You must have lost your mind, because you can't believe you're actually considering this.

"Fuck it, give me that egg." You say.
"Seriously?" Tom asks.
"Yeah, I'm serious. I know enough about Mr. Reynolds through my dad that I don't want to have deal with him. And as you said, he's probably going to have some sort of weird catch as part of the agreement he isn't going to reveal until afterwards. At least with the lizard I'll know where I stand right away." You say.
"I guess that's one way of looking at it. Okay kid, I'll get that egg."

Tom heads over to one of his safes and after unlocking it, he takes out two green pieces of an oval shaped object, which he then puts together and hands to you. The broken egg is rough to the touch and more solid than you thought it would be.

"While this isn't as delicate as one might think, still be careful with it. You sure about this? I mean I still don't think this thing with Jake is that serious."
"It's gotta be taken care of and besides, maybe I'll just be charming enough to convince Scales to join us again."
"You think big kid, just hope you're right."

Tom proceeds to tell you where he thinks Scales makes his home. It actually isn't too far from the forgotten sewer entrance. Tom goes on to say it might be dangerous just getting to Scales, since that part of the sewers has been non-functional and abandoned for as long as he can remember.

Armed with this knowledge (And a broken egg) Tom wishes you luck before you leave.

On your way out, you're stopped by Zalmora and Vaughn.

"What's that? Wait, is that an egg?" Vaughn asks.
"Yeah, I'm going to use it to try to convince Scales to assassinate Jake. Tom said Ed used to do it all the time." You reply.

Vaughn's jaw almost drops and expresses obvious disbelief.

"Have you gone completely barmy? I wasn't here that long while Scales was still around, but even I know damn well that the only reason why Ed even had control over that lizard is because he raised him from that egg! And you can see that didn't work forever. You go looking for Scales and you're going to find death!" Vaughn exclaims.
"Why do we need Scales to assassinate Jake anyway? I mean I told you that I think it's a better idea to just let Jake continue rampaging through the woods to take the heat off of us." Zal asks.
"Yeah, and I don't think that it's a good idea to just let disobedience within the organization to go unpunished like that. Besides, I also thought that given this Scale's reputation, maybe we could get him to join again." You say.
"Yep, completely barmy." Vaughn remarks.
"I agree…but the idea does have some merit. If we did get Scales back, we'd be in a lot better shape, muscle wise at least." Zal remarks.

Vaughn at this point just shakes his head.

"Okay, I can see this craziness is catching. I'm leaving before I catch it too. See you later, assuming Scales doesn't eat you, and Zal, I would think that you'd know better than to even entertain this idea." Vaughn remarks and walks away.

"So…are you coming with me?" you ask Zalmora.
"I didn't say that actually. I just said your idea has some merit. It's at least thinking in the long term. Scales could certainly track down Jake and kill him. I would imagine he'd also scare everyone else into coming back or even better a return to following the original plan of sending the spoils of their activities to us on a regular schedule." Zal says.
"You still really think our organization split up on the outside and inside the city is the best solution?"
"Yes. I really do believe that and I gave my reasons already."

While she hasn't offered to go, you get the impression Zal might be more inclined to help you if support her idea, but if Zal wants to help she can come with you with you needing to ask her. You're not going to barter with her or be some pawn just because you're sleeping together every once in awhile.

"Well I guess I better head out." You say.
"Oh. Right. Don't let me keep you. Just remember, Scales has never been a friendly sort and probably the best way to handle him is to defer to him as the alpha. If he thinks you're a threat, he's going to react accordingly. Then again, if he thinks you're too weak, he might just eat you, but I'm guessing not acting aggressively might help. Anyway, if you even think you're in grave danger, just get the hell out of there. Be careful okay?" Zal says and starts to leave, but before she does she kisses you goodbye.

That sort of makes you feel more worried than you were before.

You leave the Crimson Talon headquarters and enter the sewers. You never cease hating stomping around down here, but possibly stepping in shit or worse is the least of your concerns right now.

You follow the directions Tom gave you and finally get to the abandoned part of the sewers he mentioned. Actually it doesn't even look like the rest of the sewers at this point. The tunnel is partially collapsed or has great gaping holes leading to who the hell knows where. Beyond this first tunnel, you can only imagine that it's going to be in even worse repair.

Using your lantern and your natural agility you continue to make your way, hopping that all this hoping and jumping around isn't going to break the egg in your pack any more than it already is.

You go through a couple more old collapsed sewer tunnels and then you notice the man made structure is starting to disappear into a crumbling abyss. You also notice how weak the ground (or rather what's left of it) is in general. One wrong move and you're probably falling to your death. You cautiously move across what's left the stone flooring.

