Fire Giants and Brass Dragon

The Legion of the Cross defeats the Machine Beast, making so much noise and light that Verity and Aristocles are dazzled and incapacitated.

Meanwhile, the other group is fighting Frost Giants. Most of the Valerians rush over there and help, along with the wind-up Dwarf King statues wielding truly enormous stone weapons! The giants lose, although Bjern gets quite severely crushed and has to be healed. Brother Aquila also gets mangled, which is less commonplace.

With the healers out of energy and the Sword of the Dawn safe in hand, it's obviously time to venture deeper into the Dwarven halls, though perhaps not into the room labelled "Sudden Death." Bjern finds a brass dragon, which is willing to follow him in exchange for treats. What do brass dragons like to eat? Gold, mostly. Silver is nice too.

However, Retarius and Adelweiss have gone down another hallway, leading to a lower level full of Fire Giants! They agree to fight for first blood, to see if they will treat the humans like warriors or like vermin. Retarius' flashing sword cuts Chroxilar the Smallish Fire Giant, and he acknowledges defeat, but when called upon to "yield", he gets all upset and appeals to his boss, King Vartox.

"Vartox the Valiant! Vartox the Vanquisher! VARTOX the VOLCANO-SPLITTER!" he introduces himself.

"Wow, that's a pretty cool name," says some human. "Which volcano did you split?"

"THIS ONE!" he says, and strikes the stone with his axe.

The stone splits apart, vomiting steam and smoke and ash and lava. During the eruption, Retarius and Adelweiss leave.

Unfortunately, the commotion has brought the attention of some cave trolls, who attack. Vesuviius gets one to peer closely at his ring, then Dazzles him. The Troll, blaming his eyes, strikes his face repeatedly with a massive iron mace, while Vesuvius skirts around him.

Everyone makes it to the exit chamber, but before they can crawl into the dwarf tunnels leading out, the floor cracks open and flames shoot forth! Clearly King Vartox is coming after them, and he's not bothering to walk through the tunnels to do it!

Vesuvius summons a wall, but horizontally, to bridge the volcanic gap. Everyone hastens out.

Everyone, that is, except Bjern and his dragon, Thorgibar Pejorative. They're still there when Vartox arrives. Bjern uses the box the mordite came it to hurl it at Vartox! It hits his armor, which is not alive, and therefore bounces off, uselessly.

Bjern retreats. The giants, being way to big to fit into the tunnels, cannot pursue.

In the tunnels, Rosa warns of an enchantment. She cannot call out to her spider friend. Retarius thinks it may be Bowenn Ivorybow's doing, and says his name three times. Bowenn, indeed, replies.

Bowenn is invisible, but the dragon can smell him out, wearing, as he does, many pounds of gold and jewelry.

Bowenn demands the Sword of the Dawn. Retarius refuses; he plans to give it to the Cardinal. But once he establishes that the Cardinal is a mortal man, Bowenn is satisfied. The doom which threatens all that lives can wait a lifetime or two before the Sword is needed. He gives everyone leave to depart.

Before that, however, Rosa's spider friend suggests an alternative way out. He appeals to Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders, to show them to safety, and indeed, she does. Brother Aquila confronts Lolth, endures her terror-attack without panicking, and throws holy salt on her. Lolth withdraws. This causes Rosa's spider friend, halfway to safety, to fall out of the air and get stabbed by Brother A. Rosa finds him, heals him, and carries him to safety. Yes, the spider.

One xp is awarded.