Moving away from the cave entrance the party finds the tunnel winds up and around the volcano. They sidestep pools of lava and jets of steam from fissures in the walls. They mostly escape harm but the intense heat saps their strength. They round a bend and enter into a large cavern with magma pooling in places and bubbling, sulfurous springs near a large stalagmite in the center. Everything is slick with damp heat. As the party moves through the room, cautiously avoiding the scalding water and bubbling magma several of the small stalagmites burst to life and a cloud of steam takes shape! Magma and Steam Mephits! They creatures are dispatched but again, the death bursts of the creatures causes much devastation among the party. Resting as much as they can they trudge along. Searching for some sign of their goal. Eventually the party feels a brief rush of fresh air and they find they the tunnel opens onto a platform at the peak of the volcano. standing in the fresh bitter air they look northward across the flats, a barren, blasted desert they will have to cross again should they find the Hot Irons. Turning away from this brief respite, they walk cautiously down the gently curving walkway.....into the volcano itself. Long spirals bring them slowly closer and closer to the lake of boiling magma at the base of the fiery mountain. Eventually the party sees what looks the be the ruins of stone bridges standing above the burning rock. Near the center is a huge forge blazing with heat that rivals the magma below it. A huge, black-skinned and armored individual is working the forge and occasionally calling out in an unknown language to a pair of huge furnaces that sit on separate platforms. When she does this the furnace blazed with light and heat and the forge in the center burns even brighter. The party decides to try sneaking towards the south furnace, intending to sever the giant braided copper cable that connects it to the forge assuming it will cut its power. RGB and Tronc succeed in surreptitiously arriving at the furnace. Eira decided to head to the northern furnace by herself. She nearly fell into the magma below when jumping across a break in the stone bridge. She was nearly to the northern furnace when her companions arrived at the southern one, AND when two unseen figures appeared at the northern furnace and began to assault it! The Giant, turning to see the cause of the commotion noted both sets of intruders. She spoke a word of command and a fire-bearded Dwarf with bronze skin emerged from each furnace. RGB was hewing at the copper cable when the Azer struck him with a fiery mallet. Tronc cast Icy Sphere and used it to delay the fire giant from charging into melee. The Giant responded by throwing a huge, flaming boulder at RGB, nearly knocking him into the burning lake below. While Tronc shape shifts into a giant white bear and attacks the giant with RGB at his side and an Azer behind them, Eira watches the two hooded individuals attack the other Azer mercilessly. One flings eldritch bolts of energy while the other, appears to touch the Azer not at all but it screams in pain, grabbing at it's head. The pair make short work of the flame-bearded dwarf and the grab the fiery hammer from the creatures limp hand. The one with the hammer fades from sight, while the other makes a rush to get past Eira. In its haste to escape Eira sees the face of the woman running past her, it is their missing employer....Miriam Highdrake! Eira tackles Miriam while Tronc and RGB barely hold their own against the fire giant. Seeing her defeat, the giant Nousha smiles grimly and begins destroying the stone platform they are battling upon. Tronc and RGB jump away just in time as the Nousha and the remnants of the platform crumble into the lava below. As Miriam struggles against Eira's grip, they both look above them and see the other, hooded figure staring down from the spiraling walkway. Eira senses, feels more than sees a movement in the darkness of that cowl and Miriam goes limp. The remaining Azer is no longer fighting but rushes to the side of its fallen comrade, molten tears rolling down its cheeks.