The draco lizards were large lizards like crocodiles, but with longer legs, a shorter and more pointed facial structure, and wings on their back.

When they first noticed the party, they hissed at them. Unfortunately, Bask hissed back while propping itself up on its back four legs in a challenge to them. The draco lizards took exception to that and quickly began charging at the party.

Neil thought quickly and began to prepare a spell, timed just in time for their arrival. Unfortunately, a couple of the lizards decided to fly, and made much faster progress than their brethren. Karrank tried to shoot one down, but it easily rolled out of the way and the two began to circle around the party as the rest arrived. Sylvester swung his kusarigama at one of the, breaking its charge and forcing it closer to the others. Kurt slashed at another one, but it ended up stepping away, leaving only three of the lizards in range when Neil unleashed a huge gout of flames onto them. They roared in pain and rage, and all of the draco lizards, except the one Kurt scared off, moved into attack.

Sylvester ignored the one attacking him to swipe at one of the swooping lizards but missed and ended up being attacked by both of them. Karrank narrowly pulled his arm out of the gullet of one of the lizards who tried to eat his blade when he had swiped at it. Neil dodged the one attacking him and tried to swipe at it, with no luck. Kurt turned to another injured lizard and swiped at it, cutting into its scales, and causing it to bleed.

Luckily for Karrank, before the lizard that nearly ate his arm could react, Bask barreled into it from the side, completely flinging the lizard away. It hissed in rage but ended up slowly backing away from the fight. All of the lizards turned to look at their challenger, their reptilian eyes narrowing with focus. Kurt used it to his advantage, managing to catch his target by surprise and tearing into one of its wings with his blade. Neil had no such luck, however, and his lizard nimbly dodged out of the way of his blows.

One of the draco lizards started to circle Bask, the two of them snapping at each other. Everything seemed to quiet down as the two asserted their dominance to each other. Bask rose its two front legs while the draco lizard raised and waved its orange frills. In the end, Bask nipped the lizard, nearly catching its eyes, and it finally backed down. It slunk away, hissing, and staring all the while.

And, like a spell had been broken, the other lizards suddenly attacked everyone other than Neil. Sylvester and Karrank both ended up getting hit without an opportunity to strike back. Sylvester was fine, his internal energies preventing the lizard from even drawing blood, but Karrank ended up getting hit in the head. He stumbled and nearly fell from the dizziness that assaulted him.

The lizard that had struck him, sensing his weakness, attacked once more – even while its brethren began to slink away. It too looked ready to flee, but it clearly wanted to take some prey with it as well. Thankfully, Karrank’s training saved him as he dodged on instinct more than thought.

Bask and Kurt both tore into the lizard, which had just exposed its flank by going after Karrank, cutting deep into its side. Neil and Sylvester tried to help as well, but by the time they were approaching, the lizard was rapidly fleeing from the party.

They decided to let it go while Sylvester began tending to Karrank.

“That could have gone better.” Karrank said, finally relaxing on some solid ground.

“It definitely could, but you are the only one who really got seriously injured.” Sylvester said, while casting Cure Light Wounds to heal his cuts. It took a few castings to get everything patched up.

“Are you done already?” Karrank asked, seeing Sylvester standing up.

“I’ve done what I can.” Sylvester nodded.

“Dang, I was hoping you could do something about this headache.” Karrank muttered, holding his head.

“Unfortunately, an injury like that is beyond the scope of ‘light wounds.’ Honestly speaking, it could take anywhere from a few days to two weeks to heal.” Sylvester explained.

It was moments like this, he thought to himself as he started to patch himself up, that the world truly showed the elements of the game. Any true healer would probably agree with his assessment, but also add that Karrank should stay away from any strenuous activity for the time period. Mechanically, however, it did nothing but make him more likely to gain fatal injuries when his hit points ran out.

As his thoughts turned to hit points, Sylvester frowned as he found himself needing a fifth casting of Cure Light Wounds to finish patching himself up. One of the mysteries to the inhabitants of the world was that as people grew stronger, they required more to heal from similar wounds. They explained it as some instinctual resistance to magic of any form that developed with a person’s strength, but Sylvester knew the truth: they just had more hit points to heal and their targets for saving throws had improved.

From this fight, and the others everyone had been in, Sylvester had managed to figure out that he had more hit points than anyone else currently in the group. He was only one level above them, but his health was significantly higher. Considering that one was supposed to reroll their health with every new level, he supposed it was just an incredibly lucky roll for himself.

“What are you thinking about so intently?” Val startled him out of his thoughts.

“Just the secrets of the universe.” Sylvester sighed, before picking himself up. “Is everyone ready to go? We should be getting close to the Nixie Pool.”

“Yeah, I’m good enough.” Karrank said, stretching.

“Kurt and I didn’t really end up needing much of a rest anyway.” Neil said while he tried to get Bask back onto the boat to prevent any further attempts to antagonize the local wildlife.

Sylvester sighed and moved over to help him. Together, they got Bask settled back in the boat and were able to continue.

