"Sure."

Nathyrra starts. She casts Silent Image, bringing up a map of the cave system west of Lith My'athar. "Many of those who support the Valsharess, like the illithid and the beholders, dwell in the caverns to the west of the village. The western caverns are also the likely source of her undead horde. We may be able to remove these allies from her cause."

She points to a dot at the northwest of the map. "These are the Beholder Caves. Predictably, they contain beholders. The Valsharess has somehow induced the Eye Tyrant of the caves to ally with her and provide military support, despite the aberrations' notorious loathing for 'lesser' humanoid races. This mission would be simple, though not easy: destroy the beholders, leaving none to join the enemy army on the field of battle."

She points to a circle on the map. "This is... the general location... of Zorvak'Mur, an illithid colony with which the Valsharess has secured an alliance. We would want you to either break her treaty with the mind flayers, secure a treaty of our own, or simply eradicate them." It's clear that Nathyrra herself would prefer the last of these, but she doesn't state it outright.

She then points to a dot to the south. "This is the ancient temple where the Valsharess's pet necromantic cult is based. They supply her with undead shock troops, which comprise, we would estimate, a solid thirty percent of her army. If the necromancers can be defeated, this would be a massive blow against the Valsharess."

Valen, in turn, rolls out an actual map, larger-scale, on a nearby table. He points to an island in a nearby lake. "This island is known as the Isle of the Maker, for reasons unknown. On it is a dungeon which contains powerful golems, or so I'm told. These golems could be enormously helpful to our war effort. There's also rumored to be a small camp of duergar treasure-hunters staying there, which indicates a significant amount of treasure... if you like that sort of thing."

Another island. "This island contains a village of avariel, winged surface elves. They appeared here overnight, and despite their seeming weakness, have not yet been devoured by any number of roving monsters. This, to me, indicates powerful magic at work - magic that we could turn to our own ends."

"Don't like beholders, don't like mind flayers, not in the mood to strike out from not my comfort zone to even more not my comfort zone." She takes out her notebook and opens to a fresh page. "Scrivener's Chant." Maps copy themselves. "But since they might just crop up again later if we ignore them now I'll hear counterarguments."

"I hate mind flayers and think killing a lot of them would be great stress relief. But I recognize that's a pretty weak reason."

"Deekin think winged elf village sound very interesting. Some kind of story behind that, Deekin thinking."

"I've told you before that I'm always ready to destroy undead, and it's no less true now than it was then," Jojo says, his tail swishing. "I've also been working on a technique that would allow me to destroy them even more effectively."

For once, Enserric speaks up as well. "This Isle of the Maker intrigues me. I appreciate that you rescued me from Undermountain, but with a proper golem-maker's lab, perhaps I could be instantiated in a body. Now that would be truly glorious."

"Garrus, I acknowledge that killing nasty things is satisfying but whenever I'm in a situation where I'm killing a thing because I think its species is horrible I get real self conscious about that. Also the specific reason they're horrifying - one of the specific reasons, anyway - is all the fucky mind-affecting they sling around, so I'd rather appreciate their deaths from a safe distance if possible."

"You're not wrong. Alright, I'll forego my vote."

"Cool. Anybody think any of these sound especially time-sensitive or assassin-compatible, I'm not at my clearest-headed right now."

"Deekin think elf village sound very... static? Valen said they not getting eaten even though they in Underdark, so they probably stay not eaten if we leave them for last. Also, not fighting drow and undead or drow and golems at same time, so Belmarniss able to prepare appropriate spells for situation."

"I accept your logic."

"And I am of the opinion that we should strike at the source of the undead army first - before they have the chance to send her even one more skeleton. The golem island can come after that; there doesn't seem to be much of a rush to secure their aid."

"Yeah. Okay."

"The temple is a day's travel southwest from Lith My'athar. When you're done there, you can come back here and stop by the Docks, where Caballas the Ferryman will sail you across the Dark River to the appropriate islands. Toss a coin into the river when you're done with the first island, and Caballas will show up, ferry you to the second, and notify us that it's time to send our agents to the beholder caves and Zorvak'Mur." She pauses. "We don't know how he does the... river/coin thing, but he's given us every reason to believe he's on our side, so we don't worry about it."

"Is it rude to ask him?"

"He's very evasive in conversation. All we can get out of him is that he's 'bound to the river', and that 'more than this you do not need to know'. But he hates the Valsharess, and he's been very helpful to us."

"If you say so."

"Cavallas's peculiarities aside, do you have any questions for us, or should we go and attend to our duties?"

"What should we watch out for in transit?"

"You will be traveling through the Underdark, so... I don't like to say 'be prepared for anything,' because there's no such state. But prepare as best you can for umber hulks, enemy drow, driders, harpies, roaming undead, and various other hazards."

Nod.

"You can reserve rooms for yourselves in the Lith My'athar public house free of charge, if you wish to rest, and there are merchants of arcane and martial goods in the market district. The guards on the western gate will be told to let you through when you're ready to go."

"Thanks."