Forceful Negotiations

Obegard and Erson soon saw fit to join us. With them bolstering our strength, we continued on to the next unexplored parts of the cavern complex. We first met with a strange beast -- an ooze drake Obegard said. It would have been quite dangerous in melee combat, but Obegard managed to curse it with unluck, and it found itself stumbling into the worst positions. After dispatching the beast, Erson turned into an Octopus and dived into the water from which the Ooze Drake emerged, and returned a short while later with a dripping chest. He said that the saw other passages in the water, and even a cavern that looked like it was above the water level.

However, we elected to follow the cave we were in, and come back to explore that area more throughly later. After a while, we came across another set of manufactured tunnels of Dwarven design. We entered one of the doors and were met by a number small lizardfolk. Erson told us that they were called "Poisondusks". Despite their small stature, they were surprising disciplined in their bow use. However, they still weren't much of a match for the six of us, armed to the teeth and very angry. We carved our way through them and entered next into some sort of a chapel.

To our surprise, we were greeted by the same dragonkin that we had met back when we vanquished the black dragon. He was the one who attacked Son of Clouds during the fight, and managed to run off after we had killed the dragon. He was flanked by two Blackspawn Raiders (or so Erson told me), who held two of the Dwarves hostage. The big dragonspawn started off much like many other villians we had encountered: laughing and requiring some sort of "service" in exchange for the hostages. I wasn't too keen on negotiating, though I would have entertained the idea had the lizardfolk agreed to certain terms, like agreeing to open communications with the Dragon Keep, instead of this whole kidnapping business. However, this must have set Obegard off, and he made the choice easy for us by beginning to cast a spell to paralyze the dragonspawn in his tracks. However, the dragonspawn, being strong of will, and some sort of spellcaster himself, was able to resist the effects. The battle commenced, but when it was quickly apparent that he'd lose if he continued to fight, he and his guards retreated by jumping into a deep pool in the corner of the room. They were swift swimmers, and Erson was not able to follow them even when taking an aquatic form. Fortunately, however, we were able to save two of the dwarves, though one of them had lost a hand in the struggle. Our hope now is that we'd be able to track them down before they have a chance to execute the dwarves.