August 17, Year 3488 (SE 118)
Having decided to ambush the lizardfolk, the party approach the clearing by the lizardfolk lair and prepare themselves. The dead lizardfolk is used as bait, placed near the opposite end of the clearing in order to draw the other lizardfolk out. Sharla conjures up an illusion of a demon using her magic, having it loom over the corpse, and Zedlyn prepares to supplement the illusion with a blood-curdling roar, using his natural gnomish abilities.
Everyone else prepares to attack in various ways. Adokas hides in the bushes near the corpse, ready to assassinate one the lizardfolk with his sling. P'hla stands further back away from the clearing, ready to cast a Sleep spell from a distance. Flossaria, Iriellis, and Tamat fan out across the edges of the clearing and prepare to attack with crossbow, sling, and longbow, respectively.
Ten minutes or so pass as the group waits, when finally a few dark figures appear near the cave's exit. However, a few seconds later, they move back into the cave rather than head out into the ambush. Whether they detected the ambush, they were scared off by the demon, or they have some other motive is unclear. The party continue holding their positions, hoping that the lizardfolk will reappear.
A few minutes later, with the party still hoping for the lizardfolk to emerge, a mysterious and beautiful song begins to emanate from the cave entrance. It seems to pull at the listeners, urging them to step forward towards the cave. Flossaria, Sharla, and Iriellis all resist its influence, but Adokas, Zedlyn, P'hla and Tamat all find themselves unwillingly stepping forward.
Sharla thinks back to her bardic training, and realizes that she's heard of something like this before. There are a multitude of creatures, such as Sirens and Harpies, that are said to have hypnotic songs, but the stories say that they can be countered by another song. As Adokas steps towards the cave, Sharla rushes up to him and sings a hymn of his faith into his ear. It works - the second song draws his attention away from the first, and he suddenly snaps back to awareness.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party are having much less luck. Iriellis is trying to slow or trip P'hla, and while she has some success, P'hla continues to rise and move towards the clearing. Flossaria is trying to stop Tamat, but he brushes off her efforts. His Druidic abilities allow him to step easily through the undergrowth, even while in a daze, and soon he is out in the open, in the clearing, where Flossaria doesn't want to follow. No one is trying to stop Zedlyn, but his short stature and heavy armor combine to make his progress through the bushes very slow.
Flossaria and Adokas begin circling the edge of the clearing, making their way towards the cave entrance, hoping to leap out and stop Tamat right before he reaches the cave. Sharla runs to Zedlyn and tries the same tactic she used on Adokas, this time using a soldiers' marching tune. It works a second time; Zedlyn snaps out of his daze and stops moving towards the cave.
Iriellis is still having no luck, and P'hla escapes her grasp and reaches the edge of the clearing, before Sharla shouts out instructions to Iriellis, telling her to sing to counter the effect. Iriellis, lacking Sharla's training, picks a tavern song at random and sings it into P'hla's ear, and is surprised to find that it works - P'hla recovers her senses, leaving only Tamat still moving forward.
The druid is too fast, and he reaches the cave before Flossaria and Adokas are in position, stepping into the darkness. Sounds of combat and cries of pain emerge from the cave, and Adokas throws a torch towards the entrance. It falls short, but illuminates enough for the group to see several figures attacking Tamat. P'hla casts a Sleep spell into the darkness and most of the figures go down. Tamat has apparently regained his senses during the fight; he rushes out of the cave, bloodied but still standing. He turns back and casts a spell that causes roots and vines to burst out of the cave walls, holding fast the one remaining lizardfolk, then puts an arrow through its throat.
During this chaos, the song has stopped, so everyone regroups, with the clerics healing Tamat. Adokas quietly goes to the cave entrance and finishes off the three sleeping lizardfolk that were caught by P'hla's spell. They decide to press their advantage and head into the cave.
The cave turns out to be a large, sprawling affair with many branching passages. The party move quickly, not stopping for a thorough investigation of any of the areas that they encounter. These areas include a ravine that is apparently filled with bees, which the group avoid, two separate caverns containing large pools of water, a cavern that slopes up to a small opening in the ceiling, and a cavern filled with rat dung, presumably the home of some sort of rat colony.
As they explore the cave, the party pass by four different ledges that drop down to a lower section. They finish their cursory exploration of the upper section, and it yields no signs of the lizardfolk lair, so they decide to descend to the lower section and continue searching.
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