Gerald was caught totally off guard by what he saw when he exited the chasm, though truth be told he had no real expectation of what was awaiting him. He had heard the sounds of battle, shouts, and yells and made the assumption that a battle was taking place. Since Tig and Ceto were still there, he guessed that they were probably fighting back to back or something, and given the enemies that they had seen, he surmised they were facing goblins, wargs, those red eyed wolves, and some of those big hairy goblins. While he saw giants earlier, he was an optimist and didn't think they would have to face them. Remembering Sir Markham's fate, he gave the half orc and gnome little chance against them if they showed up. Also he doubt there was a dragon above him, because he didn't feel any blasts of heat. While Tig and Armondo were debating the intensity of dragon fire earlier, Gerald was pretty sure he would have felt either a bon fire or a furnace if there was one close.

What Gerald finally saw when he exited the chasm, were the two giants he had prayed would not be present and they were battling what appeared to be an impossibly big Ceto. Though the half orc was a good six foot and change, he was now thirteen feet of towering muscle. While the giants were slightly shorter to the now humongous half orc, they still looked slightly bigger due to their massive bulk. Gerald was confused at first, but finally recalled Tig's ability to brew potions on a whim, and just assumed that she made her big guardian really big to even the odds.

Over two dozen goblins waited safely at the edge of the woods, while a few more appeared to have been crushed underfoot by either Ceto or the giants. A few of the wargs, circled the oversized combatants, taking turns to dart in to try to take a bite of the big half orc.

As Gerald decided to take a course of action, he was pushed to the side by Lady Tessa. Gerald was about to complain but was interrupted as metal clanged on metal. One of the big bugbears had appeared out of nowhere before him and swung his axe down at Gerald, and only Tessa's quickness and metal shield managed to stop him from becoming a bardic version of Gromberry jam.

While Tess seemed vulnerable and less than knightly in the cavern below, she seemed valorous and ready for battle now. She hacked away furiously at the bug bear with her blade, wounding the creature several times as she forced it back. It appeared she was gaining the upper hand, but before she could slay her opponent, another bug bear stepped out of the shadows. The wounded bug bear fell back as his cohort took the lead, and after catching its breath, both surged forward towards Tess, driving the knight back into the alcove, almost knocking over Gerald in the process.

"I need some …help," gasped Tess as her initial fury drained. She barely blocked an overhead mace swing by the second bugbear before the first one clipped her in the shoulder with a glancing blow with his axe. The weapon crumpled her silver pauldron and caused her to stumbled backwards. She regained her footing however and launched a wide slash to keep her opponents at bay.

Gerald attempted to support the paladin as he lunged forward with his rapier. To his surprise he connected squarely to the second bugbear's chest, but his pitiful weapon bounced off its iron breast plate. The bug bear looked annoyed and simply swung his mace at Gerald. To his credit, the bard managed to withdraw his weapon to the guard position and parried the blow, but to his discredit, his grip was too weak and his weapon went flying out of his hands. The bug bear moved in to finish Gerald, but Tess managed to nick him in the leg and forced him back.

"Use your bard magic, use your bard song!" shouted Tig from some unseen location.

Gerald wasn't sure what to do. He was familiar with the concept of bard song, except he wasn't really good at singing. Why couldn't there be a bard dance, or a bard charcoal sketching power? Also the very nature of bard song implied some sort of combat, and that wasn't Gerald's forte. He preferred storytelling and even a bit of satire humor rather than whipping ones friends into a frenzy for battle. The whole idea of using art for a catalyst for violence was abhorrent to him.

Instead of embarrassing himself with a song, Gerald attempted to retrieve his rapier. The art of war should be kept separate from the art of singing. That idea was short lived though as the first bug bear attempted to hack off his hand with a swing from his axe. Tess was worn down and couldn't stop the blow, but Gerald's heightened sense of survival warned him to withdraw his hand before it was severed.

Gerald looked around, hoping to see some way to escape before he spotted the gnome on Ceto's back. She threw a black potion bottle at the feet of one of the giants, forming a wide pool of black vicious liquid when it broke. The giant standing on it lost its footing, before crashing into the ground squishing some goblins in the process. Ceto attempted to smash the prone giant, but its comrade stood guard as it scrambled to get up. The giant blocked Ceto's hammer with its club, and even managed to smash its great fist into the half orc's jaw, spinning him about and spraying blood everywhere.

"Acht! Sing you idiot! Sing! Sing! " shrieked Tig. "We're getting slaughtered."

Gerald knew he had no choice. If it was a choice between sullying his art and ….living… Gerald chose living. The bard coughed a bit before belting out a song he improvised on the spot. His voice cracked almost immediately, the lyrics were stupid and plain, but at least he was loud and clear.

"Giants, giants, go away! "

"Come again another day?"

The battlefield seemed to stop as everyone turned their attention towards him.

"That was horrible!" said Tess. "I thought you said you were a bard!"

"Singing bad," frowned Ceto as he shook his head in disappointment.

Even several of the goblins and giants, squinted their eyes and stuck out their tongues in disapproval.

Despite the harshness of his critics, Gerald's song seemed to have the desired effect, though in an indirect manner. While his singing didn't seem to inspire his allies, it did seem to make them madder and fight harder.

