Raposh: Demons, Turask and Lizards, Oh My

We have made the long journey to Raposh and thank goodness too because I could only take so much of Nak'cue's cooking. The leaders of the elvin city here do not seem overly excited to see us but that was to be expected as the elves are not known for their welcoming nature of strangers, especially a group as ragged as us. I can not wait to have a bath and a preening. Ozzy is very interested in some sort of teleporty circle thing and wants me to use my sneaky sneaky to get in there to check it out. Im not really sure why I would risk it to go look at a circle on the floor. There is not really anything in it for me and I don't really trust Ozzy as he seems shadier than most of the people in the thief's guild. He is probably just trying to get me into trouble. But what if he tries something on his own and bungles it up and gets us all kicked out or imprisoned. They already arrested us when we first arrived. Maybe I should just keep a telepathy line open in case he needs help. I find a nice place to purch in my room and try not to worry about it too much. Ozzy is the least of our worries right now. Soon we will have to get this Scourge of the Damned from whatever sort of beast that guards it. The next morning, I spot Ozzy at the table with a satisfied grin. I guess his operation last night was successful.
I noticed Nak'cue came in from outside. He must sleep out under the stars with Dirzzy his Tree companion. He seems rattled and tells us that the Devil Ozzy seems awfully chummy with, came to him last night and made a demand. We knew this was coming as a while back in our travels Ozzy talked Nak'cue into signing one of his contracts so I could have devils sight. I didn't really intend on anyone else accepting consequences on my behalf but Nak'cue is so kind and he is easy to take advantage of. But despite our warnings Nak'cue went ahead and signed it knowing one day Asmodeus would come and demand something of him and if he refused his soul would be forfeit. I did want to see if the disappearing ink I had slipped into Ozzy's bag would make a difference, but it did not seem to change the commitment once it was written even if it disappeared a few minutes later from the paper. And now the debt is being called. Asmodeus wants Scypher's ashes when he returns tonight.
Peddal and I discussed it and decided now would be a good time to utilize our decoy ashes. We went off to find a place to bury them on the hill side of Raposh and when we returned, we told them we buried Scypher's ashes. Nak'cue could tell Asmodeus that he legitimately had no power to give what he asked for and could only offer to try his hardest to locate them. It is tough to see him in this position. I am interested if Ozzy will go into the night, digging to find the ashes and reveal where his true loyalties lay. One thing is for certain. We cannot let Asmodeus get his claws on the ashes or he will rise and there will be hell on the material plane.
 
That evening Nak'cue faced Asmoddus without the ashes. Later he appeared in front of us and slammed to the ground. Nak'cue told us Asmodeus raised the stakes by threatening his home village if he did not bring the ashes tonight.
I can tell Pedal seems to be wavering on what she feels is the right course of action now that an entire village is on the line as well as our friend Nak'cue's soul. So I went into the town and purchased an identical bag of holding to the one that Peddal caries, the one with the ashes. Right now, Pedal and I the only two people who know where the ashes are and that might be one too many people. Pedal might feel betrayed by my decision to take the choice away from her but I do not want her to bear the responsibility of having to decide to send our friend's soul to hell. But this about much more than one person's soul. I look around this city of Raposh and all the lives here, and all the lives in the city's we have seen as we traveled through Vavathoth Asharkto, and Estanople. I know that somewhere my sister is still out there. I cannot unleash this demon to destroy them.
So I switch the bags when Pedal was not looking. When Nak'cue begged her to help him, Pedal discovered the ashes were not in the bag of holding. It's ironic because I think Nak'cue would be proud of me for making an unselfish choice and saving all the creatures on the planet that he cares so much for. But still i wonder ... Am I leaving someone behind again to save myself? As the sun begins to set and the light fades my heartbreaks.
Nak'cue decides not to go quietly into the night. He says his goodbyes to us and heads back to his home via tree travel to defend it form whatever may come. Pedal and I tell him we will return to his town when we have vanquished the Lich Queen with the ashes... But I know if he is still there waiting with the devil, we will face this impossible choice again.
In the morning we are invited down to have breakfast at a grand table with lots of weird leafy foods. Elvin cuisine is earthy and crunchy and quite delicious. We have agreed to go down into the ruins and bring back the Scourge of the Damned which we have since learned is some old book. The Elves want it because it is part of their history and on their land which seems fair... But so does the well-known law of ""Finders Keepers." So they are just going to copy it and we can take the book to see if we can kill this Lich Queen. The trouble is the book is guarded by a Baby Turask whatever that is. But it's so deadly that it took out half this city and lives in the sunken rubble. We did do some research on the Turask before leaving and Ozzy was gifted a staff from the elves. Something magical I presume.
Bellies full and ready to rip something's head off after losing Nak'cue, we head to the ruins. After quite a while of digging through this terrain we come across something half buried in the rubble. A green massive lizard thing. He said something about getting caught with his party down here and the rubble trapping them. He looked and smelled like he had been down here quite a while and there was blood all over him. When we didn't see any signs of his friends, he made a joke about having to eat them.... He was joking right? Its hard to tell with that weird way he talks. When we asked him what he was doing down here he said he was looking for a book for a dragon. What a coincidence! We are looking for a book too! More eyes searching could not hurt but we do need to convince this creature to let us take it back to the elves first and then if we need to talk with his dragon friend about the Lich queen we will. As we are helping him out of the rubble he says rather casually that "something over there is moving around" and we all become painfully aware we are not alone down here.
 
The rubble shifted and rocks fell and through the dust rose a dark beast with a gaping mouth full of razor sharp teeth and slick bulging body and a long whipping tail. Its roar shook the ground, and it looked right at us. Right then Munin of the brave Macusa raised her head drew her weapons aaaaaaand became invisible and hid behind a rock. What? I'm brave, not stupid. Pedal worked her way around to the back of the thing. Good idea. Avoid all the pointy bits at the front. Our new friend Starka (Tooth) grew like 3x bigger than he then he already was. Freya decided to jump on it's face! I question that girl's life choices. And Avery was getting some good shots in with his bow. Lanmin used her celestial weapon, and all seemed to be going well-ish until Pedal got knocked down with a tail attack, Freya and Ozzy's demon were flung off as the Turask rolled on the ground, Teeth just stood there taunting it and Avery... Well the Turask ate Avery. I mean it bent it's head down and swallowed him whole with a gulp. Screw this. I am not going to die here. I pop up and dagger dagger it and move to a better hiding location. Pedal is up and Freya is on its face punching it right in the eyeball. It steps forward and whaps Peadal again with its tail. It nips at Starka and then decides to just swallow him up too. I could see Starka fighting back. Did he just bite it's tongue? I think the Turask is going to have some indigestion with that one. Freya suddenly reaches her arms in and rips its eye out of its head and the great creature fell to the ground. We could tell there was still movement in the belly, so we all hacked at the corpse and pulled our friends out. Avery wasn't moving. Lanmin rushed to his side and did some voodoo with some sparkly dust, and he gasped a deep breath. We did it. And we didn't die. Well Avery did but only for a minute. Uhhh is that lizard guy eating a chunk of trask? Let's find that damn book and get out of here.