Frack it, Let's just Jump Through the Fire...

Well this is a pickle... We have a huge blind northern cave troll tied to a chain next to the crank we need to raise up to get on to get down into our destination, the ruined remains of the Demon Prince Mu Taan La's fortress, Slaughterguard... Much like Tai would have done, Tinkerson just wanted to firebolt the beast from afar and be done with it but Goodbarrel strikes up a conversation with the troll and uses hams and ales from his bag of holding to try to turn the troll to our favor... The beast has a modicum of cunning and offers some cooperation... It raises the platform and by that we deduce it's only a short 15-25 foot drop... With that knowledge in hand and my tremendous insight telling me a ruse is afoot I tell Tinkerson to let loose... We fall back to the previous stockade and Big Red starts to light the troll up... Like I predicted, the attack was all the motivation the troll needed to break free... He charges our position but we box him in between Ulfgar, Reed, and myself with Tinkerson able to move around and still rain down the necessary fire to keep the creature from regenerating... The troll is able to inflict some tremendous damage when he lands blows with the heavyweight chain formerly used on him but we are able to fell him and burn away the remaining bits...
 
We catch our breath and prepare to venture down the hole... Luckily it's only a short climb... As we set forth from the base of the elevator we quickly see the surrounding rock turn to the strange greenish substance that indicated a remnant of Slaughterguard... Guarding this foyer are two mighty frost giants... Whoever is in charge of this gnoll tribe must be special indeed to have frost giants and cave trolls bent to his or her cause... Not wasting time Iluminus springs into action!
 
Ulfgar and I take on one giant while Reed and Big Red intercept the other... The Giants woefully underestimate our prowess... Ulfgar's and my actions surges create a barrage of critical blows, smites, and power attacks that make short work of our giant... Reed and Red's assault go similar... In a moment of dangerous levity their giant, after being subjected withering flurries of blows from the hin monk, picks up Reed and flings him at the rear wall... Luckily a monk is a poor choice of ammunition for that trick and Goodbarrel escapes without too much damage... With the remaining giant felled we have the courtyard foyer to what we believe to be the "Armoury" section of Slaughterguard...
 
Here also are 4 flaming archways of a similar nature to what we encountered in a previous segment of the demonic fortress... Without anyone trained in the ways of arcana we are unable to manipulate the gateways and Iluminus is at a stalemate... While we wait and debate over how to proceed we notice the is a rumbling in the complex coupled with a venting of air in and out of the gates... It takes a minute but Ulfgar remembers enclosed elevator shafts in dwarven facilities having venting patterns like that... We decide to risk the flames... We time it to when we believe the elevator is down and we dash into the portal... We all suffer potentially grievous burns but some have resistance to fire damage and that lessons the threat to the group and the danger is equal again when we have to deal with the fire gate at the top when the elevator rises in a couple of minutes....
 
We emerge, all terrible burned but alive and we use the last of our precious healing potions to get us back into fighting shape... Just in time because the first armoury we entered has a gnoll priest an a flind, a gnoll blessed with Yeenoghu's favor and supernatural might... Normally a leader in any tribe but here just an elite guard... Curious indeed... We are able to make short work of the two.. and on both bodies we find little green pins made from the Slaughterguard stone that seems to respond to the scan from the Arches and turn them off temporarily... So Reed puts one on, doesn't wait, and sprints down to the other fire archway...
 
I'm pretty sure, "I'm bringing the party to you," means something different in the Halfling Downs than in Palischuck, as Reed comes screaming back with two demonic beasts in tow... Large as the biggest dire wolves I've ever seen complete with chitin plates, bony spikes, and whip-like tails unnaturally ended in poison dripping stingers... Straight out of a demon prince's dream... So Big Red and I brace for the charge in the doorway... The first one barrels in and unleashes a devastating bite on me while the other teleports by us into our backline... Being true demons, Reed's and my divine smites bite extra deep and we are able defeat the fiend engaged with us... Reed and Ulfgar are able to hold off the other fiend until we are able to come and finish it off... Reed babbles about tieflings and a room beyond the other fire arch so don't want to give them time to prepare and we race off to face this next threat...
 
The token does it's job and the flames diminish to reveal several tieflings, two warriors and a mage... Ulfgar charges the stairwell disarming one warrior and knocks him off said stairs... From his perch on the stairwell, Ulfgar shouts out the mage turned invisible... Nick, Reed, and I rain blows on the prone warrior quickly finishing him off... A fireball explodes all around us testing the limits of how much damage we can absorb... We push into the room beyond the stairwell and I engage my higher self and channel a divine sense to try to pin point the invisible tiefling by sensing his fiendish nature.. I point out his location, just in time to see a cone of elemental frost blast out from said location...
 
Things get dark from there... my tether to the mortal coil seems tenures at best, and Just as I feel the light touch of the valkyrie preparing to lift me up to Warrior's Rest to drink with my ancestors by the Foe Hammer's side I feel myself dragged back to the light and open my eyes as a Pagu-sickle, Still nearly encased in frost... To a smirking Big Red saying, "we ain't done with you yet"... And then the cold recedes and the pain sets in... They never talk about the pain in the songs do they... Well the battle seems done at least as I struggle to shatter out of the remaining ice as I collapse against the wall and await what comes next...