Rested from the basilisk fight below the fortress outside of Llorkh, Alpha Company emotionally prepares to return to the surface where Larry’s bandits might be waiting to relieve the party of its loots. Ssatschia has attuned the book of healing, and Snory animates the one unstoned humanoid. Nobel nominee Ssatschia doles out individual doses of restoration potion in discarded Marley’s Marvelous Mead bottles and leaves one at the feet of each petrified bandit.
In the fortress, the three baby basilisk heads are harvested. Tango loots from a chest some excellent mithril scale armor [25gp] which goes to Snory. Tango hatches a plan to lure any ambushing bandits in with some loudly feigned complaints of lameness. The ploy works too well. Larry generously arrives with some deer meat and offers to help. He is appreciative of the restoration potions Ssatschia set out and greets Moth’s new dog, recently restored.
The mutual ambush situation turns more awkward when Larry exits and confers with Big Al, the other known bandit leader. Scram exchanges threats, verbatim, with the bandit leaders and Tango offers to remove Big Al’s kidneys. But it is Tango’s kidneys on the line when he scales the fortress wall to surprise flank the bandits and gets grappled by a swavain basilisk. As his final unmineralized duty, he heroically puts hand crossbow bolts into the basilisk and, with prodigious screaming, distracts the attention of the surrounding bandits away from the fortress gate where Moth emerges and, noticing the huge basilisk, joins in the scream. The open hostility is comforting and alleviates the awkwardness.
Scram launches a fireball right out of the gate killing four bandits and wounding three more including bosses Larry and Big Al. Moth, Ssatschia, and Nala punishingly surround Larry. Despite Tango’s moxie, the grappling swavain basilisk secretes its petrification juices on him which at least gives him some relief from the numerous crossbow bolts flying at him. Big Al charges in to help Larry but botches and flings his weapon away. His retreat attracts an opportune infliction of wounds from Ssatschia and a hit by Moth. Isolated Larry is beaten down by Nala, Moth, And Ssatschia. Scram makes another epic attempt at summoning a shadow spawn but gets a sleet storm instead. Big Al embarrassingly slips on the ice and retributively stabs at Scram from the obscurity of the sleet storm. Nala runs down Larry’s other brother Darryl and Moth runs down a crossbowing bandit. Snory tolls Big Al’s death which frees Scram to pop off some unusually effective Jim’s magic missiles. Ssatschia and Nala hold off the basilisk, inflicting wounds both magical and martial with a kiss of Nala’s fire breath. Snory gets the final piece of swavain basilisk with an infliction of wounds touched with death. Moth conquers her own bandit. Nala picks off the red mohawk dude who cannot flee her javelin of warning and critically hucked hand axe.
Ssatschia restores Tango with the book of healing. Nala collects the swavain basilisk head.
It seems that the bandits were engaged in an enterprise to crossbreed the swavain basilisk, Doug, with their brood mare common basilisk, Maria. Once the babies were formed, Maria went mama bear on her keepers. Is there a more difficult way to make a living than breeding basilisks?