“Intruders! Sound the alarm!”
An Elemental Flame Priest appeared in fiery, brownish robes on the southwest platform. He had a black mohawk with rugged brown skin. He sported a long, braided pencil mustache. To the north, a Flamewrath wizard appeared in robes wreathed in flames. He had long, straight white hair and red eyes. He had tattoos across his forehead. A Razerblast fighter came from around the corner across from them at the stepping stones end. Bald, his skin was sunburnt brown with a very muscular build. The three looked at the party in surprise.
Kildo and the rest were on a small platform in the middle of a magma field. Protruding from the semi-molten rock, ten stepping stones led from the platform to a chamber to the northwest. Waves of heat distorted their vision, and if it was not for the Gem of Energy Immunity's magical properties, they wouldn’t have lasted long in the magma chamber. Having dived into the pool of molten rock, Charmander resurfaced, doing the backstroke and spitting lava into the air like a whale geyser.
Using Wave as a balancing pole, Kai began to run across the stones toward the Razerblast warrior. “I’m the dread pirate Kai-” The paladin began as his speech was interrupted as his plated foot slipped, and he wobbled and tittered on a step, trying to keep from falling into the lava pool.
“What was that fish man!?” chortled the Razerblast warrior. “You’re out of your element!”
“Enough talk!” Scomatch yelled as a sphere of energy formed in his hands. An ice ball arched over to the north. It smashed into the Flamewrath. His right shoulder magically froze over. The ice was minimally impacted by the cavern's immense heat.
Grabbing spears leaning against the inside wall, the Razerblast threw three at Kai. The paladin, still trying to catch his balance, inadvertently caused two of them to miss. Steadying himself, the third nicked his left arm.
A streak flashed from the Elemental Flame Priest. A fireball exploded in the middle of the room. The flames washed over the entire party. Immune to fire, it was like water being splashed over them.
“Really!?” Scomatch yelled, glaring at the priest.
“Umm…I need to check on something.” Taking a step back, the Elemental Flame Priest fled to the southwest down the back passageway.
“I got him!” Guo Gan bellowed. The monk dashed across the molten rock, lightly touching any somewhat solid surface. He disappeared as he chased the priest down the corridor. Sounds of combat were soon heard.
A twisting pattern of color weaved through the air from the Flamewrath. Kildo and Scomatch adverted their eyes. Looking back, Kai stood on the stepping stone and gazed longingly as if seeing his heart’s desire in the air, staring at something unseen.
A sudden, painful noise erupted across the pool of lava to the north around the Flamewrath as Scomatch cast, Shatter.
“Blasted spellcasters!” Kildo exclaimed, sticking his finger in his ear to clear the ringing. The dwarven cleric cast the cantrip, Resistance on himself. He hopped from one stone to the next toward the paladin. The steps were too small, and his feet and stance were too wide. Just as he was about to fall into the magma, the magical force of his cantrip kept him erect, but just barely. He took his war hammer, turned it to the flat side, and walloped Kai in his armored back. “Snap out of it! No time for love, Captain Kai!”
Shaking his head clear, Kai gripped Wave and finished the last leg of his trip over the stepping stones. Lunging with the trident, two prongs stuck into the fighter’s armor. Radiant damage coursed up the weapon into the pirate.
A second Razerblast fighter came behind the first. He stabbed with his spear and struck Kai twice.
“Here comes Ke ke’s pain service!” Guo Gan yelled, twirling Qiekamis. He had circled around and was now behind the two pirate fighters.
The Flamewrath wizard began casting again at Scomatch. Powerful energy began to form around the pirate. The halfling countered the spell, and the enchantment dissipated around him. Unable to do anything, the magic-user turned and fled back down the northern corridor.
“He’s going to sound the alarm!” Scomatch called out. The halfling’s form magically appeared at the edge of the passageway that the wizard fled. He gave chase, forming another ice-ball orb in his hands and throwing it. A cry of pain followed.
