After spending the night with S, the party broke bread with him the next morning. They thanked him for his hospitality and headed back to camp. After a few miles, Gronk stopped suddenly and bent over. He pulled a shiny copper coin out of the muck and bit it firmly. Satisfied, he pocketed it. Then he saw another ...
The party quickly noticed Gronk was diverging, and stopped. They exhorted him to come back. "Look, a silver one!" was his reply. The party yelled, and after a handful more coins he came to a halt, clearly torn between coins and companions. The party finally yielded to his stubbornness, following him and the coin trail a quarter mile off their path. It clearly led to a small hill of muck with an opening torn into it.
"Do you think it's a trap?" Gronk asked. "Of course it is!" they all yelled. "I wonder if I should go in anyway." Triben replied "You can go in if you want. I'm not going in there." After five minutes of arguing outside, a lone bullywug hopped out of the opening. "The Lord of the Swamp has granted you an audience!" it proclaimed. Gronk tried to press him for more information, only to find the creature barely smarter than a rock.
The party argued some more about the likelihood that the Bullywug chieftan was inside, and the chances that it wasn't a trap. Finally, the party approached the entrance. Minos lit his lantern. Warily, the party followed the flickering light into the cave. The hollow was damp and musty, with water dripping from the ceiling. A slime-covered bubbling pool sat at the far end of the cave. Adjacent to it was a gigantic skull with the top ripped off and a flood of coins pouring out the eyes, nose, and mouth. A dragon, almost the size of an elephant, lounged in the skull. He used it as a pappasan, shifting lazily over the coin bed. His black scales sucked in the dim light. The dragon's tail toyed with a suit of dragon-scale full plate on a display stand on the other side of the skull.
"We were very amused that you followed our coin trail," the dragon said. "We wondered if you would. Now, you will tell us what your intentions are in our swamp." The party hastily explained they were following a map, and quickly segued into a discussion of the conflict between the lizardfolk and bullywugs. The dragon quickly bored, and agreed to let them "hunt in our swamp". He did, however, require that they allow themselves to be marked. He also suggested that a favor might be in order, as they had been intolerably rude in being late for their audience.
Ann was the first to step forward. The creature gestured, and an acidic mark stamped itself onto her hand. Ann cried out in pain and quickly wiped the acid off, but the burn remained. She healed herself, but retained a scar in the shape of a dragon. She quickly stepped back into the far recesses of the chamber. As the next member of the party moved up to be marked, Minos whispered to Triben "Why don't we just kill it?" "We are not amused! " the dragon roared in reply. It launched a blast of acid directly at Minos' feet, forcing him to leap back. It appeared to miss intentionally, but Ann quickly retaliated with a handful of shuriken.
With a roar, the dragon leapt from its perch into the foul pool of water. The party quickly composed itself, then heard a distinct thump from above. Apparently the creature had landed on top of the hill. After a brief discussion, Minos started packing the suit of full plate in an attempt to lure the dragon into the cave. When that failed, Ann ventured near the entrance. The beast was down in a moment, spitting more acid at the party. The group all fell back quickly, hoping to lure it into the cave. Instead, it leapt back up onto the hilltop.
Next, Minos decided he would be a distraction. Using his mental powers, he girded for battle. Once done, he teleported 45 feet outside the cave. The dragon immediately pounced from his perch, tearing into Minos. The rest of the party quickly joined the fray. Grappled by both West (in tiger form) and his tiger companion, the dragon was unable to maneuver. With its wings clipped, it was no match for the party, who defeated it handily.
The party secured the cave, gathered up the dragon's small hoard, and interrogated his bullywug manservant. The creature was able to give them the approximate numbers of bullywugs (15,000) and lizardfolk (3,000) in this area of the Vast Swamp, but little else. As a final indignity, they dragged the dragon's corpse back into his cave and skinned him, intending to later make armor of his scaly hide.
The party stayed the night in the dragon's cave. The next morning, they continued on to the lizardfolk encampment. They traveled without incident, but caused quite a stir when they arrived. The entire village came out to meet them, forming a large circle around them as they strode towards the chieftan's throne. Gronk led the party boldly forward, holding the dragon's head in front of him. To their dismay, they noted that the older lizardfolk leader appeared to have been replaced by one of the tribe's youth, and that the Brotherhood man stood at his side.
Upon reaching the throne, Gronk took a step to the fore. "We have proven our worth to the tribe," he yelled. "We have met with your God and been found worthy. We bring proof of our prowess and coin." He tossed the dragon's head at the throne's foot, then threw a sack of coppers at the new chieftan's feet. "We will fight the bullywugs with you! Let us join your tribe!"
The Brotherhood agent whispered in the chieftan's ear. The lizardfolk grunted in amusement. He replied in Draconic, "You have survived the swamp, you have survived our God. One final test remains. You must accept the scorpion's bite, and then reach a simple wooden stake." When the party indicated willingness, they were led to the middle of the circle. Ritually, a line of lizardfolk walked forward and, one at a time, drew a dagger in a slight cut on the inner arm of each party member. The scorpion venom distributed, the party was led back out to the circle. A lone lizardfolk walked in front of the chieftan and drove a short stake into the muck. The Brotherhood agent removed his robes, revealing a powerful upper body rippling with muscles.
He strode forward, standing perhaps 10' in front of the throne. Smiling, he planted a short stake into the soft earth, then took two steps forward. Gronk went first, easily tossing the man aside to reach the stake. West had significantly more difficulty, but was able to slip past the Brother's guard and reach the stake. Triben eased out of his grip with surprising ease and grabbed the stake. Ann, the next competitor, charged. As he reached out to grab her, she leapt deftly into the air, planted her feet on his head, and flipped over to land balanced upon the short stake. The lizardfold hissed in appreciation.
Minos attempted to use this distraction to subtly manifest a power. He failed, instantly alerting all the lizardfolk around him as the echoes of his manifestation affected them. The lizardfolk all started moving away from the party, hissing and snarling...