* 36 * 3/4/13

When the fighting was over, Khelgar had only regained some of his positive countenance. The words the Fire Giant King had used to taunt him about Loudram still stuck in his mind, and he was having a hard time focusing. Lily noticed.

"Khelgar, you know that was a load of bull."

"I'd think so too, but I've heard somethin' about that before..." he explained sadly, not knowing what to believe anymore.

Lily switched tactics. "Well, even if it is true, do the actions of your former king really say anything about you? One dwarf supposedly being a coward doesn't mean all of his race are cowards."

Khelgar looked at her weakly and heaved a sigh. "I guess you're right. We've got the Belt of Ironfist, anyhow," he added, brightening the smallest bit.

"That's right, we do. Now how about we go and deal with that dragon we just heard about? I'll bet she has some goodies." Lily smiled, encouraging him.

Qara and Bishop were pleasantly surprised by this. Lily wasn't trying to defend the dragon or make up a story about how it might be innocuously present on the mountain, something that seemed more her personality. At Lily's comment, the lines of Casavir's face hardened, and it looked to the party as if he was going to do the honors instead.

"Pardon me, my lady, but what if the dragon is here to flee some other force? Perhaps it's not harming anyone."

"I just don't find that likely. I won't rule it out, but if that dragon tries to attack or beguile us like those giants did, then we're...well..." She trailed off, trying to think of a friendly way of telling Casavir they were "going to kill it".

But Qara saved the day. "Then we're going to bash its head in."

Lily chuckled. "Right."

Casavir's face was dour once more, but he understood. "Alright."

"Let's keep moving."

The path to the other area of the mountain was mostly clear, given the group had already cleaned out most of the fire giants on their way up. Near a path leading deeper into the mountains, the party found a boulder, one that probably could have been used to squash some of the giants they'd already killed.

"Oh well," Lily said bemusedly. They were all huddled fairly close together now, and Lily, Qara, and Casavir took the opportunity to buff everyone up with spells and resistances before continuing on.

They traversed the last pathway for about half an hour before coming to yet another clearing where they found Tholapsyx, a large, purple dragon seemingly guarding something in its static position. Lily looked between its legs and saw the glint of gold; she wondered if a dragon this greedy could really be here for any innocent reason.

"Hello," the dragon purred. They could instantly tell it was a female. She looked very happy to see them. "What brings you here? Come closer."

Bishop was already on edge. The dragon looked like she wanted nothing more than to eat them.

Lily shrugged. "We heard about you from some fire giants on the other side of the mountain and came over to see."

Tholapsyx bared her teeth at the mention of them. "Oh, those giants. Though, of course, to me, they're not so giant at all. They are still a large thorn in my side, however. I can't leave for more than a day without them trying to confiscate my hoard." She eyed them evilly. "That's where you come in," she flirted.

"Not this again," Khelgar moaned.

"We're not here to do anyone's dirty work. Besides, they're already dead. I see you have some stuff we might be able to use, though..." Lily insinuated, then seemed to remember something. "Tell me, have you ever eaten human before?"

Tholapsyx laughed at the silly question. "Of course I have!"

"There's your answer, Casavir," Lily called.

Casavir nodded, though he still felt a bit unsure. What if the humans had been trying to hurt...

In the midst of his thoughts, the party had already charged. Casavir quickly rushed forward and retook his position.

The battle was rather long and surprisingly tough, with plenty of rebuffs needed to be cast and potions to be used. Casavir even had to drop back from his normal, tanking position and instead focus on healing the others.

Finally, with much damage done to the party and many materials used up, Tholapsyx fell. Khelgar immediately sighed in relief, having gotten tired of getting fire breath straight to the face seemingly a million times in a row, even despite his Greater Stone Skin. With Tholapsyx having fallen, the party could see past her body to the mounds of riches stacked behind her.

"Jackpot." Qara smirked.

Lily whistled. "We'll need some help taking all this back. Let's make sure all the giants in the area are dead and get a crew from the Keep up here as soon as possible." The others agreed. Seeing an ore vein in the corner of the clearing, they took note of it before at last descending the mountain and heading to the Ironfist Stronghold.