You're doing pretty well until you suddenly hear some noise behind you. At first you think it's something sinister lurking down here or possibly even Scales himself, but when you hear the word "Shit!" you know the voice immediately and turn around thrusting your lantern ahead.

"Zal?!" you call out.

Your light illuminates enough that you can see a figure far behind you half hanging over the edge of the abyss. She doesn't answer she's just struggling to get back up.

"Zal! What the fuck are you doing here?! Wait! I'll come help you!" you shout.
"No! You stay over there! This fucking floor is weak enough without both of us in the same area."
"Zal, you're gonna fall!"
"I'm almost back up, just keep going! I'll catch up!"

You continue without her

You didn't tell her to follow you, and you'd rather not linger on this walkway any longer than you have to, so you continue to make your way which soon isn't as bad for the man made structure of the sewer is gone completely and you're now heading into what looks like a natural cavern (with solid ground underneath you).

Still, you don't want to get too far ahead. If Zal did come to help, the least you can do is wait for her.

Eventually Zal solves her own struggle with climbing back up to the walkway and makes her way to your location.

"You okay?" you ask.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Zalmora replies.
"Now I ask again, what the hell are you doing here?
"Obviously nearly getting myself killed in order to help you because you're too proud to ask for it."
"I didn't ask, because I didn't need your help!"
"Sure, you don't. Honestly, I can't believe Tom let you do this at all. I always thought he liked you."
"I risk my life every time I go out on a job."
"True, but this is a lot different. At least on the job you have the necessary skills to pull it off. This is more like a roll of the dice. Not to mention, YOU haven't even met Scales. If he sees you, he's likely to just assume you're an interloper. At least he knows me. Though I'm not sure if he liked, disliked or was indifferent to me. Never could tell what that lizard was thinking in the short time I knew him."
"What about the egg?"
"Yeah, well let's hope that's enough for him not to kill us."

You and Zal proceed into the natural cavern. After walking a bit, you make a remark that all of this might be pointless anyway and you might just head back because it wasn't your intention on getting lost in a system of underground tunnels.

Zal doesn't really argue, but she does ask what you're going to do about an assassin though. Just as you're about to answer, you hear a faint noise, which is enough to put you on edge because it's been eerily quiet down here.

"You hear…ulp!" Zal says and then before your eyes a scaled green claw covers her mouth and another holds a dagger to her throat. You also notice a long tail wrapped around one of her legs and a pair of glinting reptilian eyes shine behind her.

"NO! WAIT! SCALES! I have something for you! Don't kill her!" you shout and take off your pack in haste while still trying to eye on Zal who looks like she's trying to remain as calm as she can under the circumstances.

You pull out the two large pieces of the egg and then hold them out.

Scales' moves forward a bit with Zal still in his clutches. His eyes briefly stare at the egg and then fixate on you again. You can't tell if he's angry or what, all you do know is his stare doesn't put you at ease.

Suddenly, Scales slashes Zal's neck open and throws her body aside like a rag doll and before you can even shout out he's grabbed your hands causing the egg pieces to fall to the ground.

As you feel the claws dig into your flesh and Scales give you the predatory stare, all you can think about is how Zal is dead, but you also realize if you're going to get out of this alive, you're going to have to continue to talk because it's very obvious that you're not fighting your way out of this or running.

"Scales! Please, all we wanted to do is return this egg to you. Edmond is dead. We weren't following his orders or anything like that. We were going to ask for help, but it's obvious that you want to be alone. I will go back and never bother you again. You have my word."

Scales briefly looks down at the egg pieces and then back to you. His head turns a bit as if he's studying you, then his grip on your hands releases, allowing you to slowly pull them back towards your body.

Scales then crouches down and starts inspecting the egg pieces. You take this as an opportunity to leave and you back away into the darkness, not even taking your lantern. You have no idea how the hell you're going to safely cross back over that crumbling walkway, but that's going to have to be another struggle for later.

You turn around and as quick as you can in the darkness put some distance between you and Scales. You don't look back, though you soon find that you don't need to because you hear a noise followed by a great whipping force hitting one of your legs which takes you off your feet.

You hit the ground, but you don't stay there for long because clawed hands soon pick you up. You struggle for one of your daggers, but this is met by what you can only imagine are teeth sinking into your arm. You scream out as Scales sharp teeth not only rip your flesh, but also break bone.

You are thrown to the ground again and then Scales pounces on top of you. You can only see his eyes in this darkness, but it's the last thing you're ever going to see.

"Thank you warm blood, but can't let you leave. Might bring othersss. If dead, people continue to ssstay away. Need peace." You hear a reptilian voice hiss and then a set of jaws go to for your throat.