Quicksilver Lizard

This big, silvery lizard stands on two hind powerful hind legs, balanced by a short tail. It has a pair of small forearms that end in sharp claws. A diamond-shaped head filled with sharp teeth perches atop a long, slender neck.
Quicksilver lizards are valued for their tremendous bursts of speed and their willingness to bear riders.

Strategy and Tactics
As a mount, a quicksilver lizard serves primarily to get its rider safely into and out of combat.

QUICKSILVER LIZARD
Always Neutral
Large animal
Init +2;
Senses - blindsense 60 ft., low-light vision, scent
Languages —
AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 30 (4 HD)
Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +2
Speed - 40 ft., climb 40 ft.; Run, sprint

Sprint (Ex) Once per hour, a quicksilver lizard can move five times its normal speed (200 feet) when it makes a charge.

Melee - bite +6 (1d8+4) and 2 claws +1 each (1d6+2)
Space - 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +3; Grp +11
Abilities - Str 19, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10

Feats - Alertness, Run

Skills - Climb +17, Hide +0, Jump +12, Listen +3, Spot +3
Quicksilver lizards have a +4 racial bonus on Jump checks. They also have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

All giant lizards are carnivores and eat just about anything that moves. Most make do with cave-dwelling spiders and other vermin.

Typical Physical Characteristics: A quicksilver lizard stands about 10 feet tall and weighs around 500 pounds.

Quicksilver lizards are relatively easy to train as mounts.
A light load for a quicksilver lizard is up to 230 pounds, a medium load, 231—465 pounds, and a heavy load, 466–700 pounds. A quicksilver lizard can drag 3,500 pounds.

Having a head for business

The scrag swam under the party to see which would be the easiest stragglers to pick off for its larder. The paladin quickly swam down to engage the giant while the wizard and scout held back to launch acid and fire down upon it from a distance. Initially the scrag tried to grapple the paladin and then rend her instead but to no avail - the paladin defended expertly whilst hacking away at the troll's loathsome hide. As the scout's arrows continued to find their mark, the scrag was eventually knocked unconcious and, unable to defend itself, slain.

The adventurers clambered into the swan boat, the scout encumbered with the severed head of their opponent. On their return to the goblin market, the residents were jubilant to see that the giant that terrorised the lake was dead. Tzak, the chief, bestowed freedom of the market upon the troll slayers. To ensure that his own name would go down in history, the chief bartered a quicksilver lizard in exchange for the grizzly trophy. Not wanting to be undone, the cleric of Wee Jas traded hundreds of gold coins for a similar lizard.

The tiefling scout also tried to solicit information about the second mausoleum but found nothing, leading him to expect that the place contained the remains of dead goblins and so not for the attention of treasure-hunting adventurers.

Instead, the chief provided leads on several other places where treasure could be found, including paid employment destroying undead, a toll gate and a beholder expressway with a real beholder in it. With this information, the party set off into the dark tunnels after adventure.

[[Scrag - 100 xp each]]

"I'm sure I left the boat just here..."

With no joy finding anything the first waterfall, the party sailed the swan boat to the second and discovered a hidden underwater tunnel.

The warforged artificer concocted arcane ungents that enchanted the armour of each adventurer to make underwater travel possible and soon the party was slowly swimming past the waterfall.

After about fifty feet, the tunnel opened into a water-filled cavern with two rows of ogre bones on each side. The remnants of the dead had been reassembled in a cage-like affair with cement and on top of each was the dead ogre's skull, the owner's name etched into the forehead and highlighted with paint.

At the end of the rows, a ogre-shaped statue of Nerull looked back at the party, a bone scythe in its stone grasp. Floating out from behind the representation, a zombie ogre appeared bearing a sack, the contents of which it soon dumped out in front of the party. The resulting cascade of small teeth magically turned into a swarm of starving piranha which proceeded to take many tiny bites out of anything living in range.

As this was happening, a shark appeared from nowhere next to the swashbuckler. Unfazed, the dashing hero extended his arm out to the left and neatly skewered the fish through the brain, causing it to vanish back to the realm it had been summoned from.

