2. A small hoard

As she walks, Malene thinks she hears a chittering nearby. She pauses and looks in the direction of the sound. It stops as she looks and she figures it’s nothing. She continues; the sound continues. For a few minutes, the cycle goes on, Malene getting increasingly tense.

Finally, the tension breaks. A dart whizzes past Malene’s head and embeds itself in a tree near her. She draws her sword and whirls around in the direction of the projectile.

At first she can only see the one lizard-like creature. But then coming from the edges of the forest she sees a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth… She realizes she’s surrounded by these vaguely draconic beings. They chitter to each other and one holding a staff starts laughing. Malene assumes a fighting stance, ready to do her best or to run.