Belmarniss can now sorta muddle along in the local common thanks to aggressive use of comprehend languages to hand-translate books after roping a local into teaching her the alphabet. Also she hates teleport traps with every fiber of her being. Also she has figured out at this point that she somehow leveled in sorcerer instead of wizard during the business with the pirates and has no idea why that happened or whether it will happen again. And she has sold this stupid arrowhead to two different curio shops and given up as it seems to be cursed. And she just needs to keep doing what she does, she guesses, till she can teleport herself home. The Yawning Portal is a nicely ironic name.
His eyes widen. "Then their god was real? And you killed it? Well I'm certainly glad I helped you as much as I did, I certainly am, though as much as I did was only as much as I could and that wasn't much at all..."
"In that case then you're welcome, entirely welcome, though I doubt there's any more I can give you, any more than what I've already given you."
"That's fine, we're holding up. Guys, should we park here, get some sleep, or should we head out?"
"Resting here sounds like a good idea, in case we run into trouble on the way back."
Cordigan shakes his head. "There's plenty of abandoned houses, though, plenty - I'll show you to one, it'd be no trouble at all."
He leads them, as promised, to an abandoned house.
Jojo stops him from scurrying off. "You can all go in if you'd prefer," he says to the others, "I'd like to get Cordigan's opinion on the matter of what would be the most effective way to help his people."
"I'll be curious to hear about that later but don't think I'd add anything to the asking, have fun."
They go in, minus Jojo.
Jojo comes in after a while. "When we return to Lith My'athar, I'm going to request that the Seer send some forces to escort the villagers to the city. Cordigan says with a day or so of advance warning the villagers can uproot themselves, and they'd be easy prey staying here without a protector. And when the Valsharess is defeated, the Eilistraeeans will take the former slaves back to the surface with them."
Their rest is uneventful, as is the trip back to Lith My'athar. Even Deekin is silent for most of it, apart from a few muttered notes to his quill.
"I think I leveled again but this time whatever weird thing I'm leveling in only got me sorcerer casting. Again."
"Huh," Deekin says. "Belmarniss notice any other effects, or just spellcasting?"
"Effective caster level boosts for both every time - the times I get only sorcerer casting it seems to boost caster level by more for sorcerer spells but I don't have a clock to check. Uh, other than that nah."
"Huh!" Deekin repeats. "Levels be weird. Deekin pretty sure Deekin doing something weird with levels, sometimes Deekin feel like Deekin should have gained level but no new spells or slots anywhere to be found. Also Deekin able to breathe ice as of pretty recently, but not do that much with it so far except for cool beverages."
When they get back to Lith My'athar, Jojo heads off to inform the Seer of their success and request that she send aid to the village.
Jojo finds the Seer dancing meditatively in the temple in the center of the city. She comes to a stopping point, then bows to Jojo. "I trust you come with news?"
"Yes," Jojo says with a bow of his own. "We successfully destroyed the cult providing the Valsharess with her undead army, and the false god they worshipped."
"This is good news indeed." She breathes a sigh of relief.
"However, there is a village of former slaves that sprung up around the temple they inhabited, and they will need to be brought to Lith My'athar, or they will probably be set upon by the beasts of the Underdark."
The Seer frowns. "I see... well, we cannot leave them to such a fate. How many?"
"About a hundred, mostly mushroom farmers."
She nods. "I will send a squad to escort them here. Is there anything else?"
Jojo shakes his head. "Unless, Belmarniss? Anything you wanted to add?"
"You should be aware that some of them seemed to come by way of the illithids and are as such maybe not all there."
"Ah," the Seer says sadly. "We will be sure to treat them with the appropriate care. Walk in freedom, friends."