Elsewhere chaos ensued as the swarm chased adventurers around the bone piles and the water took on a pinky hue. The heat of a Fireball and brute force, though, were starting to make a difference and both the fish and the zombie were faltering.

Out of the corner of his eye, the war-forged saw an ogre priest watching the combat. A batch of Magic Missiles from a wand grabbed the creatures attention and caused it to charge the artificer with longspear at the ready. Luckily, the ogre missed and the paladin neatly hacked off its head with expert swordplay.

Within moments, the battle was over and the party set about searching the place. On a shelf in the ogre's living cave was a goblin's skull with a ring inside it (which the artificer surmised was a Ring of Landwalking, designed to allow water-breathers access to the world above the surface). The ogre's study area provided some hides covered in Giant language. The ogre's body itself revealed three Scrolls of Animate Dead.

Returning to the surface, the adventurers were shocked to find that the swan boat had drifted half a mile away in the current creeated by the waterfalls and tunnel leading into the lake. The boat was only noticeable because of the handful of active sunrods left in it earlier. The raven was sent to drop a sunrod into the water around the boat to see if any threats could be illuminated but none could be seen.

As the party began the swim to the boat, a pair of ogres could be seen swimming parallel to them about 60 feet away (the limits of Darkvision). After a little while, as the swimmers neared the hole in the lake floor, the ogres cried out in fear and turned back as a scrag appeared from the deep. Although of greater height and weight, the merrow knew - even together - that they were no match for the aquatic troll's ferocity and ability to regenerate. Better to back off and wait to pick over the scraps of adventurer that would be left.

[[Ogre priest, Ogre zombie, Piranha swarm - 400 xp each person]]
[[Shark - 200 xp for the swashbuckler]]

New faces

After half a mile of trudging along the side of the underground river, the adventurers found a grill across the flow of water and some steps leading up into a cave. Or cavern because once up the steps they could see in the distance (maybe 600-700 yards) the lights of a small village of Etzlimende across a calm lake. There was no way of determining the limits of the water as in every other direction was darkness.

On the wall nearby was a gong which was soon rung. After a short wait, the sound of a small boat could be heard and soon a small coracle came into view. A short, hooded figure with skeletal limbs (albeit through the application of white paint) indicated that the journey to the other side was not free and, one by one, the party made the slow journey to the village lights. Although the scout was sure they were being watched by aquatic ogres, or merrow, they managed to reach safety unchallenged.

The village started several yards back from the shore and stretched away into an side cave roughly 250 yards by 350 yards (about 10 football pitches). The resident population seemed to be almost entirely goblinoid, possibly 150-200 in number with a smattering of visitors from many backgrounds.

The main industry of the village appears to be the preparation and selling of food, a foul-smelling mix of blind white crustaceans and fish ('Etzlimende' means "Lake of Stinky Fish" in goblin). Market stalls cluster together selling provisions for those travelling from the surrounding underground world. Some accommodation was also available although of a poor standard - all the buildings are created with ropes and sheets made from cloth or skins.

Some of the party decided to have a break here in the market village, leaving the remainder to be recruited by a small group of travellers (a mech, a tiefling scout and a wizard) in search of rumoured mausoleums.

The wizard's familiar was sent off clutching a sunrod to check out the limits of the lake and, on its return, the new party soon had a rough sketch of the cavern. The irregularly shaped lake was maybe a mile from end to end with a couple of waterfalls and a river feeding in fresh water.

Jajij the boatman indicated that the merrow did indeed have a mausoleum on the far side of the lake and would be prepared to arrange for a large boat for a 'reasonable' fee. Instead the party relied on the magical summoning of a huge swan boat, maybe 15ft by 25 ft, to get them across the water.

The depth of the water varied across the lake, usually 10-15ft deep, but half-way across the tiefling's darkvision failed to find the bottom of a particularly gloomy hole beneath them.

Moving on, the sound of waterfalls was soon very loud and the party decided to see if there was a concealed cave behind one of them but without luck. As they did so, three merrow rose out of underwater tunnels and tried to board the swan boat. The adventurers defended valiantly and soon the trio were feeding the fishes, their blood clouding the water.

[[3 merrow - 250 xp per boat member]]