Like Sylvester had said, they didn’t have too much further to go, and they soon arrived at the Nixie Pool. It was a decently sized lake, several thousand feet across and filled with nixies playing among the water and the lilies that covered its surface. Every few moments there was a fin or part of a large carp emerging from the water, carrying a Nixie. The sun was beginning to set, and fireflies were also beginning to light up the surface of the water.

“Wow.” Karrank muttered.

“It’s breathtaking.” Kurt agreed. Neil and Sylvester both nodded along wordlessly.

“Visitors!” a high-pitched voice suddenly called out in excitement. All the nixies in the pool froze and turned to look at the party. A small wave rolled toward the party across the pool as the nixies rushed over to see who had visited them tonight.

Before they arrived, however, one nixie popped up out of the water and floated in front of everyone. She appeared humanoid, if mixed with something amphibious, and with bright red hair that was sopping wet. It stuck out among the other nixies who had hair that was more brown or green. She had formed the water beneath herself into a sort of chair that she sat on. She stuck out her hand and puffed out her chest in pride.

“I am the queen of the nixies here!” She proclaimed. “You can call me Deocea! May I have your name?”

Sylvester stepped forward and smiled while reaching for her hand. The other nixies in the pool looked disappointed that they didn’t get to greet the visitors first.

“Of course not, but you can call me Sylvester.” He smiled while shaking her hand. Deocea instead, pouted.

“Is there a reason you said it like that?” Val prompted, a knowing smirk playing on her lips.

“Rule number four of dungeoneering: don’t ‘give’ or let someone ‘have’ something unless you intend to give them complete ownership of it.” Sylvester explained. Karrank and Kurt only looked confused by this explanation, however.

“What do you mean?” Kurt finally asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Deocea cut in, holding out her hand to him and smiling sweetly. “Would you give me the pleasure of having your name?”

“Well, I think it would just be best for you to call me Kurt.” He nervously replied, finally noticing that something was up.

“Oh, you just had to spoil our fun!” Deocea pouted toward Sylvester. “We normally give names back you know!”

“Can someone explain what just happened?” Karrank finally asked.

“Well, since we came to meet with the nixies here, how about we set up camp and I tell everyone a story.” Sylvester suggested, already working to entertain the nixies.

They were all delighted, of course, to hear stories from their visitors.

“That would be simply wonderful!” Deocea exclaimed. “Would you care to come onto our boat for the story?”

“Perhaps for another story. This one is short, and we do intend to spend the night here, so we do need to set up a camp.” Sylvester politely explained.

“Well, alright then! But let’s get to the story already!” Deocea had changed from sitting to laying on her raised water platform. The other nixies also carefully watched Sylvester, hanging on his every word.

“Well, this story is from a distant land. It is a story of several people who went on grand adventures. After one fight with their greatest foe, they ended up severely wounded and weakened.” Sylvester began his story, while everyone else began to set up camp. They all kept an ear pointed toward him, however, curious about this story that he was telling.

“They were weakened but not defeated, however. They ended up hiding from their foe deep in an ancient forest, where they came across some friendly fairies. They told them of their plight, and the fairies decided to help them. They led them further into the woods, out of the world, and into their court. There, the king of the faeries welcomed them as guests. He supplied them food and drink, healing and rest, safety and relaxation. The group soon recovered and were honestly grateful for everything he had done for them. Still, they explained, they needed to return to face their foe once more.”

The nixies and Val were listening with rapt attention, having never heard of this story before. None of the others had either, but they were less curious about the story and continued their work.

“The king of the faeries was sad to see them go and asked that they each leave something behind. Both to remember them, and as payment for what had been provided. They didn’t want to leave anything precious behind, but they agreed in the end. The warrior in their group, left behind an ancient sword. It was not magical but, he explained, it was a family heirloom that had been with him for years. He no longer used it but kept it for sentimental reasons. The king graciously accepted this gift.

The wizard in their group left behind his wand. It was a potent thing, with a spell held within, but he knew that the staff he had found along his journey would be enough to replace it. Once again, the king graciously accepted.

The last member of the party, the rogue, didn’t want to leave anything behind. He treasured everything on himself too much to just willingly give it up. So, he craftily did something else. When it was his turn to give, he bowed deeply before the king and offered naught but his thanks. Surprisingly, the king smiled the widest at this and graciously accepted.

Once the group was out of the woods, the other two began cursing that they hadn’t realized that they could do such a thing as well. Still, it was done, and they continued. However, when they set up camp that night, the rogue suddenly lost his voice when dinner was served. They all reasonably panicked, but eventually discovered the cause. The rogue couldn’t thank anyone, for anything. The fairy king had taken his ability to thank as his parting gift.”

The nixies absolutely loved the story, laughing uproariously at the fate the rogue had doomed himself to. Val found the story amusing, though not as funny, and the rest of the party finally understood the warning Sylvester had been giving them with rule four.

For the next several hours, the party told stories that they had heard to the nixies, and in return the nixies showed them marvelous sights with their manipulations of water and moonlight. Eventually, the party fell asleep and rested during a blissfully uneventful night.