After returning the cinders to Baba Yaga and taking her some rose tea, she almost became friendly. Not only did she identify a couple magic items, but she told them she had found someone who knew where Kerok was, a centaur named Hazel who lived in Bluth Grove. As an added bonus, she'd taken the liberty of having her house walk to Bluth Grove while they were talking. When the party emerged her house several days had passed. A few of them grumbled it might have been quicker just to walk there on their own.
The town was shocked when Stevnar walked in wearing a saddle, and didn't seem to care whether it let him fly magically or not. For the time being, he let Sir Oink wear it. Hazel wasn't home but Gruffias Neigh-Mane said she, and her friend Chairo, expected to be back in the morning.
Elluine left in search of the piney he'd heard about and spent the night in the forest. The rest of the party slept in Stevnar's home, except for Gatonio who climbed up on the roof to sleep.
That would have been fine, except for the three headed dragon (a zmey named Manje) that showed up in the middle of the night. It destroyed Hazel's home (next door to Stevnar's) and demanded that Hazel return what she'd stolen. He gave the town two days to return it or he would destroy everything and everyone.
To emphasize his point, he left some zmey headlings (including one that had grown two of its heads back) behind to ransack the town. The party defeated them, but at the cost of Stevnar's house which burned down.
The party knew even if a zmey was killed, another would take up the hunt for stolen treasure. Neigh-Mane said the Kariv knew of a spell that could break this and that some had been living in Whistlehollow. Also, he suspected Baba Ludva was wrapped up in this. He'd seen Hazel and Chairo with her and didn't trust her, saying she was the oldest and most devious of all the spider crones in the Margreve.
Elluine showed up with Lesharrkk and some other griffons who'd been asked by the Margreve to help the party. This let them go quickly to Whistlehollow where they convinced the Kariv to give them the Spell: Zmey Trap that would save Hazel.
Flying to Hag's Tooth Hill, the carefully explored until they found Hazel under some kind of enchantment. Baba Ludva (and her spiders) came out and after some contentious and suspicious talk, they came to realize Baba Ludva was actually there to help. She'd put a spell on Hazel to hide her from the zmey, but it wouldn't last for long. They also found out the Chairo had gone off to confront Kerok by herself. Baba Ludva gave them the Orb of Upcasting that Hazel stole from the Zmey. The Margreve had told her to take it before Kerok could.
Knowing they needed to be fresh for battle, the party reluctantly slept through the night and planned to go to the Legion Oak in the morning where the Zmey Trap had to be performed.
The next morning the griffons took the party to the Legion Oak. They spread the salt around the oak, had Hazel stand inside it, and started the incantation. Six hours later they heard the zmey approaching. It crashed through the underbrush and went straight for Hazel. She took the first bite from it, but the second was too much for her.
The party was ready though. Stev got Hazel out of the combat and used his healers kit on her while the rest of the party attacked the zmey. It didn't stand a chance. By now the party was well honed for a combat like this and though they took some damage, it was nothing of much note.
The zmey was defeated, it's lust for revenge wouldn't be passed on to a different zmey, it was a good victory.