The Iguara Scouts

By the time Jamanen was able to track down the vicious Iguara in the Mountains of Fire, she no longer wanted another fruitless conversation. Her imagination teemed with horrible images of her children transformed into abhorrent, scaly monstrosities with tails, talons, and pointed teeth... disgusting! She'd rather see them as Pukos before something that hideous!Iguara emerged from her lair and was barely able to say three words before the red slime was upon her, attacking from all angles with her lashing tendrils of slime. Iguara was a fierce beast, but the rage that fueled Jamanen's assault was more than she could counter -- she had just woken up, after all. Withing minutes, Jamanen had the lizardlike woman cocooned helplessly inside a cage of her slime..."Wh... why?" Iguara could barely hiss through her gooey prison."I... don't... want... another denial and another tall tale," Jamanen hissed back. "Just tell me... where they are... NOW!"Iguara could only respond with a look of such quizzical innocence that Jamanen began to realize her mistake. She released her foe, and collapsed in a gelatinous heap, weeping. Amazingly, Iguara didn't seek to escape or attack, but asked, very politely, just what in the world was going on. Jamanen told her tale from beginning to end, how she'd gone from Puko to Akamuda and then finally to here... all to find her missing family, to no avail.Iguara cocked her snout to one side and told Jamanen -- "I might be wrong, but it sounds like you've been sent on what the humans call a wild moose chase...""Goose chase?""Yes, one of those. If you ask me, Jamanen, you should stop and think for a minute -- who was it that got you started on such an errand?"Jamanen's green eyes narrowed. She was aghast that she hadn't sensed it from the beginning. Her emotions had just been too strong to see it clearly...