When the characters reach the subterranean grotto on the far side of the bridge, read:
In the center of the grotto is a piebald pony wearing blinders. A small wooden hut is strapped to its back, and a faint clatter can be heard from inside the hut.
Molliver and their brigganock companions explain to the characters that the hut is the home of Obud, the oldest brigganock living in the mine at present. Securely fastened to a pony named Keg is Obud’s hut, where he appraises gemstones brought to him by other brigganocks. When Obud wants to dismount from the pony, he lowers a rope ladder attached to one of the pony’s saddle straps.
The pony doesn’t startle easily and allows characters to approach it without a fuss, and it eagerly devours any apples and carrots that the characters have to offer. If someone knocks on the hut’s tiny door, read:
The door swings open, and a tiny, wrinkled creature hobbles into view, accompanied by a wispy bulb of light. The old brigganock peers at you through tiny spectacles and says in Common, “Big folk. How wonderful.”
Obud is old and tired, but neither too old nor too tired to show the characters hospitality. He welcomes them to his grotto, introduces them to Keg, and asks them why they’ve crossed the chasm to see him. If they inquire about the secret tunnel to Motherhorn, he says, “Ah, yes. Creeping Lyn’s Theater of Terror. A dreadful place indeed.” Obud suggests a trade: knowledge of the location of the tunnel in exchange for something that would benefit him and his fellow brigganocks. Ending the quarrel between the brigganocks and the korreds would suffice (see “Brigganocks and Korreds” earlier in the chapter). Obud also accepts tasty food, including but not limited to sweets, a wheel of cheese, or a head of lettuce. Candy from the Witchlight Carnival or the goblin market in Loomlurch would suffice.
Treasure. Brigganocks shape and cut good wish stones into sparkling gems. Obud has three such gems in his hut, neatly laid out on a tiny rug. Two of the gems are worth 100 gp, and the third is worth 500 gp. Obud has appraised the gemstones and is waiting for their rightful brigganock owners to return and collect them. Stealing these gems violates the rule of ownership (see “Rules of Conduct” in Prismeer Overview). Characters who steal from Obud receive no further help from him.
Tunnel to Motherhorn
A permanent illusion of a rock wall conceals an 8-foot-high, 3-foot-wide tunnel in the back wall of Obud’s grotto. This secret tunnel leads to a storage room (area M12) beneath Motherhorn’s stage. The illusory wall has no substance, which means that creatures and objects can pass right through it. A successful casting of dispel magic (DC 19) causes the illusory wall to disappear.
Obud informs the characters that Creeping Lyn is unaware of this tunnel’s existence (“Let’s keep it that way, aye?” he adds). The characters can return to the grotto through the tunnel whenever they want, provided they are on good terms with the brigganocks. If the characters use the tunnel without Obud’s consent, brigganock miners spend the next 8 hours collapsing the tunnel on itself, preventing the characters from returning to the mine by that route.
Wish Stones
Check the Story Tracker to see if any of the characters made wishes while with Northwind (see “Hour 1: Welcome Gifts” in the "Timed Events" section in chapter 1). If so, echoes of their wishes have crystallized in the depths of Yon and were mined by the brigganocks. As the characters are preparing to leave the mine, a cheerful brigganock named Ajak arrives with a wheelbarrow containing the characters’ wish stones. These stones look like round lumps of crystal and have not yet been shaped or cut. If a character’s wish was good-natured, its stone glows with golden light (bright light out to a range of 20 feet and dim light for an additional 20 feet). If the wish was evil-natured, its stone glows with purple light (bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet).
Characters whose wishes were good-hearted can keep their stones as mementos or leave the stones with the brigganocks to be cut into sparkling gemstones—a process that takes 8 hours with the help of the brigganocks’ Time Lapse action. (The characters can return to the mine to collect their gems after attending to other matters.) A fairly common wish produces a 50 gp gemstone, an unusual wish produces a 100 gp gemstone, and an exceptionally original wish produces a 500 gp gemstone (as determined by you). Once a wish stone is cut into a gem, it loses its magic and ceases to glow.
The brigganocks don’t make gemstones out of malignant wish stones. Instead, they toss these purple-glowing stones into Rivenwish Chasm unless the characters who created them want to take the stones with them. Mild nausea plagues any good-aligned creature that has one or more of these stones in its possession, though this nausea has no game effect.
Development
The “Brigganocks and Korreds” section earlier in the chapter describes how the characters can facilitate a truce between the two groups of Fey and unite them against Endelyn Moongrave. If the korreds and brigganocks end their quarrel and launch an assault on Motherhorn, Molliver accompanies the combined force.
Brigganocks and Korreds
The brigganocks who live under the mountains of Yon are at odds with the korreds who live on the slopes and peaks. Each group believes that the other is in league with Endelyn Moongrave, not realizing that the hag is a menace to both. The characters encounter the korreds at Lockbury Henge and the brigganocks at Brigganock Mine.
If the characters discover that the brigganocks are not allied with Endelyn and convey this information to the korreds, Queen Argantle of the korreds promptly arranges a meeting with the brigganocks to sort out their differences. Similarly, if the characters convince the brigganocks that the korreds don’t work for Endelyn, the brigganocks agree to meet the korreds outside the mine. After this meeting, the korreds and the brigganocks unite to aid the characters in Motherhorn (as described in the “Fey to the Rescue!” section later in the chapter).