Hanging with Kodmelos, and Greae Revisited

After Ailyll shows up at our boat we sit down and think a bit. We Augur about Golden Apples some more, and God says we're barking up the wrong tree with this Herakles amulet. We then go back to Masala, and look around for Famous Hamish or assorted villains. We hear that Yaya Jr has taken off on a mission, and the rest of the jerks are in a new lair underground nearby. Augury on trying to find and rescue Hamish gives a woe, so we sail away through the night to a port a medium distance away. Morning brings spells, and with them a new plan. Harald Magic Mirrors Kodmelos based on Eorl's description of him. Sure enough, the lovable frog-lion hell-monster pops up on the mirror, being carried through the jungle on a palanquin by a very large skeletal army. Harald studies the lay of the land, and then Teleports there with the party. We meet and greet Kodmelos, and Harald warns him that the Lesser Master is after him, and planning to kill him in one round with an attack from below. In exchange for this helpful warning Harald asks for the dirt on these Slaad fellows. We learn the following sweet info:

• Tons of Slaad stuff:
  • Slaad are of many colors, with each color designating a different rank. They can "level up", but there are limited numbers of the higher ranks.
  • The Grey Executioner and Lesser Master are both Slaad traveling in human form. They like to do that, but their froggy form is more dangerous.
  • Slaad love magic items. The Grey Executioner might want to steal some broken ones so that he can fix them up. He can also make new ones, but that takes longer.
  • Being very Chaotic, Slaad have a lot of random powers and immunities. These can vary from Slaad to Slaad.
  • Kodmelos could take the Executioner, but the Lesser Master gives him pause.
  • Slaad can gate in their brethern, usually stronger gating in weaker.
  • Slaad lack any specific weaknesses or vulnerabilites to attack forms, with one exception (see below).
  • Slaad souls or whatever are held in a gem in their forehead. If you have the gem you can summon a Slaad if you know the right spell. Also, if you take a gem from a living Slaad, you can command them to do three things for you.
  • You can get a Slaad's gem by killing them, or by casting some specific spells that Kodmelos can't quite remember. He suggests maybe Sink or Trap the Soul, but who knows?
• The Dwarves of Domedombry live in a vast tunnel network that goes under North Africa and the Mediterrainian. They have sealed themselves off from the surface world, and don't like outsiders. There is an entrance to their kingdom near Mt. Etna, but it is well guarded.
• The Gods of the Elves stopped time in a castle in North Africa about 4000 years ago to prevent a prince from killing his father, the King. Nakula and Slithrae hacked the castle and prevented the murder. This led to the gods forgiving the elves, so that the blue Tuareg elves of North Africa are now affected by clerical magic. The castle is gone, but in the cavern it occupied there is a pool that leads to the past. The Gripli and Slaad have been coming through this portal in time. We immediately put this on our list of things to hack.
• Our Amulet of Herakles is a fake, just a Nystul's Magic Aura on a medallion. Also, the Greae live under the golden palace. We've been had.

We thank Kodmelos and wish him luck. Emboldened by our new knowledge we Teleport to the Golden Palace to find the real Greae. There is no one out front this time, so we saunter on in. We send a fire elemental down the main corridor to fight some gloomwings, staying back to avoid the drops of molten gold he melts off the celing. While we wait we web some Gripli and overhear the Lamia doing something nasty. Sparky eventually caves in the roof and we make him go wait outside before the entire castle melts. The unexplored room turns out to be full of mice, who almost eat our lions before they are finally scared away. There is a trap door which we block for now with a giant lion.

Then we face the false Greae, and call them out. It turns out they are three different kinds of hags who like to trick adventurers and steal their stuff. In a middling tough fight we take them out, along with their skeleton guards and the remaining imp, but they kill Akim, TrapoII's strongest fighter/thief. We mourn him, and collect his bits for possible raising later. The illusion of riches (not counting the fact that the entire place is made of gold) falls, revealing a very scary tapestry. We recover our belt knife and one of Harald's magic rocks that had been stolen previously, and we also get a nonmagical bag of dust, a magical necklace shaped like two snakes biting an eagle, and a magical cadeucus. Harald pledges to Dispel any Auras before we use these. Then we're off to the basement.

After a short trip down the trap-doored shaft we find ourselves in a room full of Swanmays. They won't let us see the Greae, so we fight. It's very very close, but they win in the end. We are imprisoned while they figure out what to do with us, but they promise to restore our jive and let us out peacefully.

They also mention that their highest level sister has gone nuts, and will be in our cell, bound and gagged. "What kind of nuts?" we ask. "Oh, you know, she tried to leave her post. She says she is one of Throk's Seven, and she must join the others." They give us the names she said for the Seven, and we recognize Sunflower's sister Tulip and Enekeroway, High Priestess of the Psilloi. Is Throk collecting weird semi-human women? We have a fair bit of time to think it over in jail.

They say they would like to talk to the Greae about this, but must consult with their elders. After all, it's been a long time since they said they didn't want to be disturbed, maybe they've changed their mind... If it turns out that they are taking visits again, then maybe we could talk to them too. We cross our fingers and start thinking of what to do when the elders say "no".