Black Barry drinks an invisibility potion and sneaks down the stairs to see what is in the pit below. In the central area of the floor, he sees that two eggs are broken, and among the shards, two partially-developed dragons which are already dead. He sneaks back a little further into the pit, where among the rocks and stalagmites he finds another egg, still intact, with two guard drakes standing watchfully on either side of it. He can't see the roper they saw before, but there are so many cave features, and ropers blend in so well, that he can't be certain if it is there or not. He very quietly sneaks back and tells Hooflepoof, Elbolin, and Karat what he saw down there.

Meanwhile, Elfo, Bilbo, Nars, and Gourbain see no reason to wait around any more, since Leosin obviously isn't going to meet them there in the storage room. They decide to go looking for their friends. But, they are feeling pretty brave, so they decide to stop by the cultists' barracks, which is right nearby, and see if they can pick a fight. However, when they get there, no cultists or kobolds are present. Apparently they are either out on jobs, or having their dinner.

So they continue on the search for the rest of their group. They aren't sure where to look, and their memories are a little bit fuzzy on the complete topology of the cave, so they wander around a bit. They go out toward the mouth of the cave, then take the staircase down into the fungus room, remembering to avoid the rigged bottom step, and to take the safe path to the left to avoid the ravenous violet fungi. They even remember that the next cavern is full of stirges, and attempt to sneak quickly past them along the wall, but Bilbo stumbles on a rock and they attack her and Gourbain. Fortunately their attack is weak; there are only two of the stirges left, and the adventurers manage to kill them with minimal damage to themselves.