The Key to a Giant’s Heart is Through His Stomach (The Lost Jewels of Alcanse #9)

After defeating the evil Lobster Thing, we proceeded down the opposite hallway to find out what horrors lay in store. And we were not disappointed, because in the big room at the end, we encountered an…undead minotaur? Maybe? The important point to note is that it was large, unfriendly, and carried an axe the size of a wagon wheel.

So we went to work. Svela hurled a fireball bead (ahead of her companions this time). It went explody, but this thing is tough. And it retaliated by hacking at Svela. Ouch! Bardalph started wailing on it with his mace. Ohhhh undead things don’t seem to like getting whacked with that. Quigley and Rolfe kept chipping away too, but mostly, it was the magical mace action that ultimately made this thing go poof. When it died (again), we discovered a set of red gemstones to add to our collection.

We returned to the owl statue and popped the red stones in. Another door opened, leading down a short hallway to a small locked door with two keyholes colored orange and green, but no keys. Svela tried to pick the locks, but they are super intricate. So we’ll have to find two keys. But how?

Bardalph retrieved some memory of his art student days (wait, what?) and suggested trying to mix’n’match the gemstones (yellow/blue and yellow/red) to match the colors of the keyholes. We put in one yellow and one blue into the owl’s eyes, and lo, it swiveled and a door opened on the little diagonal wall. We proceeded down that hallway, which was filled with greenery and actually nearly overgrown at the end. It opened out into a light-filled space with a grass-covered hill, some grazing sheep…and a giant who was hurling rocks at said sheep.

Quigley cast a spell to make the giant more friendly, and asked about a key. The giant said he had one, but even though Quigley asked nicely, he refused to give it up and insisted someone bring him food. So we hunted down a sheep and dragged it to him. He ate it, but still refused to give over the key. Well, time for Plan B.

We hid in the tunnel and waited till the giant fell asleep. Then Svela sneaked over all sneaky like and stole the key off the giant’s belt. She got back to the tunnel without being squished by a giant and Bardalph asked if we’re returning the key after we’re done. Of COURSE we are, B. We’re not thieves!

So that’s one key acquired. We return once again to the owl room, prepared to put in one yellow and one red store, to hunt down the orange key!