Does anyone out there know a good recipe for Lizard? As much as I have racked my little pea-brain, I don't either, and neither do any of my compatriots. I am faced with an abundance of raw material now that we have settled this little obstacle but I am stuck with no way to prepare it. Maybe I better back up on my narrative and clarify our situation.

Big Nate, Our Mule

     This all started as I was nodding off on top of Big Nate as he was striding along near the back of the party. I knew that Eltarra was watching the back of our group with her bow and Dayne was nearby, although his nose was almost always buried in a book or practicing an incantation of some sort. I had just about been able to settle onto the big cooking pot with the barley bag as a pillow and my feet  ... I mean my foot and my peg propped up on the lashings of rope on the front of Big Nate's pack frame and was just settling into my morning nap after my breakfast, not to be confused with my morning snack of course, when I felt someone tug at my jerkin.

Eltarra and Her Bow

      Rubbing the sleep from my eyes and sitting up, I saw a fawn colored glove pulling at the corner of my coat and a lovely face looking up at me. Glancing ahead, Eltarra flipped the raven-colored braid over her shoulder and knocked an arrow in her longbow. She pointed with her chin toward the front of the group. We were traversing a small narrow passage that had gradually pinched our group down to the point that we were almost side-by-side in pairs and Dayne was next to Big Nate with Eltarra slipping behind Nate, Rissa ahead of Dayne, and Grimgar and Thrud leading the way.

     "This smells like trouble," she said and she moved back into the shadows, watching back into the darkness but I noticed she also looking forward over the head of Grimgar. He's really kind of short for a dwarf, you know.


     Thrud was just drawing his broadsword when out of the darkness. some of the ugliest creatures I have seen in my days came charging into the light from Grimgar's stone hanging from his belt, what passed as swords clutched in their grimy paws. They had wide jaws with great big googly eyes perched on top of their heads and they emitted squeaks and squawks that only the Gods know what they meant.

     Grimgar didn't hesitate to try and figure out what the first one was saying but stepped in and ducking under his sword slash, he delivered a quick slash from his axe that, unfortunately, only managed to tear the character's clothing as the green-grey creature jack-knifed to avoid the swipe. But in the follow-through, Grimgar swept the axe around and sweeping down, struck the creature a enormous blow on the back of the neck that almost severed its lizard head and laid it out comatose at his feet.

Grimgar at Rest

     Grimgar gave forth with a mighty Dwarven war-cry "Tra Kerss'k Um!", which from past experience means I think. "The Fight's On!" and leaped ahead toward the next creature. The dwarf, regretably, had not accounted for his short legs however and stumbled over the body of the first creature, who lay sprawled before him.

     Luckily, Eltarra and I had not been idle in the interval. Drawing her bow and kissing the string to her lips, she let fly with a shaft. The arrow thrummed just past Grimgar's head and buries itself halfway to the fletchings in the shoulder of the creature.

Olo Bigtoe, The Author of Our Stories

     And I? What was little Olo doing? I had only grabbed a lead oblong bullet inscribed in Goblin to "Take That" (I know they weren't Goblins but it was the best I could do at the moment) and standing on my perch on Big Nate, my sling whirred and I sent my bullet thrumming toward the creature. I didn't have to worry about hitting Grimgar, since he was dwarvenly stunty and far below my line of flight, and my bullet slammed into the creature's left eye, ricocheting off into the darkness. He clutched one of his grimy claws over the side of his head while raising his sword to try and protect himself but by then, Grimgar had regained his footing and was upon him.

Dayne Can Control Weather?

     Dayne had stepped up and had slapped his grimoire closed and had spoken power words. Risaa, having noticed the pale, white light glowing behind her, looked back and saw a ball of lightning growing in the hands of Dayne. She reached over and grabbed the bridle of Big Nate and pushed him across the hall away from Dayne, just as Eltarra loosed a second shaft that buried itself into the thigh of the creature backing up from Grimgar. Dayne raised his hands, the balls glowing and pulsing in his hands with a pale crackling fire, and he thrust his hands forward toward the creatures. I noticed, however, that the ball, which had previously been glowing large in his hands, immediately diminished to a small spark and then with a puff of smoke, winked out.

     "Is that how it was supposed to work?" I asked, from my perch on the back of Big Nate.

     "No," he said, irritation in his voice, and for a moment. I though he was going to cast a spell on me and turn me into a frog so I concentrated on making myself very small and trying to slide over onto the left side of Big Nate, even though I guess I ran the risk of Eltarra sticking me with an arrow. Dayne furiously whipped out his grimoire and flipped through the pages again. Hopefully, the next spell would go better.