A heavy reverberation carried through the area. Something large was heading their way. A fire giant made his appearance behind Guo Gan. His body was very broad and bulky, but he had more of a halfling-like appearance. Wearing goggles, the giant had dark skin reminiscent of coal, and his hair and beard were in the spectrum of flaming orange. Donning heavy steel plate armor, a massive two-handed sword for a giant was gripped in his hands.
Yelling a war cry, the massive steel weapon swung and missed the monk's head by inches. Rock blasted outward from the wall.
The arrival of the fire giant gave a pause to everyone. Kai took quick advantage. Thrusting with Wave, the prongs sunk into the Razerblast chest. Radiant damage continued to course through the weapon. The center of the pirate’s chest glowed. As his body shook violently, like he was going to blow apart. He screamed in unbridled pain as his form bloated.
The Razerblast’s entire body exploded in shrapnel. Kai dove to the ground and avoided most of the blast. Kildo threw up his shield. He felt the impacts of the metal ding off, but he also felt their scrapes across his exposed skin. Grunting through the pain, Kildo finished his journey across the stepping stones and joined Kai. The second Razerblast turned his spear on the smaller target. Thrusting, Kildo threw up his shield. The spear failed to get around his defenses.
Guo Gan struck with Qiekamis. It hit the Razerblast in the back. As he turned, Guo Gan thrust the end into the pirate’s stomach, but it glanced off his armor. Throwing up his leg in a roundhouse kick, the monk's foot smashed into his face.
“Baby weapons! Do I have to do everything?!” came the booming voice of the fire giant. There was a massive ‘whooshing’ as his two-handed steel girder smashed into Guo Gan and threw him into the rock face.
Kildo didn’t like the thought of fighting his kinsmen’s most hated foe, giants. They shouldn’t be underestimated, and their ability to throw rocks and fight was legendary. By the gods, they fought dragons. He was just glad there was just one.
“Life is death. Death is rebirth. Rebirth is life,” Kildo chanted as Kai, Guo Gan, and himself glowed momentarily by his bless spell.
Kai turned Wave toward the remaining Razerblast. Lunging with the trident, two prongs struck the pirate, but the third struck a rock jutting from the side. Radiant energy continued to course up the shaft.
The Razerblast also lunged his spear at Kai. The paladin parried his spear as it was caught in Waves points.
Double-teaming the pirate, Qiekamis came bashing in. It smashed into his exposed neck. There was a sickening snap. Similar to before, the pirate’s chest began to glow. The explosive power was building. Guo Gan’s blood fury tattoo of a crab flashed in power. An unearthly shriek came from the Razerblast as his forms shriveled like a raisin. The fiery energy was absorbed, preventing the corpse from blowing up and scattering shrapnel.
Guo Gan turned Qiekamis toward the fire giant. The staff’s end smashed into the colossus’s big toe. His blood-fury tattoos lit up brighter than before. Most of the monk’s grievous wounds began to stitch themselves back together.
“What is this?” boomed the fire giant’s voice.
“I drank your milkshake!” Guo Gan responded.
Roaring in anger, the fire giant swung his two-handed sword. The blade sunk into the wall, missing the monk. Ripping it free and bringing it back, the metal smashed into the wood elf. At the same time, Guo Gan bashed Qiekamis as his blood fury tattoos pulsed and absorbed the giant’s life essence.
“Get it off me!” came a frantic voice from a pirate deeper into the cavern.
“Char! Char!”
There wasn’t anything Kildo could do for Scomatch’s familiar, but it sounded like he was holding his own. Turning his attention to the elephant in the room, Kildo cast, Spiritual Weapon. A spectral blue war hammer appeared next to the fire giant. Glowing from his Bless spell, it smashed into the side of his left ear. He then cast, Toll the Dead. Dolorous bells added to the ringing that was likely already occurring.
Kai charged in and lunged with Wave. The weapon glowed from the dwarven cleric’s bless spell as the prongs found their way between the fire giant’s thick plate armor. Radiant damage coursed through the trident, blasting into the titan’s left leg. Blood, like spewing magma, shot outward.
