The escaped prisoners were brought before the elderly minister Sauriv, one of the oldest and most respected lizardfolk in the Caves of Jhirkorro. A former ambassador who had learned Common through years of diplomacy, Sauriv greeted the adventurers with surprising warmth, attempting to convey his thoughts through human emotion and metaphor with mixed success. He was relieved to learn that the party were not members of the Fold, whose growing influence he deeply distrusted.
Sauriv explained the fragile balance that held his tribe together. The shaman Aarhtikish sought closer ties with the Fold so she could learn from Volition, while the isolationist subchief Ertrasti wished to sever all contact with the outside world, though enjoyed the Fold's magic weapons. The Lizard King Ihrtos feared a greater threat beyond the marshes and believed that alliances and stockpiled supplies were necessary for the tribe's survival. Whatever their opinions, Sauriv admitted that nearly everyone had benefited from the Fold's gifts in some way; even the minister had enjoyed imported books on political theory.
Though Sauriv agreed that the adventurers would carry far greater authority if they completed the legendary Trail of Scales, as Aartikish had claimed to, he warned them that the journey was perilous. The path rejected Extraplanar creatures, and a recent expedition of Fold scouts had never returned. Mulokha, however, was not deterred, adamant that she needed to gain status in the Caves of Jhirokrro for her own people's sake. As they were escorted by the king's attendants toward the ancient trial, the druid reflected to her new friends on her own tribe's decline. As a prominent leader in a small clan, Mulokha feared many of her people were abandoning their traditional way of life in search of the wealth promised by this larger tribe. "Tula" related to this, fearing that Fold's influence might already be spreading far beyond the marshes, and Kig echoed the concern, as his master was unraveling this same thread.
The attendants left the party overlooking a flooded and muddy cavern, where rocky outcrops marked the beginning of the Trail of Scales. Upon the stones, Mulokha discovered lizardfolk Druidic inscriptions; Earnest, meanwhile, spotted six Giant Lizards concealed along the cavern ceiling with his supernatural sight. Summoning a Familiar to scout ahead, Mulokha pieced together the beginning of an ancient legend: three Bronze Dragon sisters, fleeing a terrible elven Curse, had come seeking sanctuary within these caves. Her Bat weaved around the stalactites, reading all six inscriptions right before being devoured by one of the hidden lizards, and the cavern bust into action.
The party raced for the entrance as giant lizards approached from every direction. Mulokha magically enlarged Earnest then Wildshaped into a Warhorse, carrying Tula across the mire as the rogue peppered their pursuers with arrows. Kig bounded effortlessly from outcrop to outcrop through disciplined bursts of Inner Energy, while the enlarged Earnest battled forward through the creatures. Snapdragon supported his fellow "paladin", but as they neared the entrance, the fairy found himself overcome with nausea. The Trail's ancient wards rejected Fey, but he managed to heal Earnest and draw several of the giant lizards away from the fleeing party. One followed Snap upward and was killed by the cave's lizardfolk guards while Kig and Tula beat the two remaining into fleeing.
The party had escaped into the sacred passage, and as they travelled the long, muddy tunnel beyond, their warhorse translated the remaining inscriptions carved upon the stones. The messages told of the three sisters' suffering: the eldest had been stripped of her scales, the middle of her wings, and the youngest of her Fundamentum. Earnest, whose tutors in the Fayan Trading Company had taught him much of dragonkind, explained draconic anatomy and history as the party ventured deeper.
The tunnel eventually opened into a foggy chamber where four identical passages diverged. Obeying Elven warnings carved upon the stones, the companions separated to walk the crossroads alone. Earnest discovered the body of a fallen Fold explorer along his path, and claimed the woman's Enhanced longsword before pressing onward into the fog, where the the next trial unknowingly turned the party against one another. Obscured by magical mist, each adventurer perceived the others as ravenous sharkfolk.
Kig quickly struck Tula before retreating deep into the fog; finding this odd, Mulokha shifted out of her Wildshape and attempted to communicate via Telepathy, but her messages were conveyed as barks in Sahuagin language. The druid's horse form had been rendered as a massive Sahuagin Baron, and as she approached with an outstretched arm and seemingly unstable size, she looked a monstrous threat. Earnest courageously drove his new sword straight into her chest (nat 20, max damage), which Tula saw as a subordinate staking a spear through his superior. Despite being attacked, Tula found it strange that her enemies were fighting each other, so sought to appear harmless.
Kig, meanwhile, had quickly realized that he was not pursued, so jogged back to the scene. Hearing cries of Sahuagin anguish, the young tortle somehow intuited the illusion affecting them. Rather than attack or hide, he used his healing abilities on the grievously wounded "baron". Tula pieced together what had happened, and remained still. This prompted Earnest to lower his own shield and cautiously pull up Tula with peaceful intent. One had slashed with empty hands, one had dropped twin carved bones, and two carried shields and spears; unable to trust their senses, the party instead identified one another by their equipment.
Overcoming the deception, the companions gathered themselves and pressed on through the Trail of Scales.
Word count: 925
