The woman identified herself as Idalla, and she claimed that she had been trapped by a powerful wizard below Khundrukar. Oddly, she did not know how old she was, and when pressed, was unable to identify any specifics of her situation. During the conversation, each dwarf heard her telepathically attempt to charm them; only Wurgym fell victim to her wiles. The party figured out that she was a Succubus, but Wurgym refused to leave, believing the group should leave them alone. Combat broke out, and Idalla retreated to the Ethereal Border Plane after being overwhelmed by Lazarus' and Morgran's powerful strikes. To end Idalla's hold on him, they knocked out Wurgym, and Bialwa quickly healed the dark dwarf.
They decided to take a long rest in the hall, far away from Idalla's lair, but used the information they gleaned from her on how to best pinpoint the dragon. They felt stronger after their rest, and downed their Potions of Climbing to avoid rattling the chain ladder and disturbing the cavern below. The chasm lead to the Black Lake, and Wurgym used an insect in his swarm to scout out the sharp, rocky cave. The scout revealed that beyond an unsteady-looking stone bridge was a small island in the middle of the lake, stacked high with treasure. Amongst piles of gold, potions, wands, and other riches, there stuck out an Enhanced Shield and a Greater Enhanced greataxe, both bearing Durgeddin's smith mark. Also atop the horde, however, was a sleeping young black dragon.
They did not have to fight this foe. They could turn back and exit through the Dwarf-Door, richer than they had ever been; but here was a treasure, they decided, that was worth risking it all for. Not wanting to face the dragon in a straight fight, Wurgym came up with a plan. The party would hide in corners while Lazarus Mk. I called the dragon over. In front of his lone head, they scattered ball bearings, set a hunters trap, splashed oil, and readied alchemists fire. Lazarus Mk. II decided it would be best to throw himself at the dragon from 120 feet higher up in the chasm; to make sure his plunging attack would be successful, they kept a torch lit by the trap so he knew when to jump. After some goading, Mk. I let out a very even-keeled scream, and the party braced themselves to strike their trapped quarry.
Bialwa was the first to notice that their plan had gone awry, as the waters behind her parted and a scaly foe emerged. The dragon clearly spotted the trap, not at all helped by the fact that it was strewn on the cave floor and now lit by torchlight. She identified herself as Zyrmintyl, requesting the cleric's name and locations of her other party members. Bialwa gave her name and tried to stall for as much time as she could, before drinking her potion of invisibility and hiding. As Bialwa got away, Zyrmintyl smelled Wurgym and his orc-heads from across the river. She gave him an offer: she would not kill the dwarves, in exchange their weapons, armor, and all of their valuables.
The ranger grabbed Lazarus Mk. I and dashed to run. He attached the head firmly to his bonnet, but did not get far before Zyrmintyl blasted both with a massive jet of acidic breath. As Wurgym's skin burned, Mk. I died outright, his circuitry overwhelmed by acid. The dragon slipped back into the water to recharge her breath weapon, and an enraged Lazarus Mk. II jumped straight after her into the rushing river. He somehow got hold of her horn underwater, and she snapped at him with claws and teeth as he bashed at her black scales with Durgeddin's rapier. The current carried the two to her horde island, and a near-dead Lazarus released her and swam up onto the island. Torn up by the dragon's furious assault, he picked up Durgeddin's greataxe and waited for Zyrmintyl to descend on him.
The dragon never came, however. As the group chased after Lazarus, she only emerged to fire her powerful acid breath, before diving back to safely recharge. Realizing how exposed the warforged was, Wurgym also jumped into the water, and Lazarus was just able to extend an arm out to catch him as he was caught in the current. The two stood alone on the isle as the others braved the rock walls, slow to catch up. Wurgym attempted to entangle Zyrmintyl underwater with his swarm, but she effortlessly tore apart his efforts. Bialwa managed to keep the party alive with healing magic while Morgran and Lazarus threw ranged weapons whenever the dragon reemerged, but her powerful acid was far deadlier than the occasional tossed handaxe.
After downing multiple members, Zyrmintyl ascended over the party. She was injured, though not nearly as bad as the dwarves were, and she again offered them a choice: in exchange for their treasure, weapons, and armor, she offered parley. Choosing both as a cleric of peace and protector of her friends, Bialwa accepted the offer. Zyrmintyl flew Wurgym over to pick up Mk. I and the sack of orc heads, leaving the others momentarily alone, but they decided it best not to cheat their foe. She allowed them to leave through the lazy underwater ravine that lead to a mire east of Stone Tooth, having taken everything from them.
Wugrym held onto his bag of orc heads as Lazarus held onto his brother's head, and they walked back to the Roc's Nest to redeem what they still could: nineteen orc heads worth twenty-five gold pieces each. Afterwards, the mercenaries mostly parted ways. Morgran returned to a forest cave to learn how to live with Lily, while Wurgym went to get his cheese from Geradil and Courana. Left alone with Lazarus, Bialwa mentioned that Mk. I's appearance reminded her of the Thrakûr-Gundak, the Epochal Artifact that established the legitimacy of her homeland. Interested to see what he had been based on, Lazarus decided to accompany her back to Brazenthrone, as he had nowhere else to go.
The dwarves had collected more loot than they had ever seen, and could have walked away rich; but the nature of their kind was to always dig deeper. Instead of returning as heroes, they lost newfound family, lost wealth beyond their imagination, lost weapons forged from their ancestors, and lost their honor as dwarves. They each vowed, in their own way, that they would one day reclaim Khundrukar.