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“We have nothing to fear,” you announce with some pomp, “from fire, or from lizards.”
Your advisors exchange a glance of uncertainty, but they have seen the destruction you wrought upon greater foes—the fabled ‘Devourer’, for instance, a great rust monster which terrorized nearby regions of the underdark since time immemorial. They trust in you, and follow. And as for the kobolds… Well, they have little choice but to do likewise.
You step into the hallway ahead, and see the narrow, chiseled caverns open wide into a more open room. It is more naturalistic, almost volcanic, and you realize you have entered into the long-empty magma chambers of the volcano which formed this mountain-ranged, and which once filled it. Low it is dormant—dead—like the dragon whose own heat also filled this place… But the mountain is not empty.
Fire-lizards are bigger than you expected. Each is easily the size of you, albeit built in such a way that you would place their weight closer to that of one of the smaller Silkscale-clan males with you. They are red of scale, wide of face, with pitch black eyes which give away little-to-no emotion. Luckily, you are a skilled in the ways of Reptilian Empathy; you do not need to rely on such windows into the soul of such beings.
The fire-lizards, of which you count four, stare at you as you approach. When they see more intruders file in behind you, they grow irate. You take a breath, find your centre, and summon the Fearsome Presence within, projecting an aura of draconic certainty. As they rear slightly, beginning to approach and to illuminate themselves with a burning aura, you step forward to meet them, raise a hand as if to command them to halt…
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…And they do. All six of these predators slowly settle back down to an uneasy simmer. The Cartographer and Translator breathe a sigh of relief. The kobolds watch in utter awe, regarding you worshipfully. Even Hapo is not immune to being impressed by such a display of mastery.
