06/09/5-10

Milivoj shared the message and the group wondered if this dinosaur could be related to them, given its fire nature. Valeyo joked that it could be someone's pet, but ultimately it was something to worry about later. They continued their ride north, towards where Cassini had seen the Allosaurus in his Scrying. A little later, Sapphira spotted a set of day old tracks, which were clearly dinosaur in nature. In addition, there were some horse tracks, about half-a-day old, a party of 4. Valeyo pointed out that this was where Laz and his group had headed, and there were 4 of them, 3 prison guards and the hunter they had hired. Shiek asked if they were willing to interfere with them in some way if they are after the same dinosaurs. Valeyo said he wasn't looking for a fight, but if they could misdirect of deceive them, that would be acceptable. He also said that Laz's party would likely be willing to bargain. Perhaps, they could offer them two of the dinosaurs and ask for one, as that was all they were after anyways. The trophy they had all but guaranteed their victory already, they just needed a living dinosaur to Awaken. Ultimately, they decided to make camp early, so Cassini could have his rest and use his spells to guide them tomorrow.

During his watch, Shiek heard something creeping in the nearby tall-grass and shot a crossbow bolt at it, startling one of the large birds that they had seen before, the ostriches, which quickly ran away. Next up was Cassini, who managed to spot a bonfire in the distance towards the north. He let Sapphira know, as she prepared for her watch, which passed uneventfully.

07/09/5-10

The day began with Cassini repeating his Scrying spell on the dinosaur, which took him elsewhere in the Killing Fields. He could see 3 large allosaur, still asleep. They had moved out of the forest and further towards the plains, near a large pond, but clearly not the large lake near Novograd. He looked around at the rest of his surroundings. The pond seemed to be a great location for hunting, as many of these ostriches were gathered around to drink the water, seemingly having failed to spot the sleeping dinosaurs. To the side was also a huge boar moving through the tall grass. The geography suggested that they were further north and they could likely reach them within the day. As Cassini's Commune with Nature spell allowed him to learn the locations of bodies of water within 3 miles, they decided to resume their original plan of casting the spell every 6 miles. 

About an hour into their travel they could spot the camp ahead of them, still there and an area of scattered ponds and lakes was approaching to the north. The party elected to avoid the other group and continued on. A couple of hours later, Cassini noticed a group of ponds, that had some a gathering of creatures around them, that could be the lake they were after. Some more passed and Cassini's owl spotted a site of carnage, as 3 allosaurus were stood over the carcass of the deceased giant boar that he had seen in his Scry. He also noted that the other group was heading in the same direction and it was hard to tell, who would get there first. Cassini shared this and the group decided to hurry, opting to communicate only once they reach the creatures. Both the groups got closer and closer to the allosaurus' feast.

Sapphira pitted one of them and Milivoj and Dobrovnik knocked another one out. Laz's party then approached, but the hunter that they had hired split off, rushing towards Shiek. He leaped from his horse and his from started changing, transforming into a large serpent with a hexagonal gem embedded in its forehead. It screamed "Give me the knife" and went to bite him, which he avoided, but he felt the creature's unpleasant aura. The group knocked out the dinosaurs and Valeyo made Laz and his friends drop their weapons, so the party could focus on the snake.

Sapphira trapped the snake in the pit, where she, Shiek and Milivoje started beating down on it, while Cassini blasted it with a moon beam. Unable to escape, it waited for Shiek to peer over to attack it, before making the gem on its forehead shine bright and blast at him, saying " You will die, one way or another, and the knife will be mine.". After some more bullying, the snake spoke out saying "If you kill me, you will never be able to save your servants.". They kept attacking and it said that there were others with it - specifically, its mother. The group kept attacking it, until it fell over, seemingly dead. They struck at it again just in case, which revealed that it was feigning its death, but was eventually slain.

With the combat over, they turned to Laz and his party. Valeyo explained that they had hunted the dinosaur coming out of the large rumble and offered two of the Allosaur to them in exchange for a future favour, which Laz tentatively accepted. They then turned to the snake, Shiek shared what it had said about its mother having their servants and Valeyo wondered if they should return to Novograd now. Perhaps the cages there could keep the dinosaur trapped, while they look for the snake's mother. Shiek focused on the corpse and used his new ability to create a token, a small coin with the inscribed visage of the serpent. He then proceeded to work on extracting the gem from the creature's skull. He got some venom on his skin in the process, but was successful. Seeing this, he tried to drain some of the venom in one of his vials. Dobrovnik used Detect Magic and found that the gem was magical, with an Evocation and Abjuration vial. Surprisingly, the venom that Shiek had extracted was also magical, with a strong necrotic aura. Following that, Shiek broke off one of the creature's horns to send back to Midnight.

Cassini cast Telekinesis and lifted the unconscious dinosaur, while Valeyo prepared to cast teleportation circle back to Novograd. The warehouse was mostly empty apart from one steward who was surprised to see them finished with the hunt so soon. Valeyo told him that they needed this one kept alive in a cage and the man just stood there looking at him, before saying he needed to get someone. He then opened the door, revealing the now much busier streets of Novograd. The thing that got their attention however, was the large 18ft tall man with flaming red hair, grey skin and black armour with a black metal great sword by his side, almost as tall with him.