In the previous session the Favorites of Selune managed to reverse their transformation into svirfneblin, after liberating a magical spring from a beholder. So after two sessions of almost constant fighting, this session went without combat. The heroes returned to the king of the svirfneblin, Diamond Quirrit, who had a proposition for them: As the svirfneblin were peaceful, they didn't understand why the humans of the Duchy of Faywyr and the town of Plumton were so hostile and afraid of the "Underdark menace". With the murder of Belina and the transformation of the adventurers into svirfneblin it was obvious that some sinister forces were behind all this, and as Quirrit knew that the threat didn't come from the svirfneblin, he was sure that somebody from the Duchy must be responsible. So he proposed to the Favorites of Selune to act as his ambassadors to go to Plumton and negotiate peace and trade between the svirfneblin and the humans. They would be under diplomatic immunity and could at the same time do the negotiations and inquire discreetly who was behind their transformation and the murder.

So the Favorites of Selune set off with a mule loaded with salt, which is rare in Plumton, as present to Duke Ruwan. They carried a big official diplomatic banner and official letters of appointment, which should guarantee them diplomatic immunity and ambassador status. On the way they passed by the druid who had helped them find the magical source. Some hilarity ensued when they remembered that the druid had asked them to plug the underground leak of that source and restore the magical spring for his forest, and they had just plain forgot about that. Well, maybe next time. :)

Arriving at Plumton with their diplomatic banner they had no problems being recognized as official ambassadors. The town hastily organized a welcome committee, and treated them with all honors. They were led to the palace of Duke Ruwan, who acknowledged their ambassador status and named his son, Prince Ular, as chief negotiator. A series of negotiations on peace and trade were organized, as well as leisure activities like cocktails and state banquets, starting the next day. They were offered accommodations at the palace, but preferred to return to their old rooms at the Mad Cow tavern. During the official welcoming meeting and introductions at the palace the sorceress of the group started flirting with one of negotiators of the Duchy, the minister of defense. As Prince Ular was chief negotiator, and commander of the guard, the defense minister was pushed into secondary importance in these negotiations, and thus looked vulnerable. We did an opposed ability check to see how that would work out, and the minister was thrilled by the attention of the attractive young sorceress.

Back at the Mad Cow tavern the Favorites of Selune tried to find out what happened since. The "murdered" tavern wench Belina had been resurrected at the prince's order, and was now his exclusive mistress, not working for the "seamstresses' guild" any more. But unfortunately she didn't see who killed her, having been woken up by a needle prick in her sleep and died of poison before she could see anything. The investigations into her murder had stalled, and most people blamed the "Underdark menace". The innkeeper Falgrim, who was the only one having seen the group in their svirfneblin form, hadn't reported the incident to the authorities, as the group had escaped through his secret smuggling tunnel and Falgrim didn't want the authorities to find that one. So he was somewhat puzzled by the disappearance of the adventurers and the appearance of the svirfneblin in his inn. The adventurers just told him that they were as puzzled as he was, and pretended to have gone to bed in the inn and awoken outside the city. The gate guard, Achgar, was spreading the rumor that the adventurers certainly had been diplomats all the time, and had just entered the city incognito for their first visit.

The group still had in their possession the bellows with residue of a grey-black powder which they had found on the night of their transformation. While their wasn't enough powder left to transform anything, they suspected that it was this powder which has caused them to turn into svirfneblin. So they had two paths of inquiry: They knew the leatherworker Master Dynrod who had made the bellows from a previous encounter. And they suspected that some alchemist from the town's alchemists guild was responsible for creating the transformation powder. But in their usual habit to making simple things more complicated, the players did not want to approach these lines of inquiry directly. Instead they went to the Temple of Selune and asked about the alchemists. They found that the guild master of the alchemists would be present the next day at the state banquet in their honor, and the high priest of Selune offered to introduce them. At this point it was getting late both in game and in real life, and we ended the session.