Lair of the Lizardmen

At the tower, the heads of this evil state were assembled and Neri gave a short briefing about the new additions to their forces followed by introductions all around. When this concluded, Sluttana spoke up, "Alright. Now it is time to talk about our next major addition so we can finally get the ball rolling on this take over the world thing and move beyond the confines of the swamp and surrounding farmland. We are lacking one crucial element in our army. We have muscle, numbers, ingenuity, and now stealth. But we lack magic. There are some in this army that are surely capable of magic, but no true magic weilders other than the Queen herself. But she is not going to sit down and teach all of them. So we need the lizardmen who are widely unknown, but have been reported to be great magic users and they will allow us to bolster our forces with the arcane."

The bandit princess spoke up, "I had a team track down the lair of the nearby clan. They are situated deep in the swamp where there is a small cave entrance. Scouts managed to see them and two entered, but never returned. So the caves are a mystery and should be explored with much caution."

Neri took the lead and declared the course of action, "I will personally meet their leader, but I wish it to be on neutral ground. They is too little is known about them to meet like I have before. We'll send a scouting party to explore the cave, find their leader and talk with him or her. I will send Elyssa and Nanami to lead a team into the cave. Take this crystal fragment, it will allow you to communicate with me here."

The council adjured and the bandit princess started looking for candidates for their expedition with the catgirl in tow. She chose a handful of goblins and hobgoblins, a couple of orcs, and some of her bandits to make a total of eleven joining them on the trip. They set out at noon the next day into the swamp where they would spend two days cutting through plant-life and warding off flies. A small clearing filled with muck and a stream of swamp water was where the entrance stood in the side of a rocky mound covered with foliage to hide itself from outsiders.

The expedition team set up came outside the entrance and rested until nightfall before entering the cavern as light did't matter in the dark embrace of the lair. Torches lit the walls with their fiery glow as the team descended downward into the underworld below, following the natural path as it winded through the earth. Elyssa had contacted Nerium before entering in case of an ambush or failure caused them to lose contact. Further into the depths of the cavern, the path began to widen and the crude marks of tools were shown to have carved out thw rest of the rock. They were getting closer to the lizardman camp and saw even more signs of civilization.

Soon they were upon an area lit by the natural life of cultivated plants that provided a dull glow. Elyssa deduced that the lizarmen must have nighteye for the tunnels, but require greater light for their larger rooms. Around the next corner was what they had been looking for, a lizardman encampment within the cave system. The team hid and their leaders started forming a plan of action as they surveyed the surroundings.

Huts carved out of the walls and made of twigs filled the room's various levels and easily several hundred lizardmen could live here. The tall, scale covered humanoid reptile hybrids seemed mostly lank, but there were a few more burly specimens. All appeared to be going about their own business and none seemed to be guarding anything.

With all that, Elyssa gave Nanami the order to take a goblin and a bandit into the the camp and scout out the location of the leader before further action. The cat girl nodded and signaled her men to follow her lead as she made her way to thw second level and out of sight. An hour passed with the team sitting near the tunnel and waiting around for the cat's return. Several noises rang out through the cave that put them on edge, spreading out and keeping a look out for the scouts or any lizardmen.

It was quiet and all were still with fear and caution as they hid behind their cover. Elyssa finally broke away and told the rest to stay behind as she looked on ahead. She managed to get up to the nearest set of huts before turning around to regroup when her vision went dark. Something had just shoved her into a sack and she fought against the confines as she heard yelling and the the clang of metal soon after. Then the bandit hit the ground and felt herself being **** across the cave floor to some unknown fate.