We appear in the fire node, and it's already occupied!  The fire priestess
is busy sacrificing a half-shorn elven ambassador, escorted by a dragon,
a fire giant, and a couple of salamanders, all surrounded by a sea of
what at first glance is lava, but turns out to be a host of some kind
of fire creatures moshing on top of the lava (allowing several folk to
body surf at various points).  The priestess is not very effective in
the combat, and we finally find out why when she orders an attack on
the dragon as it flees.  Turns out the humans didn't really care for the
non-humans in the cult, and were nowhere near as fanatical.  25.6k xp,
+25k xp for rescuing the ambassador and finishing off the fire cult.
23k gp, 16k pp, 4x 2500 gp art objects, potion of supreme healing,
universal solvent (1 charge), sovereign glue (4 charges).

The fight finished, Mara flings the vial of blood towards the fire node.
Before it reaches it, a giant hand of fire reaches out and catches it,
and we get to have a conversation with Imix, the evil prince of fire.
According to him, this whole thing is a plot by the mad Elemental Eye, and
he's not really down with it.  He likes having the prime material around
so he can have stuff to burn.  So, he and the priestess agree to back
us against the Eye, as long as the Eye doesn't notice.  Rimardo manages
to extract the fire weapon, Tinderstrike (+2 dagger, +2d6 fire damage,
fire resistance, dominate monster 1/day), as a promise of good (or at
least helpful) behavior, and they turn over all the prisoners they have
that were going to be sacrificed.