempting to recreate the fabled explosive “Runepowder” for use in some conflict among the gnomes of Baldur’s Gate. Jasper knew of the substance. It was rumored to be extraordinarily destructive. Its use within the city of Baldur’s Gate could be catastrophic. They would have to find a way not only to rescue Barcus’ friend, but also head of the coming conflict. There was always another angle.

Author’s Notes:

I hadn’t really thought about it – going in – how much Jasper being a gnome ties him into the some of the game’s events..With previous characters rescuing them didn’t feel much different than rescuing the gnome slaves in Icewind Dale. Here…. it just felt more personal. Partly because both the gnomes and the duergar recognized what he was. Going in I had planned for Jasper to disguise himself as a Duergar. But when we got to the point in the game… he didn’t want to. He wanted to beat them *as a gnome*. He wanted to rescue the Ironhand *as a gnome*. And he *definitely* wanted to beat down Nere *as a gnome*.