Escape from the Armies of the Fire Elemental Khan

  Our heroes:

• Barehands Brawlsmuch - half-orc monk

• Dragonspirit Demonmaster - human cleric of Bahamoot

• Phia the Fighter - human rogue

• Sorcy Skullfoot - skeletaling sorcerer

As the heroes fled the Temple of the Flame Unquenchable, magma chasing at their heels, Barehands, Phia, and Sorcy collapsed on the obsidian slab before its doors. Catching their breath in the night air, the erupting volcano of the Kingscrown captured their attention as it spewed great globules of lava into the starry sky and lava flows, serpent-like, writhing down the cliffs. So awe inspiring was the violation of the prime material plane by the elemental plane of fire that the absence of Barbrarian of the Wastes, Drugotmi, and Evyn Figglebottom, was almost missed. The three erstwhile allies had boarded the Hellish Shark and were rising beyond the yells of their former comrades into the burning night.

On Barehands, Phia, and Sorcy's flanks armies of vaguely humanoid lava marched, driven by the cruel voices and crueler whips of towering, living infernos. Like dying falling stars, they marched toward the Lake of Swans and the unaware town of Wendover beyond. Blocked behind by the erupting Kingscrown and hemmed in by the armies of the Fire Elemental Khan, our heroes looked for escape down the ravine that would hide them from their foes. Before them in a rocky basin three magmin had turned at the party's yells and begun to advance. As the party engaged in the melee, lava sprouted from the temple, pinning Barehands, Phia, and Sorcy between certain death and a battle. As Barehands tried to pummel the sentient magma, Phia's blade made little impact, but Sorcy's mystical power and Dragonspirit wielding Bahamoot's Claw laid waste to the elementals.

The party scrambled down the twisted and treacherous ravine, reaching a fork. Ahead a panicked voice, in multiple languages, plaintively screamed for help. To the left a warm breeze and dull light beckoned. Pushing ahead, the party came upon another basin, clearly the lair of a large reptilian creature intelligent. Directly across the basin was silver dragon hatchling, trapped under a plinth of stone, separated by the tremors from the erupting mountain behind. Flailing under the stone, showing the whites of its eyes, the wyrmling screamed in panic. Sorcy hung back and started blasting the plinth with his mystical bolts, while  Barehands, Dragonspirit, and Phia moved into hack at the stone with fist and blade. The terrified hatchling turned its paralyzing breath upon them. Dragonspirit sprang back and used his holy flame at range. Meanwhile Sorcy noticed the light and heat of the lava as it crept down the passage behind them. In desperation, he unleashed his wand, Electricus, destroying the stone and the hatchling arrowed into the sky. Grabbing the still paralyze Barehands, the party rushed back to the fork and down the other passage, just ahead of the encroaching lava.

They hurried down the twisting ravine, avoiding dead ends and at one point having to spring over the source of light and warmth they had seen earlier, a lava flow that had come down ahead of them. They were struck with flaming ejections from the Kingscrown above them and finally reached another basin connecting with the wood beyond. Unfortunately a lava tunnel had erupted before them, turning the basin into a seething, hellscape. Guarding the far exit was a hissing, four-headed hydra. Barehands stumbled on some weak stone and was badly burned while Phia, using her acrobatics, vaulted to the stone ledge that bridged the gap, distracting the hydra. Meanwhile, Barehands, Dragonspirit, and Sorcy snuck behind the hydra. From her vantage point, Phia discovered a gate to the forest surrounding the Lake of Swans. She sprang down and as she attempted to escape, found that it was locked, the hydra's many mouths snapping around her. Sorcy attempted to distract the creature with a ball of acid, while Barehands edged his away around the perimeter of the basin. Dragonspirit with the blessing of Bahamoot, engaged with holy flame and magical blade. The beast turned and Phia opened the gate, turning to draw her bow. Dragonspirit brought low the quadruply crowned monster, as Barehands and Sorcy escaped.

Beyond was a tangled, swampy wood, with a small myconid colony. Communicating with the fungus men, they warned them of the erupting volcano, who in return led them through the woods to the beach. Here the party stopped, stranded, as the forest began to burst into flame behind them. As hope dwindled, a call came from the lake, as Maertyn arrived in a boat. Our heroes and the myconids hurried aboard, the Fire Elemental Khan raged on the beach, his armies streaming along the beach, and his words echoing, "I come for Wendover."