Chapter 3

The party split up into three groups to explore the lizardfolk lair. Before heading off in their separate directions, they huddled together to discuss their plan.

“I don’t trust them,” An’gari said. “Aldalome and I will search for the cache of weapons.”

Oceanus nodded. “The lizardfolk will not take kindly to threats in their lair, so please be careful not to provoke them,” he said.

“How will we know when to regroup?” Nat asked, taking off her helm at last. She must have figured that she had no need for water breathing or darkvision in the lair.

“If we hear signs of battle coming from An’gari,” Vennoa joked.

“Yeah ... No,” Ehs said.

Vennoa seemed to be able to understand Ehs a little better now. I must be getting used to his talking!

“Don’t get into battle with the lizardfolk,” Ehs continued.

“We don’t intend to,” Aldalome said, looking intently at An’gari.

An’gari shrugged.

“We’ll not be able to communicate once we’ve gone on our ways,” Nat said. “Perhaps we should plan to regroup after some time?”

“It’s going to be hard to keep track of time here,” Oceanus said. The lair was lit with torches, but otherwise had no indications of the time of day.

“Let’s just plan to find each other after some time then,” Nat suggested. “Then we can decide what to do next.”

Everyone nodded, and headed on their way.

The throne room was connected to a corridor that headed left and right. Ehs and Vennoa decided to head left, as did Aldalome and An’gari. Nat and Oceanus headed right.

The four that went to the left first came by a large room that looked like a kitchen of some sort. There was a waft that passed through, and it reminded Vennoa of cooking meat, although there was an acrid tang to it somehow. An’gari continued walking on, totally uninterested in the kitchen. Aldalome followed him onwards.

Vennoa looked at Ehs, who shrugged. They entered the kitchen area, not sure what to expect. On one end of the large room, there was a large fire pit with hot coals in it. There were a number of carcasses being roasted on spits, and a number of lizardfolk that were standing by the spits and turning them. Another lizardfolk carried a wooden bucket of some kind, and went from carcass to carcass, basting them with some sauce in the bucket.

A few of the lizardfolk glanced up as they noticed Ehs and Vennoa entering. They looked momentarily surprised, but quickly returned to their duties, ignoring the pair. Besides the fire pit, there was a large table in the center of the room, filled with knives of different shapes and sizes. Small pieces of raw meat lay around the table, and some pieces of bone. On the floor under the table, there were pieces of hide, probably from the carcasses that were being roasted.

The rest of the room was unremarkable, containing shelves holding pots and pans and other kitchen equipment. Vennoa was a little surprised that the lizardfolk kitchen looked very similar to the kitchens in taverns she had frequented.

Ehs walked up to the lizardfolk by the fire pit, and cleared his throat. “Is there anything we can do to help you?” he asked them.

They glanced up at him again, then at each other, and went back to their duties. Vennoa couldn’t tell if they didn’t understand Common, if they didn’t understand Ehs, or if they chose to ignore him.

She also went up and asked the same question. However, when she spoke, she felt an urge to use the clipped, harsh language that she had spoken with the kobolds. This time, the lizardfolk smiled at her.

“Ah! You speak Draconic,” one of the lizardfolk walked closer to them and said. “We did not understand your friend there.”

So it’s Draconic! Vennoa was surprised that she had somehow learned the language, but chalked it up to the onset of her fiery magic abilities.

“We do not need your help cooking the food,” the lizardfolk continued. “But you can help us prepare the meat.”

Vennoa nodded and said, “We would be happy to.”

The lizardfolk gestured to the one carrying the wooden bucket, who headed into a nearby room. It then returned carrying the carcass of a large animal of some sort, which looked like a humanoid sea creature. Vennoa wondered if Oceanus would find their choice of food offensive.

“Separate the hide from the meat, and put the organs over there,” the lizardfolk said, pointing to a large bucket under the table. It was half-filled with other organs and blood. The lizardfolk then put the carcass on the table, and went back to basting the roasting meats.

Vennoa was skilled with her dagger, but only to stab and slash people, not prepare food. She had no inclination to use her dagger in such a fashion. She picked a different knife from the assortment on the table.

Looking over at Ehs, Vennoa realized that he had no idea of the conversation she had with the lizardfolk, and so she brought him up to speed. He seemed eager to demonstrate his skill at cooking, and he took out his own cutting tools. He must have not surrendered them to the guards since in his opinion, they were cooking tools and not weapons.

Between the two of them, they managed to prepare the meat reasonably well. It was mostly Ehs who did the work, as he seemed very familiar with separating hide from meat. Vennoa followed his directions, and helped to cut off sections as he directed. When it came time to remove the internal organs, Ehs again knew exactly what to do. With a few strokes across the skinned carcass, he cut an opening to the body cavity, and extracted the organs and bones cleanly. Vennoa wondered if Ehs also had a taste for humanoids, or if his skill was from preparing beasts for cooking.

When they were finished, Vennoa noticed a few of the lizardfolk watching them. The one holding the bucket came up to them again and said towards Ehs, “You are very skilled with cooking. You would do well here.”

Ehs smiled and nodded, clearly unsure of what the lizardfolk said.

“Is there anything else we can assist you with?” Vennoa asked.

“Not at the moment,” the lizardfolk replied. It then went back to basting the meat again. The other lizardfolk also continued on their tasks, ignoring the pair.

Vennoa looked at Ehs and shrugged, and the two of them headed out of the kitchen. They continued down the corridor, and saw Aldalome and An’gari just up ahead.

Ehs and Vennoa caught up with the other two, and An’gari said, “We found the weapons. They have a large armory just down this way.” An’gari pointed right at an upcoming fork in the corridor.

“Did they tell you what the weapons were for?” Ehs asked.

“Most of them didn’t speak Common,” Aldalome replied. “One of them did, but it only said that the weapons belonged to the lizardfolk.”

“We tried asking them more,” An’gari continued. “But it didn’t want to say anything else of value.”

“We got the sense that they were feeling irritated by our presence, so we came back here,” Aldalome said.

“What do you plan to do?” Vennoa asked.

“I’m not sure,” An’gari replied. “The armory is very well-stocked, and can easily outfit an army of over a hundred of them.”

“Attacking them wouldn’t be a good idea,” Aldalome said.

“Perhaps we can ask the queen about the weapons again,” Ehs suggested.

“Let’s find the others,” An’gari said. “We’ll figure out what to do then.”