Out of the Fire and into the Forge

The party quickly gathers their bearings in the stifling heat of the volcano. Eira binds the unconscious Miriam while Tronc and RGB make their way to the Azer crying over the body of its companion. She is devastated as her molten tears fall on her her brothers still, extinguished form. She has nothing left. and so she has nothing to hide. "We were captives of the giant Nousha. We came here seeking the Irons and the glory they might bring, the works we might forge! But she was here already and bound us to the furnaces housing the Irons She gave us leave to work because it powered her own forge beyond normal means. And we did because we were free to exult in the fires. Take it. Take it and leave me to my misery." She hands you a forge hammer. The heat coming off it causes the party to shrink back for fear or searing flesh from bone. Once taken they see the head of the hammer is crusted lava, laced with cracks glowing bright orange-white, small globs of magma sizzling on the floor as they fall slowly to the ground. As they take the hammer from her and leave the volcano, the earth begins to shake and they feel an instant downdraft of cold air. The volcano has died! It was not a volcano at all but a receptacle for The Hot Irons. A hiding place powered by their magic.  As the lava pool at the base of the volcano cools and hardens into rock, the party hears a howling from below the platforms. Nousha the fire giant had not died in the fall into the lake of lava and was hiding within the fiery lake, but when the volcano was killed and the lake turned to rock she was trapped with her head above the rock and her body beneath. RGB climbed down to her and when she threatened him in her rage he severed her head in response. The party made their way across the desert expanse, returning to the hideout Brannis the dwarven archeologist/engineer had sent them from. Jean noticed the large amount of tracks around the buildings but too late to prevent them from being ambushed by a small military squad with red right hands. The leader Captain Noamhaîn is not known by the group from Thiam but the crimson gloves/gauntlets worn by the militia identify them as the Red Hands, an elite group of the Thiam military. The Captain informs the party they were coming to connect with Brannis who had been working for the Red Hand in researching the potential energy source utilized in the nation that predated The Fractured Lands. They suspected Brannis had located The Hot Irons but had lost contact with him after the murder of Gerald Highdrake. He is shocked to discover Brannis missing but Miriam alive and in the company of those accused of her fathers murder and in possession of the Hot Irons. Miriam wakes and confirms that Eira, Tronc and Jean had nothing to do with her fathers murder and that she had hired them to help find the real killer. She cannot account for her disappearance and does not know where she has been these last few weeks. Not can she explain the party reporting her working with the other assailant or her apparently casting arcane spells. Captain Noamhaîn takes Miriam Highdrake at her word, having known her father. He agrees to escort Miriam back to Thiam to clear the name of the accused party members and perhaps unravel the mystery of her amnesia. He also extends an invitation to the party to join the Red Hand (anticipating their exoneration) and continue the search for the "energy source". The stakes are greatly raised as some other party is actively opposing them and apparently on equal footing and possibly has Brannis in their custody. They discovered the Irons of their own accord and he will not take what they have earned but he asks they they use it to help the people of Thiam when and if the time should come. Eira, Jean and Tronc accept with no hesitation. Random Generic Barbarian does hesitate, having heard the full tale of this group which rescued him from the desert heat only just now. At first he is rattled by the enormity of the troubles the party have embroiled themselves in, but some "gentle" coaxing by the halfing ranger reminds him he owes them a life-debt and he concedes to stay with the party as they embark on their next journey and their first mission as member of the Red Hand: travel to the Kiuvaruk Islands, homeland of the Shifters in search of the Frozen Forge. Tronc looks delicately inwards..he has not been to his homeland in ages...not since he woke on the shores of Thiam those many years ago...not since he woke up after he had died....