As Tauriell comes back with some firewood she takes a closer look at the glitters in the entrance.
She drops the firewood in front of Abomentolor. "Do what you do best." she smiles at him.
The glitters in the entrance are scales of the hydra and some coins scattered between the bones of those eaten by the beast.
Tauriell's interest is piqued and she takes her time to search the caves entrance and the area inside. She casts her own dancing lights to have better lighting conditions for that.
"Would you please ask her if she would want that cleric removed from her tribe." Gwenhwyfar asks Abomentolor.
"<Would you want us to kill that Uggilo?>"
"<Only Uggilo right? I think it would be best for our tribe if he is removed.>" Azoresh answers unsure where that will lead.
"She wouldn't shed a tear about him." Abomentolor interprets Azoreshs answer.
"Well I think that settles that."
Several bits of treasure lie amid the remains of the hydra’s past meals, strewn about the cave mouth haphazardly. Most of the treasure is hidden in the shallow mud or water. Taking some minutes to search Tauriell comes up with quite some treassure: , a gold ring , a silver necklace , a crystal wand , an amulet , and a ring .
"Settles what? What is you plan beyond killing that cleric?" Abomentolor asks. "You're making our stink here the new chief?"
"Well It settles that we need to get rid of the cleric. Other issues would still need to be dealt with."
Tauriell patiently picks all the coins and items up and carries them to her place where she spread out the sailing canvas on the ground. The items that are not coins she collects into her cup.
As she is done she shakes her head at the sight of the piles of coins "It's crazy how many weight these coins have. Where is our donkey pulled cart?"
"What did you find Tauriell?"
"I say if you leave them alone it will eventually degrade to demon worship again." Abomentolor voices his predetermined opinion about them.
"I'm still at it, but I'm no longer sure if it was clever to kill that hydra. If we simply made a deal to get all the treasure from those it eats it could have been a steady income." Tauriell replies.
"It's a lot of coins and some items I need to identify yet."
"Why?"
"They are reptiles. They are all evil." Abomentolor states as matter of fact.
"How can you belay the attidude of someone just because he counts to a specific folk? I think that's just a bit ..." Niamh searches for a word "It's a small mind, isn't it?"
Tauriell sits down and casts detect magic to identify the different items she has in her cup.
"It's a ring of swimming, a wand of acid arrow and an amulet I don't know about." Tauriell offers the information she found.
"Well before we started exploring the Crow I believed all undead were evil. So I can understand it. However one should always revisit their ideas of the world."
"Well. Our people have a well founded hatred for all those reptiles. You think we got that because there was a black sheep now and then with them?" Abomentolor replies getting loud. "If you meet 99 of them and all want to kick your ass for no reason then you don't care about the 100th who doesn't. You simply kill them on sight."
"That is not acceptable." Gwenhwyfar protests. "And every reptile will say the same about gnomes and there will be killing for all the time. This will not happen with our group here."
"Gwenhwyfar, we do it all the time. With the hydra and the creepers, the green people in the sewers... and so on..." Niamh says after a moment of thinking about Abomentolor's words. She shakes her head and looks at her feet. "And so on..."
"I don't care. I really don't. I won't be here when it degenerates again. You can set up your little dream of a better world here." Abomentolor says throwing his arms in the air.
Tauriell looks up from her hoard and with a cynical grin throws in "I still wait for the day when all the baddies simply kill themself to make this world the perfect place. So far it hasn't happened."
"Truth be told, most of the time we only kill things that try to kill us first, and we had evidence that this hydra was killing sentient beings."
"You are horrible, you destroy Gwenhwyfars dreams and don't care about it." Darthdy says to Abomentolor.
"My dream is indestructible!" Gwenhwyfar replies. "As long as I live I will look out for pour souls willing to be led on the right path. And Azoresh here will get her chance for a new start without the influence of that evil cleric."
"And if it degenerates later then that's a sad thing. But she will get her chance." she states.
"This world need more people like her. Courageous enough to try and naive enough to believe it will work. If there were enough of them it actually would." Tauriell comments.
As to make clear this discussion is over she moves to Tauriell "Shall I take a look at t he amulet?" and on receiving it casts detect magic.
"Sorry, today is not my day when it comes to identifying magic things." she says as she hands the amulet back. "Who shall get the wand and the ring?"
"I have free fingers for that ring, but I guess there are still members in our group that have bigger issues not to drown than I have." Tauriell replies looking at Jimmy. "And the wand is for someone who can actually use it. Which is probably only Abomentolor."
"Yay. A magic stick for me!" Abomentolor shouts, comes over and grabs the crystal wand. Waving it around he smiles from one ear to the other.
"And what is this other thing?" he asks taking a look at the amulet himself.
"Meh." he voices on his failed attempt. He then continues to admire the wand.
"Are you going to start that fire anytime soon?" Tauriell asks. "And is anyone interested to check if that cave has more surprises? I mean besides the hydra."
"Are you in some kind of hurry?" Abomentolor complains. He sticks the wand in his belt and start buildig a fire. He then lights it with a spark, or two, or ten as the wood is not as dry as it should.
Tauriell gets up and casts a dancing light. She sends it further into the cave and follows it to see if the cave has a dead end or signs of other inhabitants.
At first it looks like the cave has the shape of a sack but to the right that sack has a hole. This opening is the start of a tunnel that leads into the darkness. From the entrance and with dancing lights it can be seen that it is at least 100 feet long.
Tauriell walks back to the group "I have good news and bad news."
"The good news is that there is a tunnel from this cave. So we have something to explore tomorrow."
"The bad news is that our camp suddenly became less safe with a second entrance from who knows where." she explains. "Shall we call it a day and wait for the night to rest? Or is someone keen on exploring that tunnel right now?"
"I did my share of cleaning out monsters today." Abomentolor replies. "I'm not fond of throwing stones at the next ones."
"Gwen is also out of spells, so that is probably our best bet." Jimmy says
"Jimmy's right. If we stumble upon another fight we could end up wounded with not much healing left." Gwenhwyfar replies.
"Alright then. If we call it a day I spend my last spell to identify the Amulet." Tauriell says and sits down to do so.
"It's an amulet of mighty fists. Someone interested in doing hand combat?" Tauriell asks holding up the item.
"I'll take it." Abomentolor hurries to say and as no one else voices his or her interest he goes to Tauriell and takes the amulet.
As everyone agrees to call it a day the group sits around the fire, eats trail rations and has a good time. As it gets dark outside all set up their resting place and go to sleep.
Outside the cave a large hodag moves comes out of the earth and holds it's nose into the wind in search of something. It moves some feet into the cave sniffs the air and moves outside again. Diving into the ground like into water the creature disappears.
The rest of the night passes uneventful and as the night changes it's color from black to blue a lot of frogs can be heard croaking outside.
Darthdy goes to Abomentolor and asks for the Amulet "Good morning Abomentolor I want to aks you for the Amulet, because I need it for my beast shape."
"Why? can't you do your beastshape without?" Abomentolor asks not really willing to part from a magic item. Again.
Niamh wakes from the dispute of Darthdy and Abomentolor. "You're arguing that early in the morning? You both are crazy." She stands up and steps to the entrance of the cave to look out.
"I mean I want it because this amulet strenghtened my claws and bite attacks in my beast shape. So if you woeld so nice to give me the amulet, I would be very happy." Darthdy answers to Abomentolor.