After the cavern shudders, the team waits for Loskid's perpetual healing spell to restore them to health and starts exploring into an area with pyroclastic activity. As they come to the edge of a lake of lava, Hilde casts elemental protection from fire on the group. Immediately upon casting, they spot a pyroclastic dragon on an adjacent island who identifies himself by his dragon name, but allows the group to call him “Moltonwing”. Moltonwing then breathes a huge cone of superheated ash and fury at the group, which seems ill-advised since this team of adventurers is pretty badass. He then tries to cast a beam of death at Melgarin which fails miserably.

Loskid casts a giant hand, which Moltenwing promptly tears to shreds. Hilde summons a fire elemental, when Loskid recommends the group retreat, to which Melgarin responds “I'm immortal bitch, I don't know what you're worried about”. Moltenwing tries to push Elanor into the lava, but thank St. Cuthbert that Hilde had cast fly on her, so she was unaffected. Moltenwing then casts disintegrate on the fire elemental before submerging itself in the lava, out of sight of our adventurers. Elanor picks up Hilde and flies across the lake of lava, right after Hilde casts fly on Melgarin. Melgarin tries to fly slowly in order to protect Loskid. Right after Loskid makes landfall on the other side of the lava lake, Melgarin taunts Moltonwing about his lack of gold. Elanor and Hilde then find the stash of gold behind a tapestry. Moltonwing rises out of the lava and casts disintegrate, killing Melgarin instantly.

Hilde teleports to Melgarin's body, and then teleports beside Loskid, enabling him to cast revivify on Melgarin (presumably preventing his body from being plane-shifted to Occipitus). Elanor force-feeds Melgarin a potion, reviving him to fight (or die) another day.

After Melgarin unsuccessfully tries to bluff Moltonwing with a threat of an adventurer stealing his gold, Hilde tries to diplomatically strike a deal to get Moltonwing to assist in the fight against the cagewrights with a not-veiled at all threat to disintegrate their horde of gold. When the threats and bluffs don't work, Melgarin starts filling his pockets with Moltonwing's gold, while Hilde disintegrates a chunk of it. This irritates Moltonwing enough that he comes out of the lava and starts wailing on Melgarin. Melgarin and Elanor each take a schwack at him, finally ending his existence.

Inside the hoard they find 24000 gold, 300 platinum, 1/2 silver hand mirror, hair brush, green dragonskin rug, platinum bracer, a silver candelabra, silk tapestry with diamonds set as stars, potion, arcane scroll, scarab, cloak, and a wand. There was also a bunch of loot on the corpse of Moltonwing.

The team elects to summon fill their bottomless bag with gold and summon the extradimensional space via “rope trick”, and rest for a few hours, since Hilde is spent, Melgarin is hurting pretty bad, and Loskid has expended his faith-based initatives.

Shackled City Home
Last time: Session 73
Next time: Session 75