Puzzle me once, shame on – shame on you – puzzle me can’t get puzzled again

The heroes keep trying to solve the puzzle that they already failed to solve and refuse to kill the triggered trap monster that would have let them enter the next room quietly, or whatever, who knows. Anyway, the statues say, “It’s clobbering time!” and clobber the heroes, but then it turns out it’s actually a ghost inside these statues who keeps hopping around.

He calls them Montero and he explains that he’s been trapped in this trap room for longer than he can remember and that he does not remember how he perished. The heroes sympathize with Montero and cannot bear to hurt him any more. They blast through the wall, alerting the monsters on the other side.

Giants Giants Giants!

Meanwhile, Sora and the crew of the Seaward arrive in Osteros. Sora disembarks alone, seeking to add the dragonborn to the heroes’ fleet. She finds, however, that Paloma and Rho on their quest to make the islanders rise up against all of the giants have come as well. But the Duchess Serena’s envoy Countess Demeter all but shuts that down as the Elder Kalak has already struck the deal.

Sora decides to sneak back into the village to speak to Kalak in private without the giants spying.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the molten magma

The fire priests have completed their summoning ritual and a gargantuan sluggy flower-headed monster bursts out of the magma rocks. Myrmidions appear too and the foot soldiers fend off the heroes. Everyone tries to leap across to varying levels of success.

Casimir takes another leap by eating the mushroom, but it works out. “I’m a big cat now!” he declares, just before being eaten whole by the monster.

Nahk, KB, Hobbes, and Abe try to get around the foot soldiers and salamanders to get at the giant worm beast. Livius gets attacked by a myrmidion while trying to cast some spells. Cas despairs within the gullet of the beast, its strange organs pushing and constricting as he tries to maneuver his weapons around.

The myrmidion scorches Livius with powerful fiery blades, knocking him out, just before a voice calls, “Montero!” and Livius calls out to the spirit entering his soul cage, “Livius!” Livius staggers to his feet and stares the myrmidion down, a glimmer of hope within the hellish depths of the volcano of Dorost.

It is the afternoon on day 35 since the Battle of Aurochs Island, the first engagement in the Argoti-Mineosi War.

The Argotnauts are in the summoning chamber of the volcano on Dorost, facing down the giant worm beast.

Two islands left: Nistora and Dorost.

All three keys have been retrieved.

The dogs are on the flagship.

Malory Whisperbottom is on the material plane with Hespero

Rho and Sora Nemmonis are on Osteros. Sora is leading the PS Seaward.

You have four solid cubes with keyholes and a ring of seven keys:

• KB has one of the pine wood cubes
• Livius has the cube made of bone found in Iskos Valley Village’s elders’ hut
• The Alchemist has one of the pine wood cubes, the obsidian cube found at Natalya’s tomb, and the ring of seven keys

You are on a demiplane, and Zulon has been on the material plane for four full days.

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