By dinnertime that evening following a stream southward they had arrived at the shaded gorge that was home to Gnomengarde. A waterfall fell noisily from the cliffs above to form a pool which fed the stream they had been following. Within the pool were two islands overrun with large colorful mushrooms. Several caves could be seen at varying heights on both sides of the gorge, but the side of the stream they were on had a narrow ramp that led up to one of the cave openings. High above the pool a rope bridge connected two of the higher caves, near the waterfall.
They decided to tread carefully and sent Keeper forward to investigate. Entering the cave at the top of the ramp she immediately saw several tunnels branching off but distinctly head voices and activity through the northern tunnel. She waved everyone forward and continued to investigate. Rather than checking out the north tunnel, she snuck deeper in and peered around the corner and in a small room about ten feet away sat a contraption bolted to the floor. It was a series of four heavy crossbows, each pointing in a cardinal direction. A female gnome with wild hair sat in a seat, with several levers and pedals, attached to the contraption above the crossbows. She seemed to be working on repairs with a large wrench.
Relaying this information to the group, it was decided that since Bronn could speak gnome he would go and talk to the female gnome with Finder tagging along to tell him what to say. No sooner had Bronn began to introduce himself than crossbow bolts came flying past him as he ducked back around the corner. The gnome seemed quite insane and after talking and getting them to show themselves a couple more times she continued to attack. She though they were shapeshifting monsters and she couldn't take the chance on letting them pass. When asked what would convince her, she said that if they had an official escort from a member of the enclave, she would let them past. She suggested they try the kitchens.
Thinking that the noises Keeper heard could be possibly from a kitchen, they followed the northern tunnel through a small dining room and knocked on the door that they could hear the voices coming from. After a short pause, the door was opened and a female gnome stood staring in some shock at seeing a somewhat crusty dwarf standing at her kitchen door, with a tall, lanky cat person behind him. Beyond her the kitchen was at a standstill as several gnomes seemed frozen mid-motion in the many chores they were performing, as they looked towards the strangers. It seemed they were making all sorts of food items out of the colorful mushrooms that the PCs had seen out in the gorge.
They seemed reluctant to give the PCs much information about shapeshifting monsters, but suggested that the should speak with Fibblestib and Dabbledob as they would have more information about anything they could ask. She said that the crazy gnome with the crossbow device was named Factore and she was quite eccentric. The gnome told them that her name was Joybell and that they could tell Factore that she said they could pass. She mentioned that Fibblestib and Dabbledob were on the other side of the gorge across the rope bridge.
Approaching Factore with this new information proved fruitless as she continued to try to shoot them even after she said they could pass. Farooq had had enough of this nonsense and, shield forward, casually walked into the room as bolts careened off his shield. He stepped up onto the contraption, past the crossbows firing arc and stood unamused, looking down at the female gnome.
Being certain that her doom was quickly at hand by some terrible shapeshifting monster, she cringed and waited for him to swallow her. Farooq assured her that no such thing was going to happen, however, he could not have her shooting his companions. Factore sheepishly watched as the party moved through her room to the tunnel beyond and did not fire any more bolts that day.
Beyond that the group were challenged by a couple of gnome guards, a female named Ulla and a male named Pog. They PCs assured them that they just needed to talk to someone in charge, but the gnomes were wary that they were shapeshifters. In the end Finder convinced them that if they were in fact shapeshifters, would they not have taken the form of a more friendly gnome, so that they could fit in? They seemed to think that line of thinking was good enough, as they allowed them to pass and cross the rope bridge.
The chamber across the way was a death trap. Two cylinders, with rows of wicked blades, were whirling in the room, one spinning clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. A person would be shredded to bits trying to get through this area. They could see a lever on the other side of the room which much certainly control these devices, so Keeper bravely climbed along the ceiling, mere inches away from the spinning blades, with her slippers of spider climbing. She dropped down the other side and shifted the lever so that the blades would turn off.
The rest of the group quickly crossed the room and they listened to an argument in an area nearby ahead. They seemed to be arguing about the best design for a new invention, either something called a "strait jacket" or something called a "sanity ray" to help their king. The heroes advanced and introduced themselves to Fibblestib and Dabbledob. The PCs explained their problem about needing aid for Phandalin and the gnomes (A male and female once again) explained their problem. Two gnomes have gone missing recently and one of their kings, king Korboz was attacked by some shapeshifting monster and had locked himself in his chambers with his husband, King Gnerkli, and has not come out for days. He seemed to have gone quite mad from the experience. The gnomes wanted the PCs to help them with their monster problem and in turn they would help them in return.
They began investigating gnomengarde for a shapeshifting monster that was in the shape of a large rug when it attacked the king, but has since moved on. They searched the throne room and found no real clues. They found a secret door that led to the kings' chamber and Fibblestib quickly informed the paranoid king that they would be searching for the monster. Poor king Gnerkli had been glued to a chair in their quarters so that he would not be gotten by the monster. Yes, king Korboz was quite mad - and paranoid.
They meticulously searched room by room poking and prodding all the inanimate objects they saw. They believed that this creature could be a form of the same species as Chester, the mimic. Eventually they were brought to the wine storage room where Dabbledob was quite happy to let them have a few drinks from the tap, but as Farooq prodded each large wine barrel in sequence, one of the barrels reared up and revealed a great fanged maw dripping acidic saliva and chuckling darkly to itself.
The Phandalin Five were in fine form this day as they each leapt forward with expert attacks that struck at the monstrosity from every direction. It barely had the chance to raise it's pseudopods to attack and it was collapsing into a pile of acidic goo on the floor. Three cheers for the Five from Phandalin! They quickly went and reported the news to the kings and Fibblestib and Dabbledob were instructed to give the PCs whatever they could to aid them. The king himself gave the group a hat of wizardry and a wand of pyrotechnics. The other two gnomes soon were able to give to the group a clockwork amulet and a pole of collapsing.
The PCs stayed the night as guests of the gnomes and in the morning they were on their way back to Phandalin, with promises from Fibblestib that they would send an envoy to phandalin soon to see what additional aid they could give. The trip back to Phandalin was uneventful and a pleasant journey. They did, however, have their first sighting of the great white dragon flying high above searching from prey. That thing looked huge even from that distance.
Arriving in the afternoon back at Phandalin, they checked in with Harbin Wester and filled him in on what was going on and what they had discovered.