Tess manage to get a second wind as she charged the two bug bears. She smashed her shield into the one with the axe's face, while she buried her blade into the mace wielding one's stomach. The force of her attack, piercing even it's iron breast plate. The mace bug bear fell back in shock as it died, clutching and wresting her sword away in a final act of defiance, but Tess simply drew her dagger as she slashed wildly at her remaining stunned foe.

Ceto was able to recover from the punch to the face just in time. He twisted towards the incoming giant, striking it hard in the chin with his elbow, before twisting back into his original position with hammer in hand.

"Acht! It's working! It's working! Keep it up! " shouted Tig, as she threw a great red spiked chestnut at a mob of goblins that attempted to flank Ceto. The chestnut bounced on a warg, sticking to its black hide. The red eyed wolf attempted to claw it out, but vanished in a flash of fire, steam, and flying fur, sending the goblins nearby tumbling in every direction.

Gerald didn't exactly have a huge repertoire of songs. All he knew were holiday classics, which he was forced to sing at the inn during festivals. He was still pretty shamed at his first attempt at singing, but decided to try again when Tess and her bugbear both fell to the ground, desperately grappling each other.

"Goblin bells, Goblin Bells."

"A bug bear laid an egg…."

"The entire mob should run back home…"

"..and let the dragonslayers get away…"

Even though Gerald's singing drove his allies to new levels of revulsion and anger, there were too many giants and goblins. Ceto managed to duck under the club of one of the giants, and then executed a low rising arc swing with his hammer, connecting solidly with the giant's groin, just as he had demonstrated earlier. The giant screeched in pain, clutching his now obliterated privates, before falling cross eyed to the ground. Ceto attempted to finish off his foe, but the other giant managed to smash him in the back, knocking the big half orc to the ground. Tess was able to win her deadly duel, plunging her dagger into the neck of the bugbear, before it bit off her face, but another bugbear joined the fray and kicked her in the chin as she attempted to scramble back on her feet.

As his allies fell, Gerald could sense the end. He had failed them. Tig, Ceto, Tess, and even Mina. If only he was a better figher. If only he was a better singer. If only…

Gerald's litany of self-doubt was broken as an arrow lodged itself into the neck of the bugbear that had kicked Tess in the face. The bugbear gurgled and grasped at his neck, as several more arrows rained down from the cliff above. It struck the remaining giant in the ankle forcing him to take a knee in pain. As the giant attempted to pull the arrow out, Gerald was shocked to see Tig alive. Covered in bits of wicker, but still alive. She jumped out of Ceto's smashed basket, landing in front of the kneeling giant. She then lobbed a red pine cone into its mouth as it gasped in pain. The giant stared at the gnome briefly in confusion before it's head exploded in a shower of brain, bone, and gore.

That was enough for the remaining goblins. The pack shrieked as it scattered into the woods, but not before a few more fell due to the deadly arrow fire from above.

"Are you okay?" shouted Armondo from above.

"Not really, but we'll live," shouted Tig in return.

"I would have gotten here sooner, but I didn't know you were in trouble," shouted Armonto. "These trees have a nasty way of muffling sound, but I heard that awful singing…and thought you were being attacked by off tune harpies or something. So I returned as quickly as I can."

Tig smiled, but then quickly return to the fallen Ceto, the big, really big, half orc laid gasping at his side as she examined him carefully. "Stay with me…stay with me," she pleaded as she began mixing her reagents once again. After mixing a large red elixir, she carefully poured it down his throat. Gerald wasn't sure how effective it was, but his gasping stopped as he appeared to fall in a deep sleep.

"Will he be alright?" asked Gerald.

Tig appeared to be on the verge of tears as he stroked the big half orc's hair gently. "Ja…ja…he'll be fine. He won't leave me like this…." She said as Ceto slowly shrank back to his regular beefy size. "Err…who's your new friend?"

Gerald looked puzzled at first, and then realized who she was referring to when Lady Tessa wrapped her arms around him. "My hero."

"Lady Tessa, this is Captain Tig, Ceto, and the archer above us is Armondo. They're dragon slayers."

"A pleasure," said Tess as she politely bowed. Afterwards she hugged Gerald again and even gave him a slight kiss on the cheek.

Tig eyed Gerald suspiciously as Gerald shrugged with a wide smile. "What can I say, I rescued the girl and saved the day."

"I do not deny your usefulness in the last fight," stated Tig as she switched her stare from Gerald to Tess and then back to Gerald again. ", but what about your Mina. Remember her?"

"Mina? Who's Mina?" asked Tess as both her and Tig glared at Gerald.

"Mina? Oh yeah, about her. Well that's complicated. You see…Mina and I…well …we really aren't…."

"We have to get moving," said Armondo as he rappelled down the cliff side on a rope. When he reached the bottom, he whipped it up violently, causing it to loosen and fall to the ground. "The dragon, it's coming. "

"Eh? How does it know we're here?" asked Tig in shock.

"I'm not sure, but after the remaining goblins scattered it soared out of the mines that Gerald pointed out. Maybe it was watching us through the eyes of his minions or maybe it has a crystal ball or something of that nature. Whatever the reason it'll be upon us in a few minutes."

Tig pursed her lips and immediately brew another potion enabling her to heft Ceto's much larger body on her tiny back. Armondo quickly looted for gear and supplies, while Tess stayed on guard for any returning goblins.

Gerald however breathed a sigh of relief. The subject of Mina had been successfully dodged by an act of nature. Never was he so glad to hear that a dragon was coming his direction.