Chapter: The Cave: Revenge is Blue Flames

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(Khaznad, Optimus Prime, Blair, Dwarf, Dastardlyx, Sparkle)

Khaznad was heavily injured by the confrontation against Cyanwrath and Morghana, and very nearly lost his arm. Even after spending days healing and treating wound with herbs and trying to clean away the corruption of the spell, he is still left with a large scar covering from his chest and down to his right side very nearly taking off muscles and nerves for his right arm. The scar is purple and refuses to entirely heal, Khaznad constantly feel the pain, and it hurts even more in the cold. (Khaznad has permanent disadvantage on attacks and some skills with his right arm, in lizardfolk form)

After healing as much as he can, Khaznad travels back to Green Hills to find Optimus and Blair again, to tell Optimus about the death of his wife and child, which he takes surprisingly well. There they meet the frantic religious leader again, and he introduces them to some more adventurers that would like to help them. Khaznad wonders exactly what “Adventurers” is, and how they seemingly come growing out of the ground when the frantic religious leader needs them?

After informing everyone of what has happened, they hurry back to the cave, to see if there is something they can salvage. Most of the camp is abandoned, and sneaking past the few guards left they head back toward the room where they found Cyanwrath the last time.

Entering the dragon room again, Cyanwrath greets them with his two thugs, he apologizes that Morghana has to leave and couldn't stay to see us, and attacks. Khaznad being prepared this time, challenges Cyanwrath to fight, leaving the others to deal with the two thugs.

Khaznad starts by casting a spell that heats up Cyanwraths splint-armor so he is scolded inside, then keeps walking backward, while throwing spells to keep Cyanwrath slowed down as long as possible. When he finally gets near enough he can't slow any further, he chapechanges into a Deinonychus and pounces, and manages to finally tear out his throat with his bite.

Meanwhile Optimus, seemingly more affected by the lost of his child than he let on, have rushed ahead and stands a last stand against the thugs on the very same spot where his child died, eventually succumbing under their onslaught and goes down on the ground, barely even bleeding.

The others fare better, the dwarf, Dastardlyx, Blair and Sparkle manages to take down the remaining thugs and tries to come to Optimus rescue, and barely manages to save him.

They barely manage to get back up on their feet, when someone walks up the the chest, and triggers a trap. The entire room is pumped full of poison gas, and we have to try to run out as fast as we can. Optimus is caught unaware and sucks in a full breath of the gas and falls down on the ground again, and stops moving. The rest are unable to get to him, though they try with rope but fail.

When the poison gas finally goes away, Optimus is one with his family, on the very same spot. Khaznad decides to make a small cairn to their memory. After that he cuts of what remains of Cyanwraths head, and saves it to make a trophy of it for later. There isn't much left in the room, so the dwarf takes Optimus body over his shoulder, and they set off to look at the last room before returning.

Chapter: The Cave: Darkness Hungers

(Khaznad, Optimus Prime (in spirit), Blair, Dwarf, Dastardlyx, Sparkle)

The room they see has a door to the east, and a deeper cave to the south where they spot three dragon eggs. The dwarf immediately sets off to check out the door, triggers a trap that sticks him to the ground with Optimus's body on top. The rest goes south to look at the eggs.

As soon as they touch the eggs they hear a voice from the darkness in the cave behind the eggs. The voice seems curious about the adventurers and wonders if they taste good, and that the eggs are his to eat. Blair decides that she shall protect the dragon eggs, and Dastardlyx challenges the monster to fight and gets smacked down by a tentacle and grappled in the air. And Sparkle jumps and runs out of the room and refuse to come back in again.

Khaznad wonders what kind of creature this is, but it seems civil enough, more so than most of the adventurers, and food is something he can understand. So he explains to the monster that Dastardlyx taste very bad and will give him an belly-ache. And instead suggests to let him eat the dead bodies from the other room, while he makes up a better meal for the monster. Using two of the dragon eggs, several pieces of guard drake meat, all his dried kobold jerky, and the violet fungus he found, he makes up a impromptu meal to share with the monster.

While Khaznad is busy making the food, Dastardlyx is still held in the air by the tentacle, the dwarf is still stuck in the web with the body of Optimus on top, Blair has managed to take the lat egg and run to the other room, Sparkle is standing in the doorway to the next room and stays there.

Talking with the monster while making food, he asks Sparkle if he can help with the food, so he has time to help the dwarf out of the web, but Sparkle refuses to enter, in the end Khaznad asks the monster if he could be so nice to put the dwarf free, so he and the others could go fetch some firewood for him, the monster complies. Khaznad is happy to finally find someone civilized in this world.

After the meal is finished, Khaznad shares most of it with the monster, whom is pleased and finally lets Dastardlyx go. Then the monster decides to sleep, and Khaznad respecting that creatures need to eat and sleep and get hungry again, convinces the adventurers to leave the place alone and go somewhere else before it wakes up again.

Out of the room, Khaznad leads them back to the room where they found hte books and map before, but it looks like Morghana has cleared it all away before leaving. And the only one that has seen them is Khaznad that didn't look at them because he doesn't care about books. But he saw the map and remembers it, so they travel back to Leozin and Khaznad draws the map for him in the ground.

Leozin figures out where they're headed next, makes a copy of the map, and sens the adventurers off there, while he goes to tell someone else in another town. Khaznad is starting to suspect that Leozin is just cowardly and wants the adventurers to do his work for him, but it might also be some weird human social standards that he just doesn't understand. They take a final farewell with the frantic religious leader, and sets off.