The fire giant roared but was quickly cut off. A gigantic ice bolt blasted through the back of his head and out his face. The heavily armored colossus fell to his knees and started to fall forward. Kai, Guo Gan, and Kildo scrambled to get out of the mountain’s way as the corpse crashed into the ground, shaking the area.
As the dust settled, Scomatch stood behind the fallen fire giant. Dusting his hands clean, the halfling muttered, “I have to do everything.”
The party went deeper into the caverns drawn by the sound of Charmander in a scuffle. Turning the corner, the Flamewrath was having difficulty as Charmander was wrapped around and pounding on his face.
“Char! Char!”
“Get this gecko off my face!” the Flamewrath howled.
“Ke ke’s pain service is here to help,” Guo Gan announced. As Charmander leaped back onto Scomatch’s shoulder, Qiekamis came crashing down and bashed into the pirate’s skull. There was a loud crack as the Flamewrath dropped to the floor dead.
Rising a little higher in pride, Scomatch’s familiar said, “Charmeleon!”
In the immediate area, there was a ten-foot-wide column of flame. It roared with intensity but didn’t seem to have any specific purpose. It partially covered a raised platform, where a portion was worn smooth. It was about the size of a giant’s backside. The party banged up by the encounter, except Guo Gan, whose blood fury tattoos seemed to have kept him healthy. Kildo grumbled under his breath at the unpleasantness of that magic item draining their opponents. He was grateful they were dead, but seeing the life force being drained and sucked into the monk was, gross. The dwarven cleric began casting, Cure Wounds on the paladin. The healing energy closed his most grievous wounds.
Guo Gan climbed and went around a five-foot pillar toward the back. “Found the fire giant’s treasure and a secret door.” The monk came out holding an iron chest.
Kildo peeked inside. It was filled with coins and gems totaling one-thousand, one hundred gold pieces. Behind the fire giant’s alcove, a stone door was pushed open. It led to a small corridor and entered a small cavern with two paths. To the northeast, heat blasted through the opening. A catwalk made of metal crossed another lava pool. To the north, a path headed into a circular cavern. Beyond that was another spherical cavity. Along the circumference were a few dozen small alcoves. Within each was the remains of a humanoid skull. However, the main feature was a large ring of fire that stretched from floor to ceiling in the middle. Several corpses were strewn around it. Examining the bodies, they all donned robes. They appeared more like cultists than pirates. Examining the bodies, they were all killed by claws or blunt force trauma. He then noticed movement. Something or someone was inside the ring of flames.
Immune to the effects of fire, Kai went in. A moment later, his head poked through. “It’s some of our missing crew!”
Using his hands to test that the Gem of Immunity’s magic still held, Kildo went through the fire ring. It was like passing through a waterfall. Beyond, he saw four members of the Sea Ghost sitting in the middle. They were disheveled and malnourished. There were two dwarves. The first was a dwarf, Rukh Glitterstone, and the other was Connie from Dexy’s Midnight Runners. A human woman with brown hair, whom he recognized as Dexy, was sitting next to her. The fourth was Gyne. She was a female high elf with slender and sleek features. Short and slightly taller than the dwarves, she might have weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. Her coloration was pale, with straight blond hair touching her shoulders. Piercing, ice-blue eyes stared back at him. Sharp pointed ears poked through her straw-like hair. Her clothing was simple and dark green with gold trim but burnt, smoke-ridden, and torn. A stern expression was forged on her chiseled face.
“Captain Kai!” Gyne leaped up. Her demeanor changed to gladness.
“What happened?” Kai asked.
“I couldn’t get the crew out because of the fire, but I’ve been managing any cultist that came in and tried to take us,” Gyne replied.
Guo Gan asked, “Do you know why they put you in here?”
“This is where they put slaves before they sell them,” Gyne replied.
“Have ye been seeing, Duarte, Squat Hank or Imago?” Kildo questioned.
“No, I haven’t seen them for some time,” Gyne answered. “Do you by chance have any water?”
Handing out provisions and waterskins to the crew, Kai said, “It’d be very difficult to get them to the ship.”
“They wouldn’t last long if they got out of the ring of fire. The heat of the cavern would surely doom them,” Guo Gan added.
Kildo turned to the halfling and said, “How ‘bout teleporting them to da ship?”
Kai and Guo Gan turned on their heels to Scomatch.
“And use my highest spell slot? If we are still thinking of taking on Vanifer, we’ll likely need it. Besides, even if we teleport them out. It’d be hard to say if we could use the same way back in,” Scomatch explained. “We cleared the path behind us. We need to clear the path ahead of us now.”
Overhearing their conversation, Gyne said, “We understand. We’ll wait here for your return.” The half-elf then touched Kai’s arm. “Don’t forget about us, or I’ll give you another whipping like I did on the Sea Ghost.”
Snorting in mirth, Kildo realized the halfling was right. Exiting, he retrieved the weapons and useable clothing from the pirates they encountered when they first arrived in the lava pool area. He distributed them to the crew. “We’ll be back.”
The party made their way from the ring of fire room to the start of the catwalk of metal. It was only a few feet above the molten rock. The air shimmered from the heat all around.
“We might be wanting to go one at a time,” Kildo suggested.
“I’ll go first,” Kai said as he crossed the gantry. It slightly swayed and groaned in protest at the paladin’s armored weight. In the middle of the link and center of the lava pool was a thirty-foot-high natural pillar made of stone. A path was cut through it to allow the framework to continue. Kai made it to the other side. A corridor continued northward.
Guo Gan was next and made it across the length in six seconds.
Taking a deep breath. Kildo stepped on the scaffold. It creaked and groaned. He stopped to ensure its integrity was still intact. “Don’t ye be complaining now,” Kildo spoke. “That triton be heavier than me.”
“Hurry up!” Scomatch called out.
Grumbling, Kildo used the rails and continued to step carefully. Turning back, the halfling was tapping his feet impatiently. He moved quicker as the middle approached, and he’d be on solid ground. Stepping on the rock gave the dwarf a little more reassurance. It didn’t last long.
“La, la, la-la-la-la, la, la, la, la, la” same an eerie chant.
Eight completely identical humanoids emerged from the lava pool chanting. Four on either side of the bridge and only a couple of feet below it. Their bodies resembled broadly built and muscular humans, but they were also oddly clown and child-like with pasty colored skin and unnerving and permanent smiling faces. Just as unsettling, their hands were warped-red with sharp, black claws on the end. The Lava Children wore red suspenders made of connecting rocks attached to a stone belt holding up what appeared to be a nappy.
A frigid beam of blue-white light from Scomatch streaked and struck a lava child on the bridge's southern side. It crystallized instantly. Scomatch scampered across to the stone support center.
The lava children converged on the party. As one approached the eastern shore on the southern side, Guo Gan smashed Qiekamis downward. It cracked its skull.
The lava child’s eyes rolled back into its head. It continued to display its eerie smile as it fell back into the molten rock and sank dead.
A clone of the lava child he just killed was behind it. It slashed its claws and ranked the monk’s left thigh.
Another lava child swam through the molten rock toward Kai on the northern side. Reacting, he thrust with Wave. The prongs sunk deep into its left shoulder. However, if it felt any pain, it didn’t show it.
Two of the lava children converged on Scomatch from the north and south. They slashed and struck the halfling.
Throwing up his shield before him, Kildo plowed across the iron crossway. The sounds of the dwarf’s feet pounding metal echoed as he crossed. He saw two lava children approach from the pool below and swipe with their claws. He felt their weight and heard the scrapping of their nails on his shield. Thinking he was safe on the other side with Kai and Guo Gan, from the passageway to the north came another pirate Razerblast.
“Be looking out!”
Guo Gan spun as the Razerblast threw his spears. The monk dodged the first, executed an outer knife-hand block, and deflected the second missile weapon.
Kildo saw Scomatch casting from the stone platform in the middle of the lava lake. An instant later, the halfling appeared next to him. A thunderous boom filled the area where the mage had been a moment before. Affected by the spell, the two lava children covered their ears as they winced from the pain. One of their heads exploded and sank back into the molten rock. Stepping onto the end of the metal framework, Kildo planted his shield to hold them off. He formed a choke point. Chanting, a spiritual war hammer appeared behind the advancing lava children. The spectral weapon bashed into the back of one approaching from the south.
Using phalanx tactics, Kai stabbed over Kildo’s shield. Wave’s prongs sank into a lava child to the north. It splashed and fell dead into the molten rock. Bringing his trident to the other side, he thrust and struck a lava child in the south. It too was killed and sunk into the pool.
Guo Gan joined Kildo, adding to the choke point, and stood beside Kai. He bashed downward with Qiekamis and cracked the skull of another clone that moved in to fill the ranks. As it sunk beneath the lava, only three of them remained.
However, their success against the lava children came at the cost of the Razerblast approaching from the north unchecked. He launched another series of spears with one striking the monk.
Guo Gan disengaged to face the Razerblast in the north.
The lava children converged on Kildo’s position. He sensed their heavy hand attacks. He then felt pain as a clawed appendage reached in and slashed his right leg. Angered, he commanded his spiritual weapon to bash into one of the lava children and then cast, Toll the Dead. Both attacks succeeded as the spell’s dolorous bells finished it off.
As a spear flew over Scomatch’s head, the halfling bellowed, “You need to kill these pirates faster! Ugh, now there’s another one.” The mage pointed his finger as he cast, Vitriolic Spear. A glowing one-foot diameter ball of acid streaked toward the Razerblast and the newly arrived Elemental Flame Priest. Bursting, the liquid sizzled his front. The fighter faired a little better, as he was protected by armor, which took the brunt of the impact.
Kildo continued to hold the choke point at the end of the gantry with Kai. Only two lava children remained.
In a creepy, high-pitched tone, their mouths continuing their strange smile, they said in unison, “Come swim with us.”
“I just ate,” Kai replied, thrusted with Wave striking one in the chest. Ripping it out, he lunged at its twin. The prongs hit its abdomen. The children of the lava sunk into the molten pool dead. Their grin still ever present.
Blocking the tunnel to the north, Guo Gan engaged the Razerblast. The two traded blows with the monk scoring three hits for each of the fighter’s one. The Elemental Flame Priest constantly cast healing spells, closing the pirate’s most grievous wounds from Qiekamis and keeping him in the fight with the monk.
Seeing Guo Gan begin to tire as beads of sweat poured from his forehead, Kildo commanded his spiritual war hammer into the fray. Trying to keep from hitting the monk, the weapon missed. He then cast, Toll the Dead. Dolorous bells sounded, ringing loudly around Razerblast as Scomatch stepped up.
A frigid beam of blue-white light appeared behind the Elemental Flame Priest. It formed into an ice spear. At frightening speed, it rammed into the back of the priest’s head and out of his eye socket. Like a marionette puppet with its strings being cut, the pirate dropped.
The Razerblast and Guo Gan continued to trade blows. The pirate sacrificed his defenses to hit the monk. However, his wounds and broken bones were no longer being mended. He looked back, seeing his healing source dead on the stone ground. It was his last act, as Wave came thrusting in and sank deep into the Razerblast’s chest. He had a despairing look in his eye as he died.
“I wish I had healing like that,” Scomatch scoffed as he lightly touched his wounds from the lava children.
“Ye still be up now ain’t ye?” Kildo grumbled, and he began casting healing energy over the party.
Fire Giant’s Treasure
· 1,100 gp total
Crew Located:
· Rukh Glitterstone
· Dexy of Dexy’s Midnight Runners
· Connie of Dexy’s Midnight Russers
· Gyne
Crew Still missing:
· Duarte
· Squat Hank
· Imago
Party Split:
· 1,100 gp / 5 = 